Type 1 Diabetes

Exercise is Changing Diabetes

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Changing DiabetesI can take or leave cycling.... Actually, if you take one look at me you can tell that I just about tick that box for exercise. ▖✓ However, this video came up several times in my twitter and facebook feed and on the 3rd time seeing it I thought maybe there is something in that that I should see and hear.

The answer is YES there was! It’s a 7 minute video filmed by the BBC and I feel, that it is a must see for all people with diabetes. Believe it or not there are still health care professionals in Ireland telling newly diagnosed people to give up exercise, especially competitive sports with their diabetes! 

These amazing people are changing the public’s perception of diabetes all over the world. It’s so powerful to hear about how much time and effort they put into their diabetes management and still make strides competitively. Team Novo Nordisk is the only all diabetes pro cycling team on the planet.

Phil Southerland, founding member of the professional cycling Team Type 1 speaks about how in a time where children with type 1 were not encouraged to exercise his mother saw something positive in his numbers when he did.

Our very own Stephen Clancy from Limerick is a member of this diabetes cycling team that is planning to compete in the 2021 Tour de France. His voice is featured in the introduction to the NovoNordisk promotional video. Stephen was aged 19, and on the path to a successfully career in pro-cycling , when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He was told to give it up!

Stephen Clancy

Thankfully, sometimes it pays off to not listen to your medical team. Please share this video and encourage our children with diabetes to not give up on their dreams because of diabetes and to inspire others.

The Luck of the Irish

As we celebrated St. Patrick's Day last week, I began to reflect of what it’s like to be a person with diabetes living in Ireland. St Patricks Day

The luck o’ the Irish is often referred to in movies, etc, but in actual fact, when it come to diabetes, I think we should called it lucky to be born in Ireland.

We have socialised medicine here, we called it public healthcare. It gives us free test strips, blood glucose meters, insulin and lots of other diabetes medicine without any stipulations.

Private healthcare is an option here too but it usually only covers hospital treatments, although the insurers are starting to cover primary care visits a little.  With private health insurance you could get a private scheduled appointment with an endocrinologist but you don't, in most cases, get the backup of a diabetes nurse specialist or a dietitian.

When I hear stories from my friends in America, especially when I read Riva Greenberg’s piece in the Huffington Post about battling with health insurance companies for diabetes supplies I'm truly thankful that the reason Diabetes Ireland was formed in 1967 was to ensure that diabetes was included on the Health Service’s list of long term illnesses and therefore providing us with free medication and supplies.

We also have excellent health care professionals working in our clinics, just not enough of them.

Sure, there are lots of other things that we don’t have but we are advocating strongly for, such as national access to structured diabetes education, access to psychology, unlimited access to insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring.

And dealing with the health care professionals outside of the diabetes setting is frustrating. And yes, I did have to haggle with my diabetes team to make sure I got my insulin pump 6 years ago and my CGM last November. And yes, sometimes I don’t feel listened to at my clinic. But these are problems that are global.

But we don’t have to beg, wrestle or finance our basic diabetes needs.

A Day of Diabetes - A Good Day!

I wrote this post on Saturday 10th January because it was such a good day and worth recording. Don't worry though I will balance it with A Day of Diabetes - A Not-So-Good Day! And be assured that I do have many of those too:-D It's also written before I got hooked up to my continuous glucose monitoring system.

The alarm went off at 8:28am, I feel well rested but still want another snooze. My husband's alarm went off at 8:30am and I was afraid that I would actually fall back to sleep so I rolled out of bed. I use the term rolled because that is actually what I do. I roll over and off the edge of the bed - it's very effective!

I went downstairs, said good morning to my already fed and dressed daughter on her laptop. I filled the kettle to make tea and she had already made it! How lucky am I? ;-D I popped two slices of wholemeal slice pan into the toaster. While waiting for the toast I did my first blood glucose test of the day. 7.3mmol/l (131.4 mg/dl), what a nice way to start the day. I gave myself insulin to cover the toast and 3 mugs of tea with skimmed milk.

Not my mug! But it's the size required for my morning cuppa.

 After breakfast, it's time to drop the family off to Coderdojo and for me to get the weeks grocery shopping done.

What seemed like a short time later, my insulin pump vibrates to remind me that it's been 2 hours since I took my breakfast bolus and that it's time to check my blood sugars again. 4.4 mmol/l (79.2 mg/dl), a bit on the low side because there is still active insulin in my body so I ate half a granola bar to keep my levels up until lunch and went about collecting the family from Coderdojo and home.

After all the groceries have been put away and both children had been fed, it was time for my own lunch. I decided to have a two egg omelette with smoked salmon and cheese, one slice of wholemeal slice pan again and two perfectly ripe kiwis. While my omelette was cooking I tested my blood glucose and it was 5.2 mmols/l (93.6 mg/dl).

I'm having such a good day. It feels so nice to have good numbers and no crisis hypos getting in the way.

