Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Today marks 10 years since I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In 2008, it was actually Bank Holiday Monday, and by this time I had been very sick for 5 days with what I thought was a stomach bug. I lost 17 pounds in weight over that short period, and I had been losing weight over the previous 12-18 months, so I ended up at 8st 4lbs, with easily countable ribs on display 
I had expected to get better from the bug afflicting me, but I now know that my pancreas had already been struggling for over a year (in hindsight, I recognised I had lots of symptoms, but put them down to other things) and the virus completely overwhelmed it. Consequently, the sickness became due to DKA - I had fought off the virus, but was now much more seriously ill
At diagnosis my BG was 38 mmol/l and ketones were 6.8 - my blood was very acidic and affecting all my major organs. HbA1c was 11.8%, which translates to 105 mmol/mol As soon as they gave me insulin I felt immediately much better, and actually thought I might still be able to fly out to Stockholm to run the marathon there on the Saturday - I hadn't realised just how ill I had become, and I was in hospital for 8 days
But here I am 10 years later, still largely intact My levels have been good over the years, and it would appear that my pancreas has recovered to some extent, which has no doubt helped to smooth the BG. I was initially given 45 units of novorapid and 20 units of lantus per day. After about 18 months my needs, particularly for lantus, began to decrease, and after 4 years I reached a point where I no longer needed it at all My novorapid has also decreased, but I still definitely need it - it can vary between 12 and 40 units a day, depending on the whims of the Diabetes Fairy - it can be very stable for a while, then everything rapidly changes and I have to either substantially increase or decrease it - thank goodness I didn't get diagnosed in the 'age' of mixed insulins and two injections a day!
This forum didn't exist when I was diagnosed, it appeared about 5 months later. I joined on the day after launch and have been here ever since, becoming a Moderator in December 2008 and taking over as Admin in March 2009 In that time I have followed the lives of thousands of people, and it really brings home to you the huge diversity in how this can affect people, whatever the Type or possible origins leading up to diagnosis. It convinced me at a very early stage that 'everyone is different', and whilst there are common factors and approaches to managing it, everyone has to discover what they personally need to be aware of - things that may affect others in quite different ways.
There is no 'one-size-fits all'. I'm continually impressed with how people are able to take on so much information and get to grips with things, and I've seen some very heartening improvