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[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,316 ✭✭✭✭RobbingBandit


    Screwed up bad in the past two months crashed off my meds due to Autistic crisis, just been to gp and pharmacy explaining situation gp failed to mention both .25 and .5 ozempic are out off stock. I have to have cataract removed have stable Charcot and unstable osteomyelitis. Still have 2 full pens of ozempic but no more available from my pharmacy. Am unable to take alternative and weight is back to 120kg.

    Due to meet endo team in 13 days 6 months since last appointmen.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,024 ✭✭✭IrishHomer


    Folks y appreciate advice, I'm a type 2 diabetic for approximately 8 years I'm a male aged 55.

    My driving licence is due to expire in January.

    I just went online to start the licence renewal and I was shocked it asked me was I a diabeticd the several additional questions should be a yes such as: do you get dizzy spells, do you have hearing loss. It also stated at the start I need to submit a medical report.

    I suffer with vertigo and I think it's getting worse and I've severe tinnitus and wea a hearing aid in one ear.

    Has anyone else been in a similar position?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,760 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    Are you sure you need a medical report? Not all diabetics do. Type 1s pretty much always do, I think, but type 2s only need medical report if they are on medication that can cause hypos. Check with your pharmacist if this applies to your medication.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,024 ✭✭✭IrishHomer


    I made a mistake whei I reread it, it had asked am I a diabetic injecting inulin and I'm not so all the additional questions are not relevant



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,114 ✭✭✭ebbsy


    Was back in Newcastle yesterday for the Noctura 400 masks, the scans showed no further progression of eye complications.

    Landing in Newcastle airport was scary...we sat on the plane in Dublin for 2 hours while they tried to reopen the airport in the UK.....



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    Great to hear that the Noctura is still working Ebbsy. My own Retinopathy is still "stable" no signs of progression over the last 2½ years. It's in both eyes and significant enough that I need 6 monthly monitoring but thankfully, so slow in progression that I've yet to need any actual treatment.

    Your own continuing feedback regarding Noctura is always welcome.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,114 ✭✭✭ebbsy


    And good to hear about your stable situation Mr. B.

    Let's hope they find a solution in the future !!!!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,522 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    Just a really random shout out: Has anyone else recently developed diabetes out of the blue without being remotely in a risk category? I have a BMI of around 22 and previous blood tests showed not the slightest hint of diabetes, then suddenly I've got type 2, 40% of Pancreas function has gone and a HbA1C of 94.

    I wouldn't be bringing this up except I recently casually mentioned this to to someone who surprisingly responded that he'd recently been talking to a man who is lean, cycles a lot and suddenly developed it after the same something as myself, that can't be mentioned on Boards.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    There are a few factors in the appearance of Diabetes in middle age despite being fit and healthy.
    An intersting paper on an atypical presentation of diabetes that may fit your own situation is below.
    Other things to be aware of are the risks of certain medications that can interfere with insulin response and glycemic control to cause diabetes in otherwise not at risk patients.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,522 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    Thanks. Prescription medications would not be a factor as there were none. That paper seems to be talking about malnourishment. I think I can rule that out too.

    There is one medication I have suspicions about:

    https://bmcendocrdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12902-023-01424-0

    While there might be a causal relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and T1DM development, this should not influence decisions regarding vaccination since the overall benefit outweighs the risk.

    Tough cheese if you happen to be one of the lucky few. Never did like cheese.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    Good that you can at least rule out medications as a causal factor. Any possibility you may be encountering LADA, "Latent Autoimmune diabetes in Adults"?

    Another possibility, trite as it may seem is that some other medical issues is interfering with pancreatic & particularly Beta cell function. Have you seen an Endocrinologist yet? Beta cell production and response is particularly sensitive to cytokine disruption and there may be a causal link in increased insulin resistance with COVID infection.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,522 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    I saw an HSE diabetes clinic endocrinology registrar and then a consultant. The first seemed very on the ball and ordered some complex blood tests that could only be done in the UK, which I believe were to check for autoimmune factors and type-1 diagnosis. I then months later saw a consultant briefly who told me the results from the tests were that I'd lost 40% of Pancreatic function, but classed me as type-2 and rattled of a list of nasty things I could expect in the future and sent me off with a prescription for Trajenta and Metformin. The registrar impressed me far more than the consultant who was just ticking boxes for the whitey in front of him and clearly was basically disinterested, beyond getting to the next person on the conveyor belt.

    LADA doesn't sound like it's a match for out of the blue sudden onset. Every medico I have asked for an opinion as to cause has just said it's a baffling mystery and that they have no Idea what might have caused it. The original diagnosis was even accidental.

    I went through the pandemic without being vaccinated. I did at one point in 2019 suspect I might have caught it, but that amounted to a slightly uncomfortable throat indistinguishable from the onset of a normal cold, and that lasted barely a couple hours, so I doubt COVID cytokine storms are remotely likely to be involved. That was in 2020 and a long way from the diagnosis in early 2023, which was only a couple months after getting a first COVID vaccination.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    The UK test was probably for GAD, that's to rule out T1. Generally with low GAD, decline in pancreatic function is treated as T2 and without any other complications? You'll find that you are treated as a set of symptoms with your Hba1C as your primary health indicator.

    You won't get much more from the Endo clinic reg other than that. Barring any major change in your Hba1C or your reporting any physical symptoms, your care via the local hospital clinic will continue via a visit with their reg (constantly changing) or their CNS team. My preference is for the CNS when I visit ;) they work full time in the dept and my local team are spot on.

    On a side note, I know how disconcerting an accidental diagnosis can be. I was diagnosed as T2 at 26, completely out of the blue and I was in excellent health & fitness at the time along with having absolutely no symptoms.

