Type 1 Diabetes

So i have recently been diagnosed type 1.

started with pissing in the night multiple time.thought not much of it for a week went Doctor “ah we will check you for sexual diseases” ok great highly unlikely as i am as good as married.

10 days pass,carries on pissing in the night got sent for a blood test,had the test at 9 in the morning got a call at 2 saying come back urgently your sugars are high we think its diabetes (massive shock not what i wanted for xmas)

doctor rights me a note that gets me admitted to hospital.get admitted sugars are threw the roof and ketones are way high. essentially i was DKA and few days off a coma. Was also told you are Type one and will be on insulin for life.

im 28, fairly active cycle to work (only 3 miles but still)and cycle at weekends walk to work too.Also love snowboarding. generally in good nick.only passed my driving test 2 days prior to being admitted.

purpose of this is really looking for advice

mainly for the longer ride what do you do sugars wise?do you go with energy sachets in your bottle or jelly babys during the ride?

Winter sport with diabetes?

also as i have literally just passed my driving test i know have to fill out a DIAB1 (have not even got my pink card bit yet)how do you answer some of the questions as i am so newly diagnosed? as i am still really learning what my hypos and hypers feel like.

As i am so new to it i have been asked to be careful with my diet,which is like the worst time of the year to do that.what do i drink at a pub? (most thing have sugars in them)as iam limited to like 1 unit. diabetic friendly deserts?

Advice is greatly appreciated

Liam

Some reading while you wait.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/got-diabetes-cheer-me-up

I can’t really offer any advice but good luck.

This might offer something regarding cycling.

Home

otherwise nhs site will have something although google will probably throw up lots more resources.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type1/Pages/living-with.aspx

If you consider Steve Redgrave had diabetes and what he achieved i would say that with care there is no reason you can’t live your life relatively normally

My wife is Type 1

For help on what to eat and how to adjust for it, can recommend doing the DAFNE course – http://www.dafne.uk.com/%5B/url%5D

My wife did it and it was a week long course with input from doctors and other specialists. It’s on-going and they meet up have reviews periodically

Sorry to here your news, but also welcome to the club!

There’s a fair few of us on here and we all manage OK.

There will be highs and lows, bit in blood glucose levels and moods.

Yes, it can be a massive PITA at times, but there are worse things that can happen. The good thing is that you’ve been diagnosed and are starting treatment. You’ll never quite look at food in the same way again, but it soon become routine.

Been Type 1 diabetic for 40 years (well, it will be in February) and the best advice I can offer is to try and live as normal a life as possible, don’t let it run your life for you.

I’m assuming you’re using a Novopen (or similar). These make life a lot more simple that it used to be and it allows you to control your balance a lot more simply.

don’t expect to get used to it and have it all sorted out in a few weeks, but eventually you’ll probably find yourself looking at food & drink and automatically determining what you need to do prior to eating it/drinking it/exercise.

There are a few of us on here so I’m sure they’ll be someone about most times if you have general questions about it.

As above, sorry to hear that but welcome to the club.

all those on here with Type 1 will be able to advise where possible but we need a few bits of info such as what regime are you on? Basal/bolus injections, insulin pump etc. Your diabetes specialist nurse should be your first port of call for help as its early days and you will need to get your basal/bolus rates sorted, sort out your insulin sensitivity, your carb ratio etc. once you have these sorted then you can start to look at how to control blood sugars during exercise. be careful with exercise to start with and make sure you have someone with you who knows what to do if things go pear shaped as going hypo in the middle of nowhere on a bike or snowboard can be dangerous and frightening.
There are guidelines regarding driving and unfortunately insurers are now asking for evidence of your control if you are involved in an accident, you need to test before driving and on long journeys every 2hrs. You will be ok getting your license renewed every 3 years as long as your control is good, insurance premiums are not increased due to diabetes but you do need to inform your insurance company.

Good luck and stay positive, sh!t will happen but its how you deal with it that counts, been type 1 for 39 yrs, diagnosed at 7 and it still catches me out sometimes.

If there is anything you want to ask, feel free to email me.

good mate and occasional poster on here is living with it and smashes most of us on a ride (just stoking your ego mate…) I’ll link it to him as I’m sure he will post something.

