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[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

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    #512
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    tbh wrote: »
    just to let ye know - there's a good facebook group for diabetics in Ireland at:

    http://www.facebook.com/groups/39741400937/

    Facebook = evil :eek: /discussion


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    #513
    eilo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 874 ✭✭✭eilo1


    Feeling very sorry for myself today. Im in dka after a dodgy canula insertion. Had to miss my rugby match and I hate letting the team down. Also have that rotten acid feeling in my throat after throwing up. grumble grumble grumble.

    This is the second time this has happened to me since I started the pump 18months ago. Is anyone else having this problem I never went DKA on shots.


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    #514
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    They did mention about the risks of DKA being far higher on the pump when I was starting off, on shots you have got 24 hours plus of "some" insulin running around your body depending on what brand of basal you are on. If the pump stops working then you are out of insulin within a couple of hours.

    I've not yet had any issues with canulas going in wrong, well not that I didn't spot as I was doing it and just fit another one. I have found it much simpler to correct any highs on the pump, but that comes down to spotting it soon enough. The worst I had was a couple of weeks ago with the BG running at 19+ most of the night and not seeming to correct itself, but I was waking up and despite feeling awful was able to do something about it. Would have been in a bad way the next day if I'd not woken up during the night.

    How did you eventually spot the canula as being the issue?


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    #515
    eilo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 874 ✭✭✭eilo1


    robinph wrote: »
    They did mention about the risks of DKA being far higher on the pump when I was starting off, on shots you have got 24 hours plus of "some" insulin running around your body depending on what brand of basal you are on. If the pump stops working then you are out of insulin within a couple of hours.

    I've not yet had any issues with canulas going in wrong, well not that I didn't spot as I was doing it and just fit another one. I have found it much simpler to correct any highs on the pump, but that comes down to spotting it soon enough. The worst I had was a couple of weeks ago with the BG running at 19+ most of the night and not seeming to correct itself, but I was waking up and despite feeling awful was able to do something about it. Would have been in a bad way the next day if I'd not woken up during the night.

    How did you eventually spot the canula as being the issue?

    Thanks Robin,

    I woke up at 25 and took a bolus of about 6 and watched my sugars every 30 mins there was little to no change in them after an hour and a half so i pulled the set out. I then took an injection just to be 100% sure I was getting the insulin. When I pulled the set the canula was in a V shape with the bottom of the V piercing the skin but the top part outside it. Meaning I was not getting any insulin. I changed the set about 10 the night before and 11 the following morning I was throwing up. :(
    I tested ketones with a stick and it turned the darkest purple. I managed to get them back down about 4pm and had some dinner at 8pm and all was fine. Although I kept my background at 120% until the following morning. I woke up at 7.3 so obviously needed it!
    Im really fed up with this happening and think its down to a design flaw with the medtronic insertion kit.

    On a separate note im trying a low carb diet for a little while, im only 24 hours in and my bloods are really good, I also did a weights session in the gym last night had about 15g of carb after and no hypo woke up with blood sugar of 6.5. Fingers crossed this help me get the HbA1c down!


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    #516
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    Apart from when I ended up in hospital at diagnosis I'm lucky I've never been that bad. <dislike> :eek:
    eilo1 wrote: »
    I changed the set about 10 the night before and 11 the following morning I was throwing up. :(

    I think this is the reason that they told us to change sets in the morning when we did our pump training. Then you are awake and more likely to notice things going wrong than if you're asleep and the bloods just keep on rising.


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    #517
    AlphaBeagle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭AlphaBeagle


    Hi all,
    Looking for some guidance.. my situation is this, my wife recently moved to Ireland (last month) I’m Irish she American. She is a type 1 diabetic and uses an insulin pump.
    I’m in full time employment with an average industrial income and have private med insurance for both of us, she has no income:( whatsoever, she recently applied for a medical card which is pending decision.
    We only recently learned about long term illness book and I believe she would be entitled to assistance for provision of medical supplies under this scheme if she don’t qualify for med card that is.. my questions
    Are insulin pumps used here in Ireland and if so would she get the supplies she needs for type of pumps she has or would she need to change to whatever HSE supplies?
    Can she apply for long term illness book while medical card application is being process, just in case she don’t qualify for it? Objective here is to save time & cost on purchasing additional meds for her.

