Diabetic Musings

July already?!

2008-07-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, actually the 23rd of July to be exact!
I've been off work for the best part of a week with flu'-like symptons: feeling hot & sweaty then feeling freezing cold, aching everywhere, feeling absolutely exhausted etc..
Today I finally made an appointment to see my GP who diagnosed me with a kidney infection so I am on antibiotics and have been advised not to return to work until next week. In many ways it is a relief as I was fed up with feeling so lousy and couldn't put my finger on why.
I am definitely prone to kidney infections but fortunately I haven't had one in ages. Other than my blood sugar readings being way too high at the moment and the 'new' tablets not making much impact on my blood glucose I have been reasonably well.
I'm due to go back to the eye clinic next month for routine checks on my eyes which tend to bleed at the backs of the retina. So far I have avoided laser treatment but sadly I know that it will be necessary one day.
I have an appointment at the Diabetes centre in Reading early next month to attend an Obesity clinic run by one of the Diabets regitistrar's. I am quite relieved about this in many ways especially as I put on 14kgs with the last lot of tablets I was tried on, I refused to take them any more after the 14kg weight gain in less than 3 months hence the 'new' tablets which frankly don't seem to be making any difference at all to my insulin resistance. I shall be interested to hear any suggestions that are made re: weight as however hard I try to shift the extra weight seems fruitless, mind you being on the enormous doses of insulin that I am on (2 x 80 units basal per day plus 3 x 60 units = a massive 340 units a day!!) it is no wonder I can't lose any weight. All that insulin and my blood sugars average around 13.5mmol...which is just dreadful!
I get very frustrated at times as you can imagine.

Almost June...

2008-05-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go?

My partner and I have been on annual leave all of this week which the first leave I have taken in 7 months. I hadn't realised how much I needed a break and wish, in hindsight, I had taken 2 weeks off! It took me the first couple of days just to relax and stop thinking of work but since then I have really chilled out. We haven't done an awful lot but we have been busy just walking the dogs and pottering around at home which we both love.

My diabetes has been an issue recently, the tablet that I was on and that worked so wonderfully in the beginning had the most depressing side effect of significant weight gain - I put on over 12kgs in just three months! So I am now off that and I am trying a different medication. Regretably it doesn't appear to be having the desired results and my blood sugars are wildly fluating and I feel pretty lousy most of the time. I am still taking huge doese of insulin x5 a day but, frustratingly, this is having little effect and I am very concerned at what my next Hba1C will be when I see the Diabetic Consultant in a couple of weeks.
The other significant development is that I have been diagnosed with Diabetic Retinopathy. It appears that I have been having bleeds at the back of my eyes. This is not good news at all and it is highly likely that I will start having to have laser treatment.

All in all, things are not great medically but I am trying to remain focused and optimistic and I work as hard as ever on my control however frustrating my blood glucose levels are.

2008-03-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

So much for posting regularly....
Life has been pretty busy work wise especially. I work for a large well known mobile phone company and I really enjoy my job but I've taken over a new role and had to become proficient in it very quickly and get the application through an audit which was hard w0rk but as well as that I have also had to write processes for all sorts of aspects of it. This was on top of managing my team and now training up a new starter. I've put in alot of hours overtime lately and I'm looking forward to a rest when I book some holiday.

Life is as always is full of many ups and downs, this particularly true as a Diabetic. Following my Diabetic eye examination changes have been found in the backs of my eyes so I have been referred to the Diabtuc eye clinic at the hospital. I'm not too thrilled with this especially at the moment as I feel as though I am in the dark with what the problem is and what treatment I may have to face. My biggest worry has always been the idea of losing my sight, most other things I reckon I could cope with but going blind really worries me. I received my appointment yesterday and it is early next week; they are certainly not hanging around anyway...

The story continues...

2008-01-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Over the 15 year period since I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes I have had a bit of a roller coaster in terms of my health. Recently I was told that I have a very rare syndrome called Dunningans Syndrome which affects as few as 1:15,000,000. This has gone some way to explain some of the issues that I have been struggling with.

A couple of years ago I had an operation to remove my gall bladder which was an enormous releif after suffering with gall stones for the past 20 years. Whilst I was in hospital, my constantly fast pulse was commented on several times. Even in the middle of the night when I was woken from sleep for my hourly observations it was over 100 beats per minute. After some investigation I was diagnosed with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia which also goes some way to explain my breathlessness that is regularly commented on, particularly when I answer the telephone - I am often asked if I ran to pick up the phone however I have usually been sat quite near the phone and had to reach out to pick it up.

At last it has also been recognised that I am extremely insulin resistant - not great if you rely upon insulin to stay alive and I was taking the most enormous doses at each injection. I felt a huge sense of relief when this was at last recognised as it had been something I had been really concerned about for years as I seemed to be having to take larger and larger amounts of insulin to get any real control.

Currently I am on 5 injections per day - two injections of a Lantus -like insulin which is non peaking insulin and is taken approxiately 12 hours apart, plus my rapid acting insulin prior to each meal. I have also been on some medication that helps make the cells less insulin resistant and one that is seldom used for insulin dependant Diabetics like myself but it has made a huge difference and my blood glucose levels are, I'm delighted to say, at last within the desired 4 - 7 mmol range. To keep my blood glucose under such tight control is extremely hard work as any Type 1 will tell you but I am escatic to have finally reached that fine control that I have been desperate to reach for years!

First post...here goes!

2008-01-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my little space in Cyberland!

This is where I hope to share some aspects of my life as a Type 1 Diabetic which I hope will be of interest to somebody out there someday.

I was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic when my youngest child was 2 years old. Initially I was hospitalised for over a week which I gather is quite rare now and I was immediately put on insulin which was like a miracle drug. When I was first hospitalised my blood sugars were a staggering 44mmol - that's almost 800mg/dl in US terms and I was really quite poorly.

That was 15 years ago and I thought I'd share a little about my journey with you...