Hi Liam, hope you’re feeling okay. My son was diagnosed with type 1 in February and it really knocked us sideways, here’s my post on it[/url] but he’s coped really really well. We’re very proud of the way he’s handled it and I’m sure your loved ones will be the same with you.

He’s insulin dependent and at 17, now 18, it felt to us like his world had fallen apart but it hasn’t stopped him doing anything. He manages his blood really well and the odd BS of 12 is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. He went to t in the park in summer and to zante with his mates for a week.

He’s also learning to drive and he’s started college in August.

I won’t pretend everything in the garden is rosy, it’s a pain in the arse at times and can be really frustrating, 18 year old boys don’t really want the hassle it brings. But he lives a normal happy life, goes to parties, goes to the pub – he’s not a big drinker anyway but a few pints or a few vodkas don’t affect hos blood very much. He gets tired and his concentration isn’t great at times but he’s coping.

Yep we started buying all the diabetic stuff but his diabetic team told him not to worry about it – just eat as normal and get used to injecting insulin.

Regarding the dvla form, we filled it in for him a week after being diagnosed so you just need to go on the info you have at that time, he hadn’t had a hypo, and still hasn’t, so you can only go on what you know.

sugars are threw the roof and ketones are way high. essentially i was DKA and few days off a coma

Our son was exactly the same, bs in the high 20’s, looked dreadful, felt dreadful, but after about 3 days he felt much better.

You’ll get there, try not to get too stressed about always having your blood bang on, you have a target range for a reason and if it slips outside that occasionally its no big deal.

Happy to chat off line, email in profile and I can give you a call if you want.

Regarding exercise, just be careful, my son plays football and after playing his blood can be quite high then drops rapidly. He sips lucozade sport during a game and that helps things level out.

london_lad_liam – Member

purpose of this is really looking for advice

mainly for the longer ride what do you do sugars wise?do you go with energy sachets in your bottle or jelly babys during the ride?

Winter sport with diabetes?

also as i have literally just passed my driving test i know have to fill out a DIAB1 (have not even got my pink card bit yet)how do you answer some of the questions as i am so newly diagnosed? as i am still really learning what my hypos and hypers feel like.

As i am so new to it i have been asked to be careful with my diet,which is like the worst time of the year to do that.what do i drink at a pub? (most thing have sugars in them)as iam limited to like 1 unit. diabetic friendly deserts?

I’m not the best diabetic in the world tbh but I’ve been doing it for 30 years and I’m not dead… So, first thing, it’s never stopped me doing anything I want. Well OK I think if you want to be a train driver or an astronaut you’re ****ed. But from a biking point of view- you need to be careful, but I’ve done big days out, a 10 hour xc race, the fort william endurance downhill and a couple of enduro world series rounds and it was no fuss. Diabetes wise anyway!

So here’s some scattergun advice.

1, listen to your doctors and nurses, diabetic care in the UK is mostly excellent (if you’re lucky enough to be in Edinburgh it’s superb). It’s a lot to take on but it’s not brain surgery at the end of the day and with modern fast insulin and clever testing machines it’s made a lot easier than it was in the 80s.

2, yep, haribos and energy gels. This is where we’re ahead of the game- most cuclists carry sugar boosts but normal people, if they eat too much, insulin crash… We can’t. Jelly babies are great for trimming blood sugar levels.

3, don’t be afraid to run a little high sometimes. Not always, not often and not massively but there’s a quality of life and a safety balance to strike. If I’m, say, racing fort william til the skin falls off my hands, or down the front at a rock show with 60000 people trying to squish me, or out on the piss, I’m not that worried in the short term about the tightest of control. Margin for error basically. You can’t do this all the time but it’s a useful tool

4, tell your friends, colleagues, everyone. Hypo awareness is complicated, because it’s not just about awareness- when you’re hypo, your brain doesn’t work so things that would tell you you’re hypo might go unnoticed or be misunderstood. I compare it with acting drunk- I tell people, if I seem pissed, let me know, treat me like a pissed person- explain, persuade. You know that guy who’s legless and says “I’m not pished”, that can be us. You’ll learn yourself how you react- I’m a pretty tranquil hypo, some people are very impressionable (my mate Drew turns into playdoh, it’s brilliant), some pretty aggressive… As a new diabetic it’s very likely you’ll have some decent sized hypos, you want to avoid them as much as possible but you also want to build your safety net

