Hello!

Hi, all,

Just joined the forum as I'm type 1 Diabetes.

I was diagnosed at the age of 3, on 9th February 1977. In other words, I've been type 1 for just under 37 years. My Son, Noah, born 22/01/10 is also Type 1 diabetic, and was diagnosed in November 2011, aged 19 months. Gutting. My boy and I are the only diabetics in our enitre family tree.

I've pretty much been through all of the different treatment types of Type 1 over the years. Going from needles that needed to be sterilised, and no blood glucose monitors, right up to today where I'm using a Medtronic insulin pump - same as my boy.

I've managed to avoid almost all side effects of being type 1, principally down to good blood sugar control and lots of exercise. During my teenage years I was a competitive swimmer (North Eastern Counties Freestyle champion), and now I'm a "borderline bodybuilder". I'm also 6'5", so thankfully diabetes didn't stunt my growth (or if it did, I'm quite pleased about it!)

I have a very positive outlook to Diabetes - it's nothing more than a challenge to me - and I really won't let it limit what I can do with my life.

For work purposes, I'm a video game director for SONY Computer Entertainment, which is fun, most of the time. Been making games for around 18 years now, so I'm a bit of an old hand at it.

So that's it. Hello!

BRS.

Thanks for the welcome, folks.

I'm based between Surrey and Cheshire (work in Cheshire, live in Surrey), and I try to get involved in everything that goes on with the diabetes stuff at home. I'm planning on running the diabetes 10k next year, should my knees hold out...!

@mummy78 - my boy is totally cool with the insulin pump. He gets quite possessive over it! He's very good, and takes it all in his stride. I'm quite protective about him - he's just started school, and he's classed as a 'special needs' child, which I fundamentally disagree with - he's not special, he's just an ordinary little boy, just the same as I was. Sometimes the nanny state goes too far for my liking.

I always tell him that we're 'bionic'. We're like 'Iron Man' - he was going to die without the Arc-Reactor on his chest, but now he's got super-powers - just like us. Works great for a 3 year old... ;-)

In addition - I diagnosed my boy, so he didn't get DKA.

He'd started to really wet his nappies, to a point they were water-logged. I feared the worst, so tested his blood sugar using my blood tester, and he was 27.2. Darkest day of my life, but we took him straight to A&E, where they sorted him out and got him onto insulin.

He was so young that they didn't have syringes small enough to give him insulin. We muddled through and got him onto the Insulin Pump as quick as poss, and he's doing very well with it.

Another bump in the road came this year whilst we were on holiday. He developed Nephrotic Syndrome (leaking Kidneys), so he's now on a 6 month course of steroids, which are really messing with his blood-sugars. The outlook is good, though, just desperate to get to March next year and hope he's clear...