    I’m not that well informed on social welfare entitlements as I’ve never needed it and the cost of purchasing her diabetic meds is very expensive something I no longer can afford. She cannot work because she suffers from neuropathy in her hands which seems to be getting worse as time goes on, simple tasks such as getting dressed can be difficult for her without my help.
    Do you think she qualifies for assistance and how long does it take to get either medical card or LTI book?
    Sorry if these questions have been posted before but I’m new to this forum.


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    #518
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    AlphaBeagle wrote: »
    We only recently learned about long term illness book and I believe she would be entitled to assistance for provision of medical supplies under this scheme if she don’t qualify for med card that is.

    Regardless of medical card, she should be entitled to an LTI card, go to your GP, get him to fill out all the items required on a prescription and forward it on to your local health board for the LTI card.
    Are insulin pumps used here in Ireland and if so would she get the supplies she needs for type of pumps she has or would she need to change to whatever HSE supplies?

    No pumps here, we only got electricity last week :rolleyes:

    Only joking, what pump is she on? so long as the health board sign off on it, it should be fine but if it is not a pump they know off they may question it leading to delays, it does not take long and if you know your pharmacist he may give you the script wile you are waiting for approval or with a letter from your doctor.
    Can she apply for long term illness book while medical card application is being process, just in case she don’t qualify for it?

    You don't apply as if there is a chance you will be refused for the LTI, you request it because she is entitled to it. Your GP is the quickest route AFAIK.
    I’m not that well informed on social welfare entitlements as I’ve never needed it and the cost of purchasing her diabetic meds is very expensive something I no longer can afford.
    It's not social welfare as such.
    She cannot work because she suffers from neuropathy in her hands which seems to be getting worse as time goes on, simple tasks such as getting dressed can be difficult for her without my help.

    Get a referral (from GP) to a hospital as she should be keeping an eye on it, or if you have private medical, ring up a private hospital and make an appointment ASAP, this is not something you should be waiting around for, private healthcare is paid for, for a reason, to get quicker service.


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    #519
    AlphaBeagle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭AlphaBeagle


    Thank you much appreciate the reply some good advice here.


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    #520
    AlphaBeagle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭AlphaBeagle


    Oh.. about type of pumps she an older medtronic 508 and a newer One touch ping..
    thanks again


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    #521
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    Why does the secretary in the GP's think that they know better than me what items I meant to order on my repeat prescription?

    Second time I've tried to order One Touch test strips. First time they changed it to being a different brand of test strips, that I also use but hadn't requested that time. Today they changed it from being test strips to being One Touch lancets. :mad:


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    #522
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Hi all,

    Just looking for some recommendations of where is the best place for diabetics to get some car insurance. I am 24years old on my first provisional and I am 13 years diabetic. I have great control with my HBA1c bang on 6.8 and have never had bad hypos etc.

    My parents are insured with the AA and I intended to go under my mother as named driver however the AA checked their systems and said no one was willing to insure me!! I am guessing the diabetes was a factor????

    So now I am exploring alternative options and companies, has anyone got any recommendations?

    Thanks in advance.


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    #523
    graflynn
    Registered Users Posts: 499 ✭✭graflynn


    DiabeticCarInsurance wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Just looking for some recommendations of where is the best place for diabetics to get some car insurance. I am 24years old on my first provisional and I am 13 years diabetic. I have great control with my HBA1c bang on 6.8 and have never had bad hypos etc.

    My parents are insured with the AA and I intended to go under my mother as named driver however the AA checked their systems and said no one was willing to insure me!! I am guessing the diabetes was a factor????

    So now I am exploring alternative options and companies, has anyone got any recommendations?

    Thanks in advance.

    I'm in my late 30's, have been diabetic for 20 yrs and been driving for about 15 years. I've never had a problem getting car insurance and I never have to pay more than anyone else.

    This is an exerpt from the Diabetes Ireland website relating to same. You should be able to get insurance from whoever gives you the best deal...
    "Motor insurance

    This is the area where the greatest progress has been made. A person with diabetes seeking to insure their car can now do so knowing that all members of the Insurance Federation have agreed that they will not load their premiums for diabetes.
    For decades, many people with diabetes withheld details of their condition from their insurer knowing that they would either be refused cover or loaded. We are now in a more enlightened time and everyone should disclose details to their insurer. This also holds true for the Licensing Authority. Confirmation from their GP that they are fit to drive will keep everyone happy."


