Hi from France

[KateH]

Hey there
I'm currently living and working in Paris, and have been for the past 7 years or so. I still don't really speak the language (since I don't have to use it in my work or daily life) but know enough to get by.

I have had T1 for 27 years or so (since I was 12), and have been trying to get a pump since I was about 16, and found out that my dad (also T1) was a 'guinea pig' in the late 70s for them. Mum and he told me it was horrible, but I was fascinated by the thought of just one 'injection' every few days.

When I moved to France, I had a specialist who refused to give me one until my French improved. Fortunately, 7 years later, I have found a specialist who is more than happy to speak with me in English, and tells me it's only natural that I prefer to do so, and whose first comment (after hearing my medical history) was 'Have you considered having a pump'?

So now I have finally achieved my almost lifelong ambition, and am so happy

My control has never been fantastic (mum has a needle phobia, and dad was old fashioned, and didn't want to get involved, so I was not supervised when doing injections as a kid, which resulted in a lot of missed injections), I have been in 3 diabetic comas (hyperglycaemic, and when I was about 13) and have nearly died a few times due to going hypo when put onto twice the Lantus dose I should have had a few years ago.

Moving to France has improved my control so much - I have a fantastic boyfriend who helps me a lot, and has 'rescued' me more times than I care to mention, and my original specialist (although not being nice enough to speak English) reduced my Lantus, so stopped me 'dying' in the middle of the night and was very helpful with regard to getting my eye's treated, so basically. I'm grateful that I moved to France - I'd probably have lost limbs/eyesight/life if I hadn't

 

[daisy1]

Hi Kate and welcome to the forum I see you have found the Pump Forum where you can ask questions and are sure to get an answer as many members here use pumps. Here is some information which we give to new members and I hope it is helpful and interesting to you even though you are not new to diabetes. A certain amount of the information applies to the UK only however.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

 

[KateH]

Hi Daisy
Thanks for the info! and thanks for the welcome

 

[phoenix]

Hi Kate,
I also live in France, a long way from Paris in la France profonde.
I'm one of these odd people who get T1 later in life and was diagnosed here almost seven years ago. My French was dreadful when I was diagnosed. I have nightmares of a nurse sitting by my bed in hospital, explaining things, but I didn't understand a word and she didn't seem to understand that I couldn't understand her
None of my doctors admit to any English but things have got better (2 in patient diabetes courses have helped) I usually understand at least the gist of what they are saying, but I still find it difficult to ask more complex questions , and probably wouldn't understand the answer. I still can't understand half of what that particular nurse says, she speaks very rapidly in a local accent. a million miles from 'Parisian French'.
Sometimes I ask them to write as I can read French very much better than I can speak it.
The internet and books have been invaluable to me, without them I think I would have been completely lost.
I've had a pump for about 3 and a half years, I was lucky in that my doctor suggested it. I run and walk quite long distances and it has made this so much easier.
Glad to read that you've got your pump. It would be interesting to compare experiences, At the moment I'm having trouble stopping my prestataire from sending consumables for a while. I'm sure she sends them more than once a month and she always sends a few extra, after all this time I was running out of storage space with a stock of 10 boxes of reservoirs, 6 of cannulas and a small mountain of batteries!