5, drinking. TBH it’s complicated this- alcohol can lower your blood sugar, but many alcoholic drinks contain carbs so push it back up. If you’re not on the alcohols then diet soft drinks in the pub usually. The bigger issue imo is consequences; a bad hypo can be hard to distinguish from being pissed, so you need to be careful. And likewise, if you fall into a pissed stupor you can go very hypo and just sleep through it. Also waking up hungover and with very high blood sugar is like demonic possession.

There’s lots of learning curves here, and lots of stuff that as soon as you figure it out, you discover there’s a more complicated version of the rules- you’ll generally start out simple and that can feel quite restrictive at first because the learner version is kind of about you being driven about by your diabetes. Then as you figure it out and learn how your own diabetes works you take control of it more. So don’t panic and feel it’s always like this.

If they talk about DAFNE, take it. Diabetic care is incredibly faddish and full of cure-alls and right now DAFNE is the terminology they’re using to dress up stuff that most experienced diabetics do already, as if it were a new thing. But for new diabetics it’s a very powerful tool, and the intensive courses can progress you massively.

But most importantly don’t worry! It’s pretty much the best chronic condition there is, at least 😉 It takes a while but sooner later you’ll find you’re almost as smart as your pancreas. And the long term goal is an almost completely normal life with a bit of added fannying about.

mainly for the longer ride what do you do sugars wise?do you go with energy sachets in your bottle or jelly babys during the ride? Winter sport with diabetes?

Mrs Poly is Type 1. She rides and skis. Sport has (at least until recently) been one of her biggest challenges with it (other than childbirth – which you will fortunately miss out!). She mostly does this with friends (or me!) who know her and understand the need to stop to check sugars regularly and to encourage her to eat when needed.

Winter sports causes extra challenges – your sugar meter may not like being very cold so keep it well inside your jacket, close to body. Not to mention that reduced blood flow to fingers makes sample extraction trickier!

My dad is also Type 1 – he cycles about 20 miles most days for fun. He is pretty well controlled, but probably causes us all more concern than my wife as he is almost always on his own.

If you’ve just been diagnosed this week I think it will take a wee while to adapt and work out what works for you. Everyone is different. Your diabetes team should be able to provide specialist advice on sport/exercise – push them if they don’t, they are so use to seeing people who are inactive and who don’t really care for themselves well they can become a bit conditioned to providing the minimum rather than the maximum advice. Being tired and sweaty on a bike can mask some of the symptoms of a hypo so set an alarm that forces you to take sugars every X mins (Mrs P does every 30-40 mins on road bike). I’d suggest avoid going alone for the first few long rides, and go with someone else who is well briefed including how to deal with it if you refuse to eat when sugar is low (you may not believe this yet – but you will probably refuse to take a sweet drink even though it is the rational thing to do etc). If you must go alone, tell someone your route and take a phone with you (pref with Endomondo or other “find my friend” app running). Once you gain confidence you will be fine.

One thing to be aware of is that generally the advice will be not to exercise above a certain sugar level. You MAY also be advised to take fast acting insulin in that circumstance. Consider carrying your fast acting insulin with you.

In Mrs P experience it will take a bit of messing around with different insulins, needle length, eating times etc before you get to a regime that works for you. She moved to pump therapy this year (after several months on a waiting list) but I believe they don’t automatically do this to start with as you need to have a good understanding of your body and the disease to get the best out the technology. If/when you get the chance it makes a huge difference for sport. She has just invested in a CGM to help manage sugar levels during sport etc. Thats “expensive” and not normally available on the NHS.