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    #524
    eilo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 874 ✭✭✭eilo1


    Hiya I always shop around online, take out my policy, then phone them to tell them I have diabetes. I only do this because there is rarely a box for diabetes on the online forms. But they never increase the quote when I tell them.

    Iv never had trouble, but my Dad was refused by AA before for diabetes. They are the only company I have heard of that refused to take diabetics.

    Im with AXA now and have been with FBD, Quinn and Itsforwomen with no trouble or loading from any of them. :)


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    #525
    Hal Emmerich
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,078 ✭✭✭Hal Emmerich


    I overheard a Type 2 diabeties conversation this Nurse was having with a woman today, the nurse is part of a GP practice, she does the bloods and stuff the GP doesn't need to be there for.

    The woman was in for blood sugar checkups, the Nurse was telling her that a person is born with all the Insulin they will need for a lifetime but some people just eat to much sugar when they are young, use it all up and end up on Glucophage/Insulin as a result.

    :confused:


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    #526
    gerrybbadd
    Registered Users Posts: 10,301 ✭✭✭✭gerrybbadd


    Hal Emmerich wrote: »
    I overheard a Type 2 diabeties conversation this Nurse was having with a woman today, the nurse is part of a GP practice, she does the bloods and stuff the GP doesn't need to be there for.

    The woman was in for blood sugar checkups, the Nurse was telling her that a person is born with all the Insulin they will need for a lifetime but some people just eat to much sugar when they are young, use it all up and end up on Glucophage/Insulin as a result.

    :confused:
    Sweet jesus, how did she get a job as a nurse?:-\


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    #527
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    The last few days sugars were running a bit higher than normal and not coming back down as quick as normal after a bolus. I just put it down to too much drinking and eating some chocolates that I'd not accounted for. Today I've been running low and have finished off about a bottle and a half of Lucozade due to multiple lows during the day.

    Now I did change the location of my canula yesterday which could well be the actual explanation, but it's damned annoying the seeming randomness of getting highs one day and lows the next.


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    #528
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/21/driving-licence-form-revamp-diabetes
    Driving licence application forms for people with diabetes are to be rewritten following an intervention from David Cameron and complaints that EU rules on their fitness to drive are both confusing and being too harshly interpreted by UK authorities.

    Drivers who need insulin to manage their condition are failing to obtain licences or renew them under a directive that bars them if they suffer two "severe" hypoglycemic attacks from a drop in blood sugar levels within a year.

    Some changes to the application forms and guidance will need clarification from Brussels over whether this refers to all such attacks or just those in waking hours.

    Another part of the form, issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), has been attacked by the charity Diabetes UK for relying too much on the subjective assessment of licence applicants as to how aware they are of the onset of the attacks, which bring on symptoms such as blurred vision, tiredness and loss of concentration


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    #529
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    mike65 wrote: »
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/21/driving-licence-form-revamp-diabetes

    I would have lost my license almost 52 times in the past year. That said, how would they check.
    severe hypos, which it defines as those which need the help of another person to deal with.

    Scrap that I am fine, my sever hypos have only needed intervention once in the last year, by my partner, who i don't think will dob me in. All she done was sit me down as I was creating to much of a mess as I tried to make toast and eat black pudding coated in sugar :o

    Sure I would have been fine.


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    #530
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    The definition of hypo when chatting with the nurse is anything below 4.

    The definition of hypo when I'm filling in the DVLA form is entirely different and I think I've always ticked the "No" box. Cannot remember exactly how it's worded on the form though. I think they do ask something about your awareness, but they haven't refused me yet.

    Edit: Seems that the new forms only came in in August, got my license last renewed in June. So they have three years to sort it out before I'll be effected thankfully.


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    #531
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    in any official stuff like that, I take "have you had a hypo" to mean "have you had a hypo where you passed out and had to be helped or hospitalized"


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    #532
    eilo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 874 ✭✭✭eilo1


    My understanding of a severe hypo is when you end up needing with out you knowing you are having a hypo.

    For instance a friend of my sisters was sitting at a bus stop and felt tired. She just slipped unconscious and thankfully there was a nurse there who was able to help her.