By mid afternoon, I decided that all major household tasks were done for the day and I was going to have about three cups of coffee, read the newspaper and some internet articles. My insulin pump had perfect timing; it vibrated to remind me to test again before I made it to the comfy chair. My blood glucose test revealed 6.0 mmols/l (108 mg/dl). You should have seen my happy face!

Roll on the coffee and two small McVities chocolate biscuits. I know I shouldn't have them. So I've estimated that they work out to be 15 grams and I bolus 1.15 units of insulin. I wonder to myself if the biscuits are more like 20 grams but I decide that the next blood glucose test will reveal it.

Dinner at 7pm and my blood glucose is 7.8 mmols/l (140.4 mg/dl). It's sooooo nice for the things to go right for a change.

The two hour post meal check revealed a 5.8 mmols (104.4 mg/dl) - this is a normal reading for someone without diabetes but for me it's a bit too low for an after meal and with active insulin still in my body I give it a snack to work on. What can I have for a snack? Ohh I haven't had a packet of crisps in months, double ohhh, Salt and vinegar. Sold! So 14g of carbs and a lot of fat later my blood glucose dream comes back to reality with an 11.2 mmols (201.6 mg/dl) result.

Well, it wasn't going to last forever, was it? But when the good days come they should be celebrated. httpsc1.staticflickr.com3289110094390044_aff1fd98a4.jpg

Undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes Kills - please share

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Up to 5 Children and teenagers are diagnosed every week with type 1 diabetes in Ireland, according to Diabetes Ireland.

In 2014, 1 in 6 children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes were admitted to hospital with a potentially life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) which can occur if a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis is delayed.

The purpose of Diabetes Ireland's Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Campaign is two-fold.

The first is to encourage GPs to consider Type 1 diabetes first, as a potential diagnosis when a child presents feeling generally unwell by performing a simple finger prick glucose test to lead to prompt diagnosis.

A delay in diagnosis usually means repeated visits to the GP and can result in diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) which is potentially fatal.

And secondly, to raise awareness among the general population of Type 1 Diabetes signs and symptoms (The 4T's; Toilet, Thirsty, Tired and Thinner) which can attack completely at random.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 20 years old, I have no family history and my lifestyle was quite healthy. I cycled to college and I ate relatively healthy for a student with no money.  *** A healthy lifestyle or not having a family history of diabetes does not protect you from Type 1 Diabetes. Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason.

T1D Awarness 2016

 
 The following are just a few of the tragic stories that have made news headlines;
 You might be fooled into thinking that we are protected in Ireland and that these cases only happen in other countries.  But, seriously, how can we be different?
 
If this post has stirred something in you and you want to do something to create more awareness of Type 1 Diabetes, please share this post or share the facebook post from Diabetes Ireland's Facebook page to whatever social media platform you use.
 
Please share.

Just in case you're wondering; what is DKA?

" Diabetic ketoacidosis is a life-threatening problem that affects people with diabetes. It occurs when the body cannot use sugar (glucose) as a fuel source because there is no insulin or not enough insulin. Fat is used for fuel instead.
When fat breaks down, waste products called ketones build up in the body." Find out more here and there is more information on Diabetic Ketoacidosis Explained at DiaTribe
 

What Good is an Insulin Pump?

Before I state one of the benefits that an insulin pump provides me with, I would like to point out that I believe that they are not for everybody. Off the top of my head, I can name three people who have public profiles who do not use insulin pumps and still do brilliantly with their diabetes management.

Insulin Pump DeMystifiedGood diabetes management is possible while using multiple daily injections. An insulin pump won't magically fix most of your problems with your diabetes - they are a lot of work. So if you are interested in moving to a pump, do your homework and find out exactly how you might benefit, google them, read book on them, talk to one of the representatives from the 2-3 companies who provide pumps in Ireland, talk to other people who have used them, and talk to people who tried them and it didn't work.

 

Now for my story....

I met two people recently that I've known for a while, but I didn't know they have connections to type 1 diabetes. One person is a PwD and one is married to a PwD.As always, the fact that I have an insulin pump comes up in conversation. And, as always, they ask "how I find the pump?" (that's an Irish person's equivalent of "Tell me exactly how you benefit from having it").

They don't really know what an insulin pump is or how it works. This doesn't surprise me because unless you are very interested in getting one you really don't do the research into it and in most of our diabetes clinics it's not really explained. (No need to promote what long waiting lists and lack of resources prevent you from providing).

Both people made the exact same comment of "but you still have to do the finger prick tests"! I wasn't expecting this comment so my response was insufficient. I had said something to the effect of "Well, yeah but I don't have to be messing around with two different types of insulin."

COMPLETELY, forgetting one of the best advantages of an insulin pump!

And I'm so kicking myself that I didn't think of this at the time but the point is you don't have to stab yourself with a needle 5-6 times per day, you only have to stab yourself once every three days. How could I forget that?

Photo from www.diabetespharmacist.com

 

Next time I'll be ready! I hope.

If you are looking for a bit more information on the differences between an Insulin Pump and Multiple Daily Injections, here's some information from http://blog.diabetv.com/differences-insulin-pump-injection/

photo from Medtronic's website