I think she prefers to have non sugary drink in the bottle / camel pack, because if her sugars are creeping up she can still drink. She carries Glucojuice with her in a pocket (similar to Lucozade but she much prefers it, and its a very convenient size). She eats jelly babies etc for on going sugar. One thing to be aware of is that sugar levels continue to fall after you stop riding (on a 4hr ride they can keep falling for the next 4 hrs) that takes a wee bit of getting your head around!

also as i have literally just passed my driving test i know have to fill out a DIAB1 (have not even got my pink card bit yet)how do you answer some of the questions as i am so newly diagnosed? as i am still really learning what my hypos and hypers feel like.

just answer the questions honestly and ask your team for help if you don’t understand. (e.g. put “Newly diagnosed” if it asks a question you can’t answer) – they are assessed by a group at DVLA who will understand.

As i am so new to it i have been asked to be careful with my diet,which is like the worst time of the year to do that.what do i drink at a pub? (most thing have sugars in them)as iam limited to like 1 unit. diabetic friendly deserts?

Ok – well as a general rule avoid anything with full sugar mixers (unless your sugar is low – then its a cheeky excuse!). As you are new to it you need to be aware that being drunk and being hypo can be easily confused both by yourself and by your friends/family. Taking it at extremes: being sick is bad (because then you have no idea how much carbs you have consumed and you have probably already taken your insulin), being too hungover to face food the next day is also bad. If you can avoid those two then you “just” need to worry about what what Alcohol does to your sugar levels and and the sugar content in drinks. Again take your sugar regularly (set a reminder) and possibly even during the night and you will be fine. If you get to the point where you are too pissed to take your sugar or too drunk to care that is probably too far. If you can’t trust yourself to do that, you can win friends as the designated driver, and not drinking for one christmas isn’t the end of the world.

Deserts are just fast acting carbs. Beware of just how much sugar is in some. Go easy on the portions – but you don’t have to avoid completely. Not sure if they’ve got you carb counting / Dafne stuff yet. Eating out is harder as its guess work but this book (larger size also available and I think there is probably an app) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1908261072/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1908261072&linkCode=as2&tag=polwart-21 is useful.

Whilst we’re on the ‘doesn’t stop you doing anything’ topic, and this is something I was going to post separately. My son went to zante for a week and coped fine, next year his mates are talking about doing interrailing for a month, son doesn’t think that’s doable.

I’m sure it is, just can’t figure out the logistics of it.

Any thoughts?

As above we have that book and our son has the app. Eating out can be a bit of a pain, our son won’t test blood or inject in public so having to go to the loo after a meal does spoil it for him a bit. That’s one piece of advice I would give – don’t be shy about it – it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Obviously you want to be discreet but you don’t need to hide what you’re doing.

As above, OP, you’ll be able to carry on doing the things you’ve been enjoying, you’ll just have to try to be a bit more aware. Easier said than done, I know. 😐
I was diagnosed at the tender age of 30, I’m 56 now.
For long days of MTB, I have a bottle of High5 in the cage, water in the Camelbak bladder and gels and cereal biscuits handy. I try to set off with my bm at about 10 and sip from the bottle when I remember. If it’s a road ride, one bottle of water, one of High5
Bm test kit and insulin fit in the Camelbak or back pocket easily enough. When there’s a stop, run a check, sort it from there.
You’ll find your own way of coping, any mistakes you make, try and learn from them.
Hopefully, your diabetes team will be able to help, but as above, you might have to show them that you’re interested in learning.
See if you can get on a DAFNE course, it’ll help lots, even just chatting with the other diabetics on the course, you’ll find out that you’ve all got the same/similar issues.
Good luck!

Ms TPT has the 50 year medal for her T1. As said before DAFNE is to be grasped as soon as it is offered. Diabetes UK has some good stuff.

Volunteer for trials, it gets you some leading edge kit for less than your GP may be able to prescibe (post code dependent faffage).

I was sat next to a chap at our work Xmas do on Friday, in the New Year he was starting with a University of Leeds spin off company developing the glass sensor component for a blood glucose measuring device. All optical, no finger prick, no blood sample required! Possible launch in 2017.

Future looking good for making your life easier.

Sorry you’re T1D, but at least it’s been discovered and hopefully before any real damage was done.

Congrats on passing your driving test btw, I hope you get it all sorted out as soon as possible.

Always, Always Always carry some short and long chain sugars.

