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Diabetic with Cerebral Palsy

H

honeybeee88

Newbie
Hello All!
I just learned that I have type 1 diabetes. I also have cerebral palsy and this is an incredibly tough combo for insulin treatments. I would like to cycle where I put the insulin but this is incredibly difficult as you all can imagine. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to better inject the insulin. My therapy group for diabetes suggested I look online for more tips and tricks! :watching:
 
Hi there, @honeybeee88 - I'm not T1, and not using insulin, so pretty useless for any tips, but my post will bring your thread to the top of the reading lists for those arriving on the forum around now.

When you say you have trouble cycling your injection sites, is this because your condition leaves you with some weakness in some areas? It could be, after some time, with a bit of experience under your belt, that a pump could be useful for you.

Hopefully someone with better insight will be along to help some time soon.

Good luck witk it all.
 
When I think of all the people I know with Cerebral Palsy (CP), saying your have CP gives me very little ideal of how good your coordination is.

Do you live independently?
Can you pick up and drink from a normal mug?
Can you do up buttons?
Do you use a normal computer keyboard and mouse?
How are you coping with using a BG meter or do you have a freestyle libre?

I expect that having Cerebral Palsy you may qualify for a pump based on practicality, however I expect you will find it very hard to refill a pump yourself. Different pumps can go for different length of time before they need attention, but any pump can get issues without warning.

I expect there is a consultant somewhere in the NHS who has the experience you need, maybe try contacting https://mobile.twitter.com/parthaskar as he is a national lead consultant for type1 and loves using technology to improve people life. I assume you have already asked SCOPE what surport they can provide.
 
Hiya @honeybeee88 - sorry you're facing such a tough combo; not easy to try and deal with.

Have you been told of all the various injection sites - I tend to use stomach and thighs but I know others use bingo wings (easy way to explain; not saying you have them), upper buttocks. If you have very limited reach then of course you have limited choices. One way to rotate that I was shown was to move just over an inch to the right of left of last time's injection, and keep moving slowly in a line. Then go up an inch, and start back on the return journey... if I recall rightly that meant it took quite a few injections to reach the point where I'd have to start over. And, if you can reach it, you can move to the next available surface and move along in small increments.

I don't doubt that the Diabetic Team are aware you will have difficulties, and won't be surprised if you make noises about a pump as soon as you've picked up some info about how to use insulin with carbs.
 
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