Caerdobi
Active Member
- Messages
- 27
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Evening folks,
Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Vaughan, 35 years old, and I've been Type 1 for 24 years now (feels like a lifetime!). I've never joined a diabetes forum before, as I've always just kind of dealt with it as "my thing", but it's probably time I joined a community, as being insular about things has led me to miss advances in diabetes in the past.
A brief history of my medical condition:
And that is kind of where I stayed up until about four years ago. I had two jabs every day, had to eat a very specific amount of food at a set time every day and kind of fitted my life around my diabetes - everything you shouldn't in the modern era, really.
I wasn't what you would term a particularly "good" diabetic; not that my control was bad (I am fortunate to be able to tell when I'm >12mmol/l/ and below 4mmol/l) or that I didn't take my jabs - I did all that - but I didn't go to diabetic clinic hardly ever as often as I should have, perhaps one every two years. Terrible really. And I think having it for so long made me quite blasé about the whole thing as I dropped from testing my blood sugar every other day to perhaps once or twice a week...when I remembered...
I also failed to get my eyes tested properly, I've only ever had it done twice..
Anyway, on a very infrequent trip to my local medical centre for a diabetic review, I was assigned a new diabetic nurse who was brilliant. She was aghast that I was still on what in reality was an extremely inflexible system, and immediately bumped me onto Novorapid whenever I ate and Levemir for the evening. This has been a revelation for me, I can finally eat when I like - or skip a meal if circumstances don't permit eating - without fear of dropping into hypo or keeping a nervous eye on the clock.
OK, it means I now have 5-6 injections a day instead of two, but what a change!
That's where I am up to now.
I have a few complications which have arisen - I have retinopathy in both eyes, which is proliferative but not serious enough to require laser...yet. I have clamped down on my control quite tightly in the last 12 months and test my blood sugar quite often now, I'm determined not to lose my vision, or at least to postpone it as long as I can. Aside from that I'm fit and healthy. My BMI is 26, so I'm a little overweight but not by much - something I'm working on this year. My blood pressure is 118/78 and my resting heart rate is 82bpm, so I'm generally not bad. I also am now booked into have my retinopathy checked far more frequently.
I had a serious incident occur last Thursday where I suffered what appeared to be a heart attack and passed out at work. It turns out I had forgotten my evening Levemir the night before due to working late (first time I've ever forgotten an injection!) and my BM went through the roof the next morning (over 27 when measured). Whether this triggered the incident or not, we're still unsure. I was taken to hospital and my ECG was fine as was my test for troponin (the hormone which is released when you suffer heart damage). Because I'd suffered loss of consciousness, the doctor ordered an angiogram, where it was found that one - and only one - of my arteries was narrowed (coronary artery disease). The surgeon couldn't tell if this had caused the event or not, but he decided to stent it anyway by immediate angioplasty to mitigate any future problems. I was given the new dissolvable stents which are made of corn starch and are absorbed by the body after two years.
As a result I'm now on atorvastatin and aspirin for the rest of my life, and an anti-platelet drug and beta blockers for a year to help the stents settle. But hey what is more medicine to a diabetic, right?
On a personal level - I'm a Welshman so my sport is rugby, although I've been living near Portsmouth on the south coast for 13 years now for work. I'm married & have 18-month-old twin boys called Owen & Nye who keep me on my toes
I work in the motor industry in the technology field. I also have a keen interest in motorsport and cars in general, and own an Alfa 147 GTA which regularly breaks down and costs me lots of dosh. The wife keeps telling me to get rid, but fools and their money..
That's about enough War & Peace for now - very glad to meet you all.
Vaughan
Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Vaughan, 35 years old, and I've been Type 1 for 24 years now (feels like a lifetime!). I've never joined a diabetes forum before, as I've always just kind of dealt with it as "my thing", but it's probably time I joined a community, as being insular about things has led me to miss advances in diabetes in the past.
A brief history of my medical condition:
- Diagnosed in 1991 at age 11 after developing extreme thirst over a period of a few months, and finally going into DKA whilst on holiday in Portugal with my parents. I flew back as an emergency and went straight from the airport to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, South Wales, where I was born and bred. A few hours away from diabetic coma apparently.