Make it part of a ritual as you pick up your phone and keys.

If you start going low (sweats, irritable , shakes) stop whatever you are doing and eat right then. Part of going low is ignoring the symptoms.

It’s weird I can spend a day digging ramps and berms on half a Twix but can crash right out walking round a supermarket.

Allow yourself time to recover from colds and other mild illnesses.

You can still drink beer …yeah

Whilst we’re on the ‘doesn’t stop you doing anything’ topic, and this is something I was going to post separately. My son went to zante for a week and coped fine, next year his mates are talking about doing interrailing for a month, son doesn’t think that’s doable.

I’m sure it is, just can’t figure out the logistics of it.

Any thoughts?

Gary – what does he mean not doable? Of course it can be done, but depending on the mates and the type of mess they get themselves into it could be a bad idea – and of course it might well be that the diabetes is just one factor in not going on the piss constantly for a month.

Logistics challenges: (1) Having enough insulin and strips with you – shouldn’t be a problem they don’t take much space. (2) Keeping insulin cool – there are travel packs around designed to help storage. (3) Spare pens and meter – shit gets broken and bags can get stolen so having spare kit perhaps in someone else’s bag would be wise. (4) Understanding where to get get help if its needed – the internet probably solves 99% of these problems, but a bit of research in advance would offer comfort about what will be needed, a letter from your doctor confirming your diagnosis and normal meds (or even a repeat prescription form) might be useful, and if going off the beaten track perhaps having a piece of paper with “I am insulin dependant diabetic, I need to get some sugary drink” in various languages might be helpful. (5) If he’s on a pump then the contact details for the “pump support team” who will get his replacement to him if it breaks. (6) Lots of dextrose tablets / glucojuice etc. E1-11 card, good travel insurance and ideally a credit card for dealing with any crisis and most problems can be solved, especially if he knows there is someone on the end of the phone back home who is keen to support him and will google a solution etc!

good mate and occasional poster on here is living with it and smashes most of us on a ride (just stoking your ego mate…) I’ll link it to him as I’m sure he will post something.

That would be me then. Thanks.

Most of what I would give as advice has already been listed. Like the posters above, it shouldn’t hold you back from any sport, though it can make them a bit of a faff. In the last year, I’ve raced a full season (15 races) of DH and Enduro (including the EWS at Peebles), 2 Olympic distance Triathlons, been snowboarding, ice-climbing and winter mountaineering (we even tried combining the two, and went splitboard-mountaineering. It is epic fun). I even surf. Badly.

Advice from my (counts on fingers…) 28 years of living with type 1:

1) Learn the your low sugar/high sugar symptoms, the difference between being tired and low sugared. Especially for driving this is vital, but it comes in really handy on bikes. I am at the point where I can tell pretty accuratly when gurning up a hill whether I am low sugared and a cheeky jelly baby is going to help, or whether I am just shagged out, and my blood sugar is normal-ish. I quite often see dots and things in my vision if I exert myself when I’m low sugared.

2) As mentioned above, blood meters don’t work when it’s really cold, and insulin freezes at something like -20, so when winter mountaineering, keep them in your jacket. Use sandwich bags or something to keep the meter dry (I have killed a few by getting them soggy). Warming them up in an armpit works pretty well when out biking. I have one of the Accu-Check Mobile meters, which use a cassette type system rather than strips. It means that you don’t end up with loads of little used blood strips in ALL of your bags, your car, your house and anywhere you ever go. It is slow though. 8 seconds in this day and age. FML.

3) Drink – I had a few wobbles in my first couple of months at Uni, it go a lot easier when I figured out just how much sugar is in pretty much anything except beer and whiskey. Wine I find particularly tricky, even now. As I understand it, the fruit juice (because that is basically what wine is from a nutritional standpoint) pushes your blood sugar up, then magically the alcohol later pushes it down. Like a fun drunken see-saw.

4) Adrenalin – this is probably the biggy for me control wise – adrenalin pushes up my blood sugar crazy hard, even when exercising. If I go climbing at an indoor wall clipping bolts, hard snowboarding, downhill racing (race runs particularly) I find I have to inject extra insulin to keep my blood sugars in line. I tend not to eat all that much when I’m out doing scary stuff.

