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Experienced diabetic (Type1) here to answer questions or give advice!

orry-kaplan

orry-kaplan

Member
Messages
10
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi my names Orry. This is my first time hearing about this forum and finally seeing a community of fellow diabetics which is great! I am 21 now but have had type 1 diabetes for 18 years. If anyone needs any advice or has any questions I’ll be happy to help
 
Welcome to the forum, its a great community here and I'm sure you will learn a lot from people here no matter how experienced you are as well as helping others. Out of interest how do you find managing it on a day to day basis and what's your current hba1c at?
 
Oh and you may want to change your profile to indicate T1.
 
Muneeb said:
Welcome to the forum, its a great community here and I'm sure you will learn a lot from people here no matter how experienced you are as well as helping others. Out of interest how do you find managing it on a day to day basis and what's your current hba1c at?
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I find managing my diabetes really easy now to the point where I feel and act like someone without it. Obviously I know this isn’t the case but things us diabetics do like take insulin and stuff like that is just part of my routine where it doesn’t interrupt anything I have going on, or rarely interrupt I should say. I kinda have been using the same equipment as well for many years now cos I’m comfortable with them and that honestly helps loads. My hba1c ifcc is currently at 50.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

It's great to share success stories, the forum has a wealth of experience from newly diagnosed to those living with it 50+ years.
 
Hi there orry, there are quite a few young type 1s on here that normally have to listen to us oldies (all of whom are very experienced and helpful of course) but I am sure they will appreciate advice from someone nearer their age. Welcome.
 
Hi and welcome @orry-kaplan. A 52 yearer on insulin here from Australia.
How do you monitor your BSLs and what sort of regime do you follow to cope with exercise?
And what does an 18 year old T1D eat these days.?
 
kitedoc said:
Hi and welcome @orry-kaplan. A 52 yearer on insulin here from Australia.
How do you monitor your BSLs and what sort of regime do you follow to cope with exercise?
And what does an 18 year old T1D eat these days.?
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Hey. I usually just look through the machine at the end of the day to see the average readings and where I might need to up my insulin or lower it. When I train I usually eat a carb before like a banana. I used to go as far as weighing all my food and counting all the carbs and sugars then putting them into the app, myfitnesspal to then track exercise and diet progress. They always say I’m quite good eating wise for my age because I don’t eat a lot of junk. I eat a lot less especially now then when I was 18, must be the metabolism slowing but mainly being a student at uni I eat a lot of chicken/ rice/ fish/ veg/ boiled potato. I do like a good drink as well but even then I just eat before I go on a night out and then if I have a drink that might be flavoured I could even go as far to do a bit of insulin.
 
Thank you @orry-kaplan, what sort of machine do you use for testing BSLs?
And what are you studying at Uni and how do you see your diabetes fitting into your future employment choices?
At 13 when first diagnosed, the space race was big in the news. We all wanted to be astronauts. I was disappointed to have to give up that dream but it did not stop me from doing 7 day canoe trips through wilderness, long hiking trips and sailing.
 
kitedoc said:
Thank you @orry-kaplan, what sort of machine do you use for testing BSLs?
And what are you studying at Uni and how do you see your diabetes fitting into your future employment choices?
At 13 when first diagnosed, the space race was big in the news. We all wanted to be astronauts. I was disappointed to have to give up that dream but it did not stop me from doing 7 day canoe trips through wilderness, long hiking trips and sailing.
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I use the freestyle insulinx which is a great machine as well as the freestyle mini. I don’t see it affecting my future employment at all. I’m currently studying computer science so looking into more of a technical role anyway. Even if it was to be a physical labour job I’d have no worries. Sounds like you’ve really had a fun time growing up then! I ain’t ever really been camping don’t see it as my kind of thing but I do like hiking and swimming
 
orry-kaplan said:
I use the freestyle insulinx which is a great machine as well as the freestyle mini. I don’t see it affecting my future employment at all. I’m currently studying computer science so looking into more of a technical role anyway. Even if it was to be a physical labour job I’d have no worries. Sounds like you’ve really had a fun time growing up then! I ain’t ever really been camping don’t see it as my kind of thing but I do like hiking and swimming
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That's great, diabetes shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams. I studied Chemical Engineering and currently work as an engineer and I've had type 1 since the age of 8. It wasn't all easy, but nobody would ever know I was diabetic unless I told them.
 
Muneeb said:
That's great, diabetes shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams. I studied Chemical Engineering and currently work as an engineer and I've had type 1 since the age of 8. It wasn't all easy, but nobody would ever know I was diabetic unless I told them.
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That’s great! It’s very true too that if you have good control there is no need to keep bringing up the fact you’re diabetic. I mean close friends should obvs know about it but unless I say as well they wouldn’t of known. I always look at the football player nacho Fernandez who plays for Real Madrid and he’s type 1 diabetic playing for one of the best teams in the world and he’s story just shows any other diabetic that anything is possible
 
At the 45 year mark on insulin I was suffering from night hypos despite an intensive basal-bolus regime of Novorapid and Levemir. The switch to an insulin pump helped enormously and enable me to keep working, to retain my driver's license and be free of those pesky hypos!!!
 
kitedoc said:
At the 45 year mark on insulin I was suffering from night hypos despite an intensive basal-bolus regime of Novorapid and Levemir. The switch to an insulin pump helped enormously and enable me to keep working, to retain my driver's license and be free of those pesky hypos!!!
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I used to have night time hypos quite a lot before. I managed to just have a snack before bed and finding the right snack did take a while and does get boring but it’s necessary sometimes. I also tend to wake myself up to take my early levemir so I don’t sleep for a long period so then I rest when I’m up just in case
 
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