- Initially put on syringes and fast & long-acting insulins separately, contained in little glass bottles from which you had to draw the requisite amount and mix up your "solution" yourself. 2 shots a day. Blood testing equipment then was this torture device of a black box with a spring-loaded arm with a "hole" at the bottom for your finger, it bloody hurt every time you did it. I then would compare whatever colour the test strip turned to a Dulux-like colour chart printed on the side of the test strip container (think this was known as BM Test 1-44?)
- I then was moved onto a refillable pen with cartridges of pre-mixed insulin at age 15-16. This was a massive step ahead for me as it meant no mixing, but being a forgetful teenager and having only one delivery device led to some interesting moments, not least when I went to the cinema with my mates and left my pen down the back of the seat...bit of panic there!
- When I went to university at 18 I was put on disposable pens of Novomix 30 Flexpen, still premixed fast and intermediate insulin. 2 shots a day. My sugar control was ok through university.
And that is kind of where I stayed up until about four years ago. I had two jabs every day, had to eat a very specific amount of food at a set time every day and kind of fitted my life around my diabetes - everything you shouldn't in the modern era, really.
I wasn't what you would term a particularly "good" diabetic; not that my control was bad (I am fortunate to be able to tell when I'm >12mmol/l/ and below 4mmol/l) or that I didn't take my jabs - I did all that - but I didn't go to diabetic clinic hardly ever as often as I should have, perhaps one every two years. Terrible really. And I think having it for so long made me quite blasé about the whole thing as I dropped from testing my blood sugar every other day to perhaps once or twice a week...when I remembered...
I also failed to get my eyes tested properly, I've only ever had it done twice..Anyway, on a very infrequent trip to my local medical centre for a diabetic review, I was assigned a new diabetic nurse who was brilliant. She was aghast that I was still on what in reality was an extremely inflexible system, and immediately bumped me onto Novorapid whenever I ate and Levemir for the evening. This has been a revelation for me, I can finally eat when I like - or skip a meal if circumstances don't permit eating - without fear of dropping into hypo or keeping a nervous eye on the clock.
OK, it means I now have 5-6 injections a day instead of two, but what a change!That's where I am up to now.
I have a few complications which have arisen - I have retinopathy in both eyes, which is proliferative but not serious enough to require laser...yet. I have clamped down on my control quite tightly in the last 12 months and test my blood sugar quite often now, I'm determined not to lose my vision, or at least to postpone it as long as I can. Aside from that I'm fit and healthy. My BMI is 26, so I'm a little overweight but not by much - something I'm working on this year. My blood pressure is 118/78 and my resting heart rate is 82bpm, so I'm generally not bad. I also am now booked into have my retinopathy checked far more frequently.
I had a serious incident occur last Thursday where I suffered what appeared to be a heart attack and passed out at work. It turns out I had forgotten my evening Levemir the night before due to working late (first time I've ever forgotten an injection!) and my BM went through the roof the next morning (over 27 when measured). Whether this triggered the incident or not, we're still unsure. I was taken to hospital and my ECG was fine as was my test for troponin (the hormone which is released when you suffer heart damage). Because I'd suffered loss of consciousness, the doctor ordered an angiogram, where it was found that one - and only one - of my arteries was narrowed (coronary artery disease). The surgeon couldn't tell if this had caused the event or not, but he decided to stent it anyway by immediate angioplasty to mitigate any future problems. I was given the new dissolvable stents which are made of corn starch and are absorbed by the body after two years.
As a result I'm now on atorvastatin and aspirin for the rest of my life, and an anti-platelet drug and beta blockers for a year to help the stents settle. But hey what is more medicine to a diabetic, right?
On a personal level - I'm a Welshman so my sport is rugby, although I've been living near Portsmouth on the south coast for 13 years now for work. I'm married & have 18-month-old twin boys called Owen & Nye who keep me on my toes
I work in the motor industry in the technology field. I also have a keen interest in motorsport and cars in general, and own an Alfa 147 GTA which regularly breaks down and costs me lots of dosh. The wife keeps telling me to get rid, but fools and their money..That's about enough War & Peace for now - very glad to meet you all.
Vaughan
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