5) You should pronounce it like this: at least half the time when you talk to other people about it. Scientific fact. It will make them and you much less down about it.

6) The Post-Exercise Crash – poor end of ride snacking has caused most of my hypos in the last few years, it seems for me that once I stop exercising my blood sugar will drop quite quickly (I guess the body is restocking the liver with energy or something). Anyhow, I find it is related to the intensity of the ride or whatever I just finished, plus how much I have done on previous days – if I have been riding all week I find I need to eat quite a bit after I stop riding.

7) Most importantly (this was a source of great annoyance until I figured it out had it explained to me by a very friendly nekkid Nursey student type) getting frisky while low sugared will make it very difficult to erm… arrive, and in certain situations will leave you in the unenviable situation of attempting to thumb in a softy. I keep a squeezy honey container by the bed now, which fixes this sort of thing within 10-15 minutes.

Good luck. Email in profile if you would like to talk anything over.

Dan

Liam, its certainly not the news you want to hear and I know that when I developed type 1 I was totally knocked sideways by it. I was 28-29 also and probably the fittest I have ever been…..ands like you I was lucky to be diagnosed before getting really ill and being admitted with ketoacidosis.

8 years in and its been a long learning curve that has had its ups and downs. I got registered with a very good diabetes specialist nurse in Bristol and generally tried to learn as much as possible about all aspects of it. Getting involved with the systems available to you (i.e. the specialists nurses) is massively important to learn about the condition, how insulin works and how to tweek it, how and when to monitor, learning about the physiology, etc etc etc…..but at the end of the day its about managing it yourself on a daily basis. The more you understand it the easier it becomes to do that, and whilst at the moment you will be looking to the medical professionals for the answers you will eventually find that you become the expert in how your diabetes works. Just takes time.

The biggest issue for me was (and still is to some degree) hypos. I used to suffer from regular, sudden and sometime bad hypos. These aren’t fun, and I’m sure you have now experienced many of them. The good news is the better your control gets and the more you get used to having diabetes, the better equipped you are to deal with them / recognised them / prevent them, and they will therefore become less frequent. Always carry something sugary with you…..I always fill the empty test stick container with jelly beans and keep them in my pocket!

Similar to above advice, I cycle mainly on the road bike now and always carry gels, and never let myself run out of energy. for longer road rides I tend to eat before with very little insulin and then take two bottles – one with water and one with a fruit juice and water mix with say 40grams of carbs in it. I then carry a few gels which I usually start to eat after about 1.5 – 2 hours along with the fruit juice bottle, when the novorapid will be almost used up and therefore my blood sugar may be starting to drop.

Snow sports aren’t difficult – again just test regularly, and carry gels or something similar. I have done a bit of long distance open water swimming that required a bit more thought and a couple of gels stuffed into a swim hat. I surf (not very often unfortuanly) but always test before I go in and only stay in for about 45-60 minutes before coming out again and re-testing. I even travelled around the world 9 months after developing diabetes without too much trouble…..just needed to take a lot of insulin and kit with me.

It shouldn’t stop you doing too much unless you want to drive a truck or fly a plane, but even now there are some determined people who have proved that their control is good enough! Make sure you tell the DVLA and your travel insurance, and make sure you test prior to driving and take breaks when driving to test.

Good luck with it. Its not what you would’ve asked for Christmas I’m sure, and it will take time to get to grips with, but I can vouch for the fact that it really shouldn’t have to restrict your life in any way.

Also, check out this site for people with diabetes doing lots of different sports. I found it very useful to read other peoples anecdotes about lots of different sports.

http://www.runsweet.com/

These aren’t fun, and I’m sure you have now experienced many of them

In the 10 months since my son was diagnosed he hasn’t had a single props hypo. When guy say ‘experienced many of them”, are they a regular occurance then?