    Im sure as long as you know you're going low and can stop the car you are fine. Iv never had a hypo where I have needed help thankfully, but I do always worry about not waking up at night.
    Im not sure if you had a hypo where you didnt wake up and therefore needed assistance, would it be fair to say you would not have recongnised the symptoms had you been awake. Which could lead to you loosing your license. Has anyone ever slept through a hypo??


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    #533
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    eilo1 wrote: »
    . Has anyone ever slept through a hypo??

    yeah - wake up with a banging headache, soaking sheets and blood sugar of 25.7 :)


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    #534
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    tbh wrote: »
    yeah - wake up with a banging headache, soaking sheets and blood sugar of 25.7 :)

    And the, "how much did you have to drink, last night" interrogation


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    #535
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    tbh wrote: »
    yeah - wake up with a banging headache, soaking sheets and blood sugar of 25.7 :)

    -25.7 surely? A hypo is low not high and I've never sweated on a high only a mega low (I nearly miss having them so I can raid the biscuit tin in the middle of the night)


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    #536
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    mike65 wrote: »
    -25.7 surely? A hypo is low not high and I've never sweated on a high only a mega low (I nearly miss having them so I can raid the biscuit tin in the middle of the night)

    I know yeah, but if you don't treat a hypo, your body metabolizes...stuff...organs or fat or something to produce sugar. You'll come round eventually :)
    Something I didn't know is that if this happens, you're not supposed to treat the high because the body reclaims the sugar by itself. I don't claim to know how this works :D


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    #537
    robinph
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    CramCycle wrote: »
    And the, "how much did you have to drink, last night" interrogation

    The only time I've needed help was many years ago when there was excessive amounts of alcohol involved as well, so I wouldn't even count that I think as it was drink related and not poor control related.


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    #538
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    mike65 wrote: »
    -25.7 surely? A hypo is low not high and I've never sweated on a high only a mega low (I nearly miss having them so I can raid the biscuit tin in the middle of the night)

    Nurses generally refer to it as a rebound, surprised you have never been told that unexplained highs are generally unnoticed hypos if they are found in the morning.

    Like TBH I have been told not to treat it but I do because it makes you feel better quicker, just have to be careful not to relapse.

    Also don't count on it to wake you up, sometimes it will but you don't want to test the theory where possible, unfortunately in some cases, we don't wake up :(


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    #539
    CramCycle
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭CramCycle


    robinph wrote: »
    The only time I've needed help was many years ago when there was excessive amounts of alcohol involved as well, so I wouldn't even count that I think as it was drink related and not poor control related.

    Last time it happened I got accused of drinking too much, only realised when I came around that I hadn't even been out the night before, just at work and straight home.


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    #540
    Carsinian Thau
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,054 ✭✭✭Carsinian Thau


    mike65 wrote: »
    -25.7 surely? A hypo is low not high and I've never sweated on a high only a mega low (I nearly miss having them so I can raid the biscuit tin in the middle of the night)
    tbh wrote: »
    I know yeah, but if you don't treat a hypo, your body metabolizes...stuff...organs or fat or something to produce sugar. You'll come round eventually :)
    Something I didn't know is that if this happens, you're not supposed to treat the high because the body reclaims the sugar by itself. I don't claim to know how this works :D

    That's pretty much it. We still have alpha islet cells so our bodies just dump a ton of glucagon into our bloodstreams and wait for whatever glycogen stores we have to up the sugar. If that's not sufficient we'll move on to gluconeogenesis.

    I always treat them too to make me feel better.


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    #541
    Carsinian Thau
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,054 ✭✭✭Carsinian Thau


    mike65 wrote: »
    -25.7 surely? A hypo is low not high and I've never sweated on a high only a mega low (I nearly miss having them so I can raid the biscuit tin in the middle of the night)
    tbh wrote: »
    I know yeah, but if you don't treat a hypo, your body metabolizes...stuff...organs or fat or something to produce sugar. You'll come round eventually :)
    Something I didn't know is that if this happens, you're not supposed to treat the high because the body reclaims the sugar by itself. I don't claim to know how this works :D

    That's pretty much it. We still have alpha islet cells so our bodies just dump a ton of glucagon into our bloodstreams and wait for whatever glycogen stores we have to up the sugar. If that's not sufficient we'll move on to gluconeogenesis.

    I always treat them too to make me feel better.


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