    That's 20yrs ago now and the diagnosis has since become a bit more nebulous, moving at one stage to LADA and now settling on T1.5 but, I've got generally good control and apart from retinopathy? I'm still relatively symptom free 20yrs in.

    Make sure you're registered with Diabetic Retinopathy Screening service and other than that? Get used to managing your symptoms and recognising potential hypoglycemia.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,338 ✭✭✭sunbabe08


    HI, so I'm type 2 diabetic and was having no problems with my blood sugars up until the summer of 2023, they were pretty normal and then in December of 2023 they went sky high and i was put on ozempic. Now to be fair i'm also dealing with the recent passing of my brother who passed away quite suddenly, but i'm also wondering is there correlation to high sugar count and the covid vaccines injections?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,522 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    It's my personal belief that it is highly likely that it can. I have never been overweight and have in recent years had routine blood tests that were nominal, then I had the COVID vaccine in Dec 2023, and by early Feb I had an hBa1c of around 94 and diabetes - oh joy.

    I have searched online to see if COVID causing diabetes is acknowledged or suspected in the medical literature and did find that there were some clinicians who had encountered some rare and odd cases that like mine, were inexplicable, causing them to wonder if there was a causal link with the Vaccine. Furthermore, the topic has certainly been investigated in several studies with the majority concluding that the COVID vaccine can cause or exacerbate diabetes.

    Many of the pre-diabetes patients with no prior history of diabetes developed fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) after the COVID-19 vaccination. Some cases of conversion of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) into T1DM were reported. Some prediabetes/diabetes patients presented with the development of diabetic ketoacidosis after COVID-19 vaccination, whereas some previously healthy people with no relation to diabetes also developed acute exacerbations of new-onset T1DM or T2DM along with lethal ketoacidosis.

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10644121/

    This one seems like it might have some relevance to your experience:

    CONCLUSION

    There is a complex relationship between vaccination and diabetes with a bidirectional effect. Vaccination may contribute to the risk of worsening blood glucose in diabetic patients and diabetic patients may have a lower antibody response after vaccination than the general population.

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10294060/

    There are a few other hits on the topic, I used this search string:

    I certainly will never have another COVID vaccination. I'm not an anti-vaxer, I'll get vaccinations for prety much anything else as required and have lost count of how many I have had in my lifetime.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    I'm in for my CDM appt this week, well part 1 of it, bloods, BMI and foot check with the nurse and then back in the following week for the Dr portion of the appointment.

    I want to see about getting my med regime adjusted. 2 things I'd like are a switch to Tresiba as my basal and then a review of my oral meds. Ideally I'd like to swap Jardiance for Rybelsus and see how it goes, unfortunately Rybelsus still isn't available via LTI despite being approved in 2020.

    I'm expecting my Hba1C to come in around 56 (as predicted by my CGM) up a little from last July but still fairly decent given I'm quite immobile still.

    My retinopathy is still rated as "incipient" still in both eyes but it's not worsened in 3yrs and still not considered in need of an intervention. So I'm happy with my management, but? It's getting harder & harder to stay on top of. A combination of getting older & other conditions starting to take a toll too. Psoriatic arthritis and serious chronic nerve impingement pain issues are really starting to take their toll.

    I have a couple of surgeries this year that will hopefully improve the latter, so fingers crossed.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61 ✭✭eprndrgst


    Hi,
    is murijiono available in Ireland.
    I tried trulicity for a year but they took me off it because it didn’t work. Tbh it didn’t work because I didn’t change anything.
    A few pals in the UK have been given it and their levels have stabilized greatly.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,921 ✭✭✭jeffk


    I was on Trulicity for about two weeks and the effects lasted a few more weeks, lets just say my reaction for when I felt I needed to go the toilet improved greatly

    I am in with St.Mary's Hospital Phoenix Park and they said as it had that effect, I couldn't go up to Ozempic as it was stronger, but she was on about a new needle coming in January (this was around September and I am back to them in February)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    My CDM appointment went reasonably well. My Hba1C was 55, not where I'd like it but my doc is happy enough still. I have switched my Lantus to twice daily which has had a massive effect on my time in range, bumping it from 55% to 80+%, but that's a change my Diabetes team, CNS aren't happy with.

    My GP has recommended dropping januvia from my regime and adding in a GLP1. Spoke with a CNS on my diabetes team this morning and they feel he's right.

    Fiddling with my basal insulin does wonders for my time in range, but it really does affect my weight. I changed the dosing regime 2 weeks ago and I've gained 4Kg in the interim.

    Swings and roundabouts 🤷‍♂️



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,508 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    Just an example of what tweaking my basal has achieved. I was running on 35iu per day and whilst it worked out okay from my Hba1C standpoint. It wasn't great for my morning numbers or my time in range.

    A strategy I've used before to hone my control is to split my basal. In this instance I've had to both split it and increase it.

    Switching made a massive difference in both my time in range and predicted Hba1C. Its moved from a 58 to a 50 (that's what my sums predict the NA as).

    I know people bitch about the HSE, but I spoke with a CNS yesterday, shared my CGM and have an appt arranged for the 12/2. I can't knock that service and attention. Also the CNS was a new to me lad, seems very on the ball. Fingers crossed it all goes well.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 945 ✭✭✭Kremin


    question for people on insulin pumps: is it usual to pay for the supplies and for them to be through chemist/prescription?


    I was charged the €80 for a vial of novorapid, tslim cartridges and infusion sets and I’m wondering if that’s normal that they’re not covered under LTI?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,630 ✭✭✭Meauldsegosha


    Your diabetic supplies should be covered by the LTI. Was it your usual pharmacy that charged you?



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