Not for me, fortunately.
Could he try a controlled hypo, Gary? I mean, inject say 2 units of insulin, not eat, but go out as a family for a walk. Everyone gets the experience? Don’t forget the jelly babies. 💡

Could he try a controlled hypo, Gary? I mean, inject say 2 units of insulin, not eat, but go out as a family for a walk. Everyone gets the experience? Don’t forget the jelly babies

Yeh like an 18 year old youth is going to go out for a walk with his parents 🙂

Yeah, what do we know, eh?
Stop worrying about him, then, he’ll sort it. Or he won’t. 😉

Gary M – presumably you mean a proper, full on, unconscious and having a fit on the floor type of hypo? I’d just be aware of what to do, and when (not if, it’s not a perfect science and everyone makes mistakes) it does happen you should be ready. Don’t be scared to call an ambulance, my parents only did this once when they thought I was too far gone.

I am T1 and have had a few over the years, always with an explanation of what I did wrong to cause it/ not stop it, latest was during the night two months ago, I’d been playing tennis all evening and had a bite to eat when I got home, but crucially took insulin with it as that’s normal…. The worst was walking along Argyle St in Glasgow and suddenly realised I needed sugar NOW and didn’t have anything with me, staggered into Tesco looking for the sweets aisle and distinctly remember everyone (including the staff) laughing at me, as I was obviously pissed!!! As I get really confused when going hypo, I don’t really have a clue what’s going on or what I’m doing. So some sort of ID I think is essential (I use medic alert). Btw I came round hanging onto a bin in a street, not good…

It’ll keep him on his toes. But I do think I’m healthier overall than I would’ve been, that possibly goes for my whole family too as they are more aware of sugar etc.

But I’d stress that he can’t just ignore it. Until the cure arrives, it’s a life long situation, there’s no getting away from it sadly. I kinda ignored it a bit when I was at uni but it’s fine now.

I am even enjoying going rallying which I thought would never happen (just co-driving, can’t afford to drive). Don’t let it stop him doing anything he wants to do!

And I gladly inject in the middle of restaurants etc. you don’t know what you’d catch in a toilet!

overwhelmed witht he response 🙂
so amazing tips and pointers.

At the moment i an on the BASEL programme,want to keep me on that for 6 months then i can go on a DAFNE.want to do it Sooner really have a festival in april…

as for hypo hyper,i dont notice the hypers as much as the hypos.because its all relativly new i “think” i know when i am having a hypo. shakey,hard to concentrate etc.

As for the sbowboarding i think im going to spend a day at the snowdome see what my BS are saying should give me a better idea when i am on a proper slope.get used to doing it in the cold.

As for the riding i have started doing some short rides on a brompton (yes i own a brompton) to the doctors and shops etc to keep legs tockkng over and i do notice after riding my sugars are lower. i have a good mate who i will show what to do if i hypo and will try a longer mtb in the new year

reassuring to know i am not alone and som amazing advice thank you STW

also how do you all feel about the flu jab?
worth getting? my gp keeps pushing it vut have heard mixed things

I’ve had the flu jab every year for ages now. Haven’t had the flu, but whether that’s down to the jab of not is anyone’s guess. I’ve not had any bad reactions to them either.

I was diagnosed 20 years ago (but can remember having some of the classic symptoms waaay before that, just didn’t know) and still have absolutely no awareness of being high. I asked my consultant about this yesterday as I happened to have my 6 month appointment and he said that it’s very common not to have any hyper awareness.

I am now looking forward to a few days of being surrounded by carbohydrate based foods and pumping huge amounts of insulin. Mince pies have a shocking amount of sugar in them! I shall balance it out by trying eat my own bodyweight in cheese 😀

But I’d stress that he can’t just ignore it. Until the cure arrives, it’s a life long situation, there’s no getting away from it sadly. I kinda ignored it a bit when I was at uni but it’s fine now.

Thanks for the advice. He certainly doesn’t ignore it, he manages it pretty well. He’s clued up enough to adjust hos long acting and short acting doses if his blood level needs tweaked.

Snowsports can be trickier I think just because some of the symptoms of a hypo are the same as the symptoms of cold, exertion and adrenaline and boarders/skiers tend not to constantly stuff themselves with sweeties like bikers, but it’s basically the same deal. Plan for burning more sugar, test more often.

I get the flu jab… TBH as a fit diabetic you’re not really much more at risk from the flu, especially once you have a handle on your control. But it’s free and it means you don’t get the flu, what’s not to like? Unless you get a reaction, but you find this out by trying it.

I can only echo most of the sentiments already expressed.

My Stepson was diagnosed back in 2010 at the age of 12. He had a terrible time coming to terms with it all, but he’s made excellent progress.

There were two game changers on the way that helped him move forward. The first step was to make sure he had access to the very best clinic care we could find, so we asked our GP to refer him to UCLH in London. The second most important step was to get him trained on how to use an insulin pump.

Liam, the very best thing you can do is to give yourself time to adjust. You will get your head around hypos and hypers and the subtle signs when you’re running low or high. Don’t allow your GP to ration your testing strips, you’re entitled to test as many times as you want and in the early days it’ll help improve your confidence and control.

If you’ve a smartphone to hand then there’s an extremely useful app called Carbs and Cals which you can use to work out the carb content of foods and dose your bolus accordingly. I guarantee that within six months you’ll be better at estimating carb content of food than any app, but it all helps in the early days.

london_lad_liam – re the flu jab:

Proper flu is a truly horrible condition, which means you are unable to get out of bed for a week and you can’t eat etc. It is not just a “bad cold”. People, even normally healthy people, sometimes die from flu and its associated complications. A GP friend of mine says a good test for flu is to offer the person £100 to walk from their bed to their bedroom door. If they don’t even think about it they have flu!

As a T1 diabetic, even when your sugar level is brilliantly controlled, your immune system is slightly more vulnerable to catching viruses like flu. As you will still be working out how to get good control (and even a cold can throw it out) you will be a bit more vulnerable than well practiced diabetics this year.

As a diabetic your body is a little less able to fight off flu than the rest of us. So if you do get sick it might take a little longer to recover, and you might actually get/feel sicker.

However most importantly being ill screws up your sugar levels. Proper flu means you won’t be able to eat. That will screw things up even more.

You really don’t want to be admitted to hospital on a glucose and insulin drip so personally I’d say that even though your chance of getting flu and kicking the bucket is only marginally worse than mine I personally would get the injection (in your shoes) as flu+diabetes don’t mix well.

People who say they “caught flu” from the immunisation almost certainly have never had proper flu. It is possibly you will feel a little off colour for a day or two as you body generates resistance to the inactivated virus. If that happens remind yourself that this is inactive virus and how much worse you’d feel if it were live.

Similar as my diagnosis but my GP was on it…. Couple of weeks of huge pisses, massive thirsts, rapid weight lost and cramps. Blood test, GP at my front door “get to hospital, BSL off the charts high”

Nearly 20 years later. Insulin Pump. Still have good and bad days. There’s no such thing as a perfect T1 diabetic. It’s a tight rope balancing act. Hard to stay on and easy to fall either way.

Fire any questions my way.

Oh, you’ll go through a denial phase… Get through it quickly. Look at some of the old timers that are in wheel chairs with lower limb losses, blind, neuropathy etc. It can be managed, you can manage it.

Yep, being ill as a T1 sucks 😥

Sugar levels go all over the place and are a right bastid to bring in line.

But, if you have a good GP, they will take this into account and prescribe all the good stuff to get you sorted.

As aphex says, it’s a balancing act. Once you’re ‘dialed in’ it will be good most of the time. But every once in a while it will go bonkers for no discernible reason, don’t beat yourself up, just see if you can work out why it might have happened and move forward.

. If you’re not on the alcohols then diet soft drinks in the pub usually.

Little rant… every single pub we’ve ever been in since our lad was diagnosed T1 has had NO sugar free drinks apart form caffeinated Coke. You’d have thought in this day and age, stocking some diet or zero sugar Sprite or lemonade or something would be a no brainier… but it’s teeth and brain rotting drinks all the way if you don’t want Coke. Fear of a fat planet…

Oh, once you’re settled, get the flu “jab” for sure, as others have said. The boy can manage his BS really well, ’till he’s ill, then it goes horribly wrong.

And riding food is easy… carry lots of stuff you like. And then a bit more.

How are you doing Liam? Hope you’re not finding it as bad as you thought initially

Bump!

All good?