Anthony_H
Member
- Messages
- 24
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
Hi to all,
My name isAnthony, I'm 48 and was diagnosed with "likely" type 1 12 days ago.
As the title suggests, I am also narcoleptic and cataplectic (eventually diagnosed in 2008).
Most people have heard of narcolepsy but very few have heard of, or understand, cataplexy. Not nice.
My diabetes diagnosis was a surprise tbh.
I'd gone to see my GP about a constant dry mouth I'd been experiencing for a number of weeks, even though I'd been drinking an increasing amount of water.....upwards of 6 litres of fluids a day, He prescribed a mouth spray and then asked how I was in general. I told him I'd lost a couple of stone, down from 14 to 12 in a matter of weeks and although I hadn't intended to lose weight, I'd put it down to be considerably more active doing some remedial building work at home (stone walls).
He asked if I was feeling tired during the daytime. Of course, I'm narcoleptic! It didn't feel any different to me though so I hadn't considered if my sleepiness and sleeps had altered. Was I urinating more often? Of course, I was drinking 6 litres a day....who wouldn't?
He suggested that some blood tests should be done just to make sure I wasn't diabetic as, although I wasn't aware of it, I had a number of symptoms associated with the. condition.
Tests were done and a telephone call received a few days later telling me the GP wished to discuss the results with me and so an appointment was made. Two days later, I was confirmed as being diabetic and a hospital appointment made for the following day via the AMU department at Ninewells hospital in Dundee. AMU? Never heard of it? My GP explained this is where emergency patients go when they are able to walk as opposed to those on stretchers! What!! "Are you saying I'm now an emergency patient?'
Wow, this diabetes thing must be pretty serious then .....was my thought of the day!
So following more tests and questions in the AMU department, where it honestly felt I was jumping the queue, I was transferred through to the Strathmore diabetic centre within the main hospital building. There, I was introduced to Doctor Craig and specialist nurse Paul, and told I would be injecting insulin with immediate effect and although it would be a month or so before I would know which type of diabetes I have, initial assumptions suggest I am type 1.
So after 6 hours, two sleeps (only) and a whole head full of new information, my wife and I finally got home at 7pm....via McDonalds before anyone told me I couldn't ...LOL. That was a long Friday. This was followed by a visit back to see Paul and an instruction to Jill, the dietician on the Monday, another visit on Thursday where Jill introduced me to my new 'hobby'.....carb counting!....and nurse Lesley sat with a horrified look on her face as I chatted about my cataplexy attacks....and my next this Friday with both again.
I'm taking Novorapid and lantis on slowly increasing fixed daily dosages and testing my glucose at least 5 times daily and ketones 1-2 times (which thankfully haven't shown a result above 0.2 so far). I have a novopen 5 with the digital read out showing my last dose. This was in case I was having a narcolepsy attack during injecting, specifically when dialling in the insulin dosage. It doesn't stop me under or over dosing but hopefully would allow enough time to rectify things if that did occur. It appears it's that or a pump,which at this stage is frankly feeling just a bit too much to take.... time will tell though I guess.
My vision has significantly deteriorated during the past week or so though. I wear specs and have done since childhood but during the past week I'm struggling to read small (normal letter size) text and when taking off my glasses last night and looking at me wife, I could barely make out her eyes and mouth. I'm long sighted and she was maybe two metres away so normally that wouldn't have been any kind of problem. Obviously related and will be discussed on Friday with Lesley, or before by telephone.
So, early days but doing OK. The staff at both the local surgery and at the hospital have been outstanding. The NHS can't be faulted in these kind of circumstances, or if I'm being cynical perhaps I've just been very lucky with those who have looked after me during this new episode in my life? I hope it's the former.
If anyone else also has the same conditions I have, I'd love to hear from you and how your experiences have allowed you to cope (or not) with the unusual medical combination.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to any feedback you may wish to post.
Anthony H
My name isAnthony, I'm 48 and was diagnosed with "likely" type 1 12 days ago.
As the title suggests, I am also narcoleptic and cataplectic (eventually diagnosed in 2008).
Most people have heard of narcolepsy but very few have heard of, or understand, cataplexy. Not nice.
My diabetes diagnosis was a surprise tbh.
I'd gone to see my GP about a constant dry mouth I'd been experiencing for a number of weeks, even though I'd been drinking an increasing amount of water.....upwards of 6 litres of fluids a day, He prescribed a mouth spray and then asked how I was in general. I told him I'd lost a couple of stone, down from 14 to 12 in a matter of weeks and although I hadn't intended to lose weight, I'd put it down to be considerably more active doing some remedial building work at home (stone walls).
He asked if I was feeling tired during the daytime. Of course, I'm narcoleptic! It didn't feel any different to me though so I hadn't considered if my sleepiness and sleeps had altered. Was I urinating more often? Of course, I was drinking 6 litres a day....who wouldn't?
He suggested that some blood tests should be done just to make sure I wasn't diabetic as, although I wasn't aware of it, I had a number of symptoms associated with the. condition.
Tests were done and a telephone call received a few days later telling me the GP wished to discuss the results with me and so an appointment was made. Two days later, I was confirmed as being diabetic and a hospital appointment made for the following day via the AMU department at Ninewells hospital in Dundee. AMU? Never heard of it? My GP explained this is where emergency patients go when they are able to walk as opposed to those on stretchers! What!! "Are you saying I'm now an emergency patient?'
Wow, this diabetes thing must be pretty serious then .....was my thought of the day!
So following more tests and questions in the AMU department, where it honestly felt I was jumping the queue, I was transferred through to the Strathmore diabetic centre within the main hospital building. There, I was introduced to Doctor Craig and specialist nurse Paul, and told I would be injecting insulin with immediate effect and although it would be a month or so before I would know which type of diabetes I have, initial assumptions suggest I am type 1.
So after 6 hours, two sleeps (only) and a whole head full of new information, my wife and I finally got home at 7pm....via McDonalds before anyone told me I couldn't ...LOL. That was a long Friday. This was followed by a visit back to see Paul and an instruction to Jill, the dietician on the Monday, another visit on Thursday where Jill introduced me to my new 'hobby'.....carb counting!....and nurse Lesley sat with a horrified look on her face as I chatted about my cataplexy attacks....and my next this Friday with both again.
I'm taking Novorapid and lantis on slowly increasing fixed daily dosages and testing my glucose at least 5 times daily and ketones 1-2 times (which thankfully haven't shown a result above 0.2 so far). I have a novopen 5 with the digital read out showing my last dose. This was in case I was having a narcolepsy attack during injecting, specifically when dialling in the insulin dosage. It doesn't stop me under or over dosing but hopefully would allow enough time to rectify things if that did occur. It appears it's that or a pump,which at this stage is frankly feeling just a bit too much to take.... time will tell though I guess.
My vision has significantly deteriorated during the past week or so though. I wear specs and have done since childhood but during the past week I'm struggling to read small (normal letter size) text and when taking off my glasses last night and looking at me wife, I could barely make out her eyes and mouth. I'm long sighted and she was maybe two metres away so normally that wouldn't have been any kind of problem. Obviously related and will be discussed on Friday with Lesley, or before by telephone.
So, early days but doing OK. The staff at both the local surgery and at the hospital have been outstanding. The NHS can't be faulted in these kind of circumstances, or if I'm being cynical perhaps I've just been very lucky with those who have looked after me during this new episode in my life? I hope it's the former.
If anyone else also has the same conditions I have, I'd love to hear from you and how your experiences have allowed you to cope (or not) with the unusual medical combination.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to any feedback you may wish to post.
Anthony H
