Hi all

Hi everyone, I'm Dylan and I live in north Wales and have had type 1 diabetes for about 12 years now. When diagnosed I was at deaths door and given only 12 months to live so I think I've done ok so far. I admit I don't watch my sugar levels as I should and I don't follow any sort of strict diet but I won't let the condition control my life.

Anyway, its great to be part of a community of similar people when so many don't understand what we have to live with every day

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Thanks and I must be although I don't really know what. I was given a very strict regime to follow but I thought, hey I'm going to die so I'll enjoy what I can before its too late, so I ate everything I liked and I've carried on that way. Now I'm not saying it'll work for everyone but after 9 months the hospital ran the usual tests and had to run them a further 2 times because they couldn't believe the results.

I know it will catch up with me at some point but for now I'm just about on top of things. My specialists called me a total oddball case and a bit of a 1 off. Guess someone was looking out for me

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Thanks for the nice messages guys. I know when I was first diagnosed I felt I was treated like I had something contagious, as though everyone was keeping a few metres gap from me but things and peoples general knowledge of it seems to be improving.

As for the care, my hba1c has been rising the last few years slowly, on 8.1 at the mo and my specialist wants it to come down slowly but I was honest with him and he can't see much I can do to help, other than cut out all the foods I like (not happening). I've often wondered about the insulin pump idea, as I started initially on the 2 dose mixed insulin but it didn't work for me so I'm now on the 4 dose a day regime, which works quite well as I lead a varied lifestyle due to working shifts in health care (not a great job when your immune system is weakened but it's stable).

How hard is it to get a pump? I inquired about the under skin glucose monitors but they are ridiculously expensive. Seems we get persecuted quite a lot for a condition we didn't ask for. When I was first diagnosed I was not allowed to work for at least 12 months (I was due to be gone by then anyway) and I could not get a penny from anywhere for help. Strange country we live in :crazy: