[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

I almost wish I didn't get this trial of the Libre....

Has anyone started to mail their TD's etc about the stupid age restriction???

Just in the middle of firing off a few, cant do any harm

Meauldsegosha wrote: »

I emailed my TDs about it and I got a standard response from the HSE about it.

The Minister will be answering questions about it in the Dail today at 5.00pm.

damn, and I will be on the commute home from work. wonder if you can watch it online?

Watch for Mary Butler TD Waterford with questions for minister fro health on the Libre. About 5:40pm

Meauldsegosha wrote: »

I emailed my TDs about it and I got a standard response from the HSE about it.

The Minister will be answering questions about it in the Dail today at 5.00pm.

So I got reply from Charlie Flanagan's office on Saturday (who knew they worked 6 days a week!)

Anywho, was asked to pass on my mobile number and that "Charlie has raised the issue with Minister Harris" and they will revert to me with an update, or I can call his office this week some time.

Sure all we can do is keep putting pressure on them.

CramCycle wrote: »

My answer was for type 1s but, depending at what stage you are with type 2, a not too dissimilar effect will occur. For most type 2s, unless it has progressed quite a bit, I imagine would return to normal after awhile.

I was referring to Makikomi.

33 years since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes - I used to get upset as a child but got into the habit of only allowing this day to be upset about it - I stopped getting upset about it years ago as a result. I do have other medical conditions which are worse so the diabetes gets downplayed. I do work on it all the time as my diabetes is brittle from cancer surgery but looking after it is like breathing to me.

banjobongo wrote: »

hi all.
I was diagnosed with type 1 about 1.5 yrs ago. Pretty well under control, last few 3 mths readings were 53.
This week I had a scheduled colonoscopy, which involved fasting from 9am onwards for 1 day and until the procudre was finished the following day. So the advice from my diabetes nurse was half units for the morning on the first day and then no more insulin until next meal, just keep an eye on the blood sugar levels.
I was expecting to see my levels get low, but no, they went high, around 18 - 20, for both days, so I guess is shows me I need the insulin to keep it manageble.
Still, it was a surprise to me.

I am very much open to correction here, but I think you saw an increase in blood sugars when you didnt eat as your body still continued to burn stored fats/energy to keep your body running while fasting. This will be less than if you had eaten, but will be uncontrolled as you havent any insulin to control it.

thehorse wrote: »

I’ve been told I’ve a small amount of macular odema in my left eye. I’m Diabetic almost 20yrs and my hba1c is 41% at last check which is in the almost non Diabetic range.
The doctors said they will discuss my issue as injecting the eye is risky and cause other problems.
My eyesight is perfect in both eyes.

Just wondering has anyone had this problem and have they got it treated ?
My belief is that odema comes and goes

Thanks a mill

Had a very similar scare back in August, so I feel your pain/fear/anxiety/sadness.

My HbA1C was 46 at the time, and since then has come down to 34, so it was quite a surprise to me, which I imagine is the same for you.

Here's my timeline, hopefully it helps you.

• Noticed mid-August that my right eye was blurry in my center vision when reading, where I'd had perfect vision in both eyes until then.
• Called the Mater Hospital DRT Clinic (finally separated from the emergency eye clinic) and got an appointment for the next day.
• Got my OCT scan and saw the ophthalmologist all within 20 minutes.
• He said that I'd had an aneurysm (macular edema) in a vessel very close to the fovea of my right eye, and this was causing the blurryness
• Booked me in for lazer surgery about 4 weeks later to close the leaking blood vessel.

After that, I of course spent 48 hours straight reading everything about retinopathy and maculopathy and all of the treatment, and freaked out.

With lazer treatment, there are two methods. Focal targets one vessel, and scatter is a kind of "ring" of defense to stop vessels getting bigger, but that's for very advanced retinopathy.

So with focal lazer treatment, there is a chance of impaired vision, but the impairment is said to be far less than the impairment from untreated aneurysms. Plus, you can come out of the lazer treatment without any problem at all.

So, after reading this, I went to David Keegan in the Mater Private for a second opinion because the original opthalmologist was extremely nonchalant about something that to me was the biggest scare I've had in my life.

Turns out David Keegan is actually the head of the retina screening programme, and really knows what he's talking about.

He reviewed my OCT scans, talked about my control and blood pressure, and said that because the aneurysm is so close to the fovea (which is essential for sight) that lazer would be risky, so it could be better to wait and see. He emphasized that wait and see was only really possible thanks to tight control and good pressure.
Obviously I don't know what your situation is or where the aneurysm is, but it was what I did.

So, I waited and seed!

I went back a few days before Christmas to the DRT in the Mater, and did the OCT Scan again. At this stage, my eyesight was perfect again, no blurring, so I was quite optimistic.
Turns out that waiting was the best thing. The bleeding had stopped, and the fluid was starting to clear from my eye, and there were no new aneurysms.

Eventually, if my control and blood pressure stay good, it should all clear up and there should be no further problems.
The interesting thing was that they put a strong emphasis on blood pressure being almost as important as blood glucose control. So just something else to consider.

So if you want, you can wait and see, or certainly insist on another OCT before they start the lazer/injection treatment.
The injections are a little less risky than lazer, but I think they only do the anti-VEGF injections if you're showing new aneurysms and leakage.

So that's my one and only experience with it after 15 years of diabetes. Hopefully it's been somewhat helpful to you. Feel free to ask any other questions.

Caros wrote: »

Hi guys, I've been type 2 diabetic for the last few years and on glucophage and diamicron. My last hba1c's were 12.4 (!) in January, and my gp said she'd refer me to see an endicrinologist about going on insulin - still waiting. Blood sugar levels are all over the place, 17.2 at 9.30p.m. last night, 11.4 this a.m. I feel at this stage if I eat a lettuce leaf my bloods are going up.
I don't have medical insurance or a medical card, but I do have a long term illness card. Can anyone tell me if I go privately to see the endicrinologist would it get me in quicker?

You can sign up for a free diabetes education course called CODE through Diabetes Ireland. A lot of members in our type 2 diabetes meet up group ha e done it and they all say it was really good for figuring their diabetes management out.

hi all
Im just curious about pumps, I know nothing about them. Im Type one and I inject my insulin every day (4 times a day) and my control seems to be pretty good. Can anybody let me know the basics of what pump is, is it for everybody with Type one or only for certain types of diabetes, the advantages and drawbacks? JUst curious to learn a bit more!
Thanks!

In it's very simplest terms, an insulin pump is a device which is worn at all times day and night which constantly delivers insulin via tubing which is connected to your body via an infusion set. The infustion set is typically comprised of a small plastic canula which sits just under the skin which delivers the insulin into your body. Most infusion sets do not have a metal needle which remains under the skin, however a metal needle is used to insert/change the infusion set every 3 days or so.

The insulin pump contains one type of insulin, in my case Nova Rapid, but it will always be a quick acting insulin. The pump is programmed when you receive it to give you doses measured in Units per Hour. For example, my morning units look like this:

00:00 0.7U/H
03:00 0.725U/H
09:30 0.9 U/H

So this means between midnight and 3am my pump is constantly pumping a dose of 0.7U/H. Which means that every few minutes the device pumps a very small amount of insulin. And then as my needs change during the day the amount of insulin per hour changes.

This is one huge advantage of the pump, you can get a very minute control over your dosage. You can even use a temporary basal to change these on the fly if you are going to play sports/do exercise. You can quickly tell the pump to only deliver 50% of your dosage for a set time (1 hour for example) until your activity is complete.

Then you have your bolus insulin. Your insulin given for food and blood sugar corrections. This is pretty self explanatory, but whenever you eat carbohydrates, you input the amount of carbs you've eaten into the pump, and it uses your pre-programmed carb to insulin ration to calculate your insulin requirements. You can add in your current blood sugar too, to allow the pump to give more or less depending on what range you current sugar is in.

And to add to this, most current pumps come with a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor). This is an additional device which you wear (usually on your abdomen). This is a system which constantly reads your blood glucose throughout the day and can warn you about highs and lows, and in my pumps case it can automatically take action to prevent a low. The pump screen shows you a graph with all your readings for the last 24hours and it tells you the CGM's most recent reading. It is important to note that despite it's name a CGM is not actually reading blood glucose, it uses the interstitial fluid just below your skin to obtain a sugar reading which closely relates to your blood glucose.

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Wow this is scary poor lady

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/diabetic-motheroftwo-died-of-brain-injury-after-blood-sugars-dropped-to-fatal-level-36632990.html

“She was drooling and I was worried she’d gone into a diabetic coma,” he said. He called paramedics who administered insulin on arrival.

I assume the bit about administering insulin is a mistake in the report?

Really sad either way, to mistakenly take 68 units, plus the issues that alcohol can give with hypoglycemia anyway.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

The article states that the pump was functioning correctly, and that there was a self administered 68 units of insulin. My pump is configured to only allow a max single bolus of 10 units. This was the default value, it is however possible to increase this to 75units. I would wonder if she attempted a set change while intoxicated and primed the pump while attached?

That being said, the article is clearly off when it states that paramedics gave insulin when they arrived. It also strikes me as strange that her husband didn't know how to react to this scenario, a shot of glucagon was called for, but even still it might have been too late.

I wouldn't let this article put anyone off a pump, it's obviously a tragedy, but it sounds like alcohol coupled with user error caused this.

It would kind of Putnyou off the pump, I think I will stick to administering my own insulin.
Some things don’t add up and it would be good to see a better report but did her husband not try and test her bloods?
Did the paramedics give her a shot of insulin? Did they check her blood sugars on arrival?
If drinking alcohol would you be better off removing the pump and manually administering insulin?

Snake Plisken wrote: »

It would kind of Putnyou off the pump, I think I will stick to administering my own insulin.
Some things don’t add up and it would be good to see a better report but did her husband not try and test her bloods?
Did the paramedics give her a shot of insulin? Did they check her blood sugars on arrival?
If drinking alcohol would you be better off removing the pump and manually administering insulin?

It's already been said but you are still administering your own insulin on a pump. Just as there is a chance of you administering the wrong done with a pen, there is a chance you could with a pump. But the pump has plenty of safe guards to prevent stacking dosages. It tells you how much insulin is active, it saves a history of all boluses given.

I am a pump fan. And obviously it is fine for others to not want or like pumps. I just don't want the reasoning behind that to be based on misinformation.