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Type 1'stars R Us

Great rant @Knikki !! And I admire your strength in not responding as a reflex action.
Being diagnosed in 1966 I understand those past days when parents were told that their child has developed sugar-diabetes and had to have insulin injections for life - and that life would likely be shortened by diabetes complications unless everything was 'managed well'., like urine testing, injecting 2 types of basic insulin, (after sterilising glass syringes and accompanying re-used needles each time), eating carbs as portions but no advice about what to do as he or she grew and avoid hypos. (rinse and repeat).
In later years when I owned a house with a swimming pool and struggled to get pool water chemically balanced. I would think back to how basic yet vital the old urine testing systems like Benedicts were. They gave you a vague clue and a chance to make the most educated guess one could. Let us face it glucometers did not arrive for public use until about 1980.
Maybe what we seek is a little bit of understanding and respect for having got through those days without all the modern accoutrements of modern diabetes treatment. Our ways of managing our condition came from a relative survival mode which was refined over time. So if it 'ain't broke, let no one tell me how to fix it.
We have also heard the promises of a cure or a new breakthrough over and over - is it any wonder we can be cynical of such announcements when we figure they are really about attracts funding.? It seems like a cruel joke sometimes.
The DCCT trial results showing that intensive BSL control for the first 7 (some suggest 10) years reduces the incidence of diabetes complications later on arrived far too late for us 50 plus yearers as it also did for those with less years of diabetes under their belt. Those that can benefit from such a trial be grateful that you have that opportunity and the technical developments to realise it..
What has not changed is human nature. Like magpies. bower birds and the like, new shiny things we see or experience gain perhaps more attention than is warranted. There is lots of chatter about low carb diet and I admit that I am trying it out. But then each of our journies differ. I am looking to see if I can reduce the incidence of hypos. But I do not see LCHF as the be all and end all, altough Dr Richard Bernstein's story is very compelling.
Quite frankly, for all the great work being done I hope the NHS is not just pinning its hopes for the LCHF diet on the oft quoted DCM backed trial of 2017. Why? Because relying on a study of only 12 months for a chronic illness is crazy. Yes. I grant that random controlled trials have shown that longer term compliance rates are better for LCHF diet that for low-fats diets.
And whilst some of the disease processes and aims of management of those with the various types and classifications of diabetes are similar experience and time has tended to show that one cannot assume one treatment works well or equally well for all.
By all means see how LCHF diet fares for the majority, T2Ds but let us not urge others into the same pool too quickly.
Any forum and website like this one has the capacity to help, inform, illuminate and support, but like any big family there will be differences of opinion, different personalities, experience and outlook. That is precious but also a drawback at times.
Let's try to respect each other as best we can. There are simple, obvious questions that all accept. Some comments, less so.
Maybe you do not like this rant? Well, it needed to be said, as did @Knikki 's
But know that like @Knikki, I can be a PITA too.
Somehow I think it goes with the territory, with making it through so many years. You develop a ****-detector of sorts about diabetes which tells you, to put it in Aussie, if something does not sound ridgy-didge (correct or believable).
End. (thinks, make kite with the Benedict test colours on it)!!
 
@Knikki perhaps we're all just getting old, I know I'm starting to sound more like my old man every day - grump old g!t
But at least I didn't have to pee in a test tube and add 'chemicals', just had to dip the strip!

I think it was mentioned a while back that sometimes responding to some threads the delete key frequently gets used, either to save putting someone else's back up or because on second thoughts is it going to be worth it?!

Have a good 'rage' free day everyone!

PS. Curry AND wine is a frequent occurrence in our household, along with any other meal AND wine
 
Good morning teabags and numbers addicts. Happy night, and that means the numbers mean a good sleep and a cheerful wakening. Have a day with lots of pleasure in it, everyone.
Curry and beer for me. The curry needs lots of veg in it too as well as the meat or fish. Not a fan of the milk boiled until solid and excessively sweet treats that sometimes follow, it has to be mango, rambutan, or, if there are pegs for fellow diners’ noses, durian.
 
@smc4761 and @Knikki Thanks for both posts. My grandmother and aunt were both T1 as was my Cuban friend so I was very aware of what they had to do to manage the disease. I do realise how lucky I am. When first diagnosed, the only thing I kept thinking was I couldn't deal with the syringes etc etc. Relief was immense when then showed me the dinky 4mm needles. I think I do get a bit prissy about low carb eating. I know I've mentioned not drinking cider anymore but heyho, there are 4 bottles in the pantry and I feel a curry coming on. Thanks all for getting my head from out of the part down below which I can't write
 
100% with you on this one. I do come on the forum a lot during the working day and have a look around and my blood boils at some of the threads.....I start to type a response and end up deleting before posting and causing upset (I can be very outspoken lol). 1975 for me and can remember the 10 drops water and 5 drops of urine.....if I knew I had been "naughty" and not kept to my VERY strict diet then I would only put 2 drops of urine in and 13 drops of water to fool my mam.....it NEVER worked. The only person I was fooling was myself!
 
@Knikki and @smc4761 were you on grams of carbs when diagnosed? I can remember being given a packet of cards with different foods on and there "Portion" value. I had to have 4 "portions" for breakfast at 8am 1 "portion" at 11am 5 "portions" at 1 pm 1 "portion" and at 6pm 5 "portions" and possibly a portion at 8pm before bed. Every diabetic appointment the cards and values were changed. HOW did we survive lol
 
Late on parade today, slept in after I didn’t get a phone call for any teaching work.

Curry was lovely, I dosed as I went. I’m sure there may have been sugar or flour in the sauces, and I prawns for both starter and main, which means extended bolus over 2 hours, plus instant insulin for the carbs. Don’t think that’s too bad, considering...

​

Will go for a little walk later, hopefully I won’t hypo at the end of it!
 
I'm a bit later to the party than some of you guys, I came in when testing was peeing on sticks - not my preferred pastime I do remember portions @porl69, then it was 10g carbs to a portion. I have problems these days wheb everyone talks blithely about ratios - I don't think in those, I still think in portions and units. I don't know why I find that transition almost impossible but I know when I'm asked about ratios I can feel one of those stupidly vacant expressions spreading across my face. And though we had disposable syringes you had to draw up each dose, and I never found a discreet way to do that, and no MDI so much stricter times for eating. I do sometimes feel as though I got left behind at some point; perhaps because I didn't see a consultant for so long, but also because some HCPs undoubtedly thought that if you'd had T1 for that many years you had to know what you were doing. Well, I did, but only sometimes! Undoubtedly this forum's been my biggest learning resource for years, and that includes being a member of Diabetes UK since diagnosis (except I won't be renewing this year).
 
Very cold here, still getting overnight highs at 13.6 and a poorly tum and my Dexcom sensor ended this morning, I decided to so a run but as the new one takes 2 hours warm up I carried on and went for my first run in 2 weeks testing on the meter before I went at a pretty safe 7.4, turned pump down to 50% temp basal, started out ok then up the hill, came down and lost my puff ! I managed 5km which was ok in my book, got home tested at 5.2, so walked the dog came back and dropped to 3.3. New sensor is working now and have bounced up to 10.4, so all in all a yo yo day on the tightrope for me, hope others have a more balanced one
 
@helensaramay Agree, with being diagnosed later in life, I feel grateful that we have access to so much technology, it can take alot of the effort out of it when working as it should do, the pump has been the best game changer for me since being diagnosed and has reduced my anxiety levels greatly so very fortunate to have this kit.

One thing I have always known since doing DAFNE is to respect each other's food choices, I learnt at DAFNE that some T1 diabetics cope incredibly well with carbs, it's different for me, but I still respect other's choices.
 
Well said, @Knikki ! And I couldn't agree more with @kitedoc .

This sort of thing appears to me to be symptomatic of our reductionist / sensationalist tendencies in the modern, tech-driven, social-media-driven world. People seem to form opinions isolated / insulated from the rest of the world, in echo chambers. I see it happening in all sorts of topics, not just diabetes.

I was diagnosed in 1990 and by that stage, 'BM stix' as they were known were commonplace, but waiting a full two minutes for a result was a PITA. I'm always so grateful that things were as advanced as that for me, though. I truly take my hat off to any senior T1's who've made it through far worse than I have. I'm also grateful for the enormous developments that are happening continuously, and try to keep learning as I go.

At the end of the day, it's often enough to congratulate ourselves on getting through each day relatively unscathed. Whatever means we choose to do so - whether it's counting exchanges or low-carb - it's a very personal choice, which should be respected, but ultimately it really doesn't matter as long as we're happy, I think.

Just my tuppence-worth...
 
Well done you for going for a run! I really need to get out and about again as I haven't been since the 29th of December eek!
Its perfect running weather today so maybe this evening.......(perhaps)
 
drahawkins_1973 said:
Well done you for going for a run! I really need to get out and about again as I haven't been since the 29th of December eek!
Its perfect running weather today so maybe this evening.......(perhaps)
Click to expand...

Thanks Personally I like mornings for running, generally as my BG seems to be more stable then (normally, unlike this morning but think my bug affected it), also because I work and am a mum it's the only time of day I get to myself, I find I run easily in the morning, less to think about and more motivated too
 
Well? Eye sight has improved. No jab today... Future's so bright along with the sunshine & pupil dilation. I gotta wear shades.

@porl69 @Knikki @kitedoc . I hear you brothers.
Summer of 76, I was a Clinitest pee kit user. Big ol glass syringes. Didn't get given a BG meter till the mid 80s. MDI came along in 1989 with a 3 page booklet on a potted version on how the regime works..
The system for carb counting on diagnosis was "exchanges." Portion control. Going hypo mid morning? Have a snack. Mid afternoon snack.
Night time? Snack before bed.. Lol, my experience back in the days of appointments with the spacialists felt more like a "rehab centre..."

I don't feel as indestructible as I did in my teens.

I know personally of one guy who didn't make it. (A gold medalist.)
I would have liked to share this thread with him & his own tales of "rock & roll", however as confident as he looked on stage. He was a shy man of very little words with his D.

I couldn't play his bass line, any more than he could sing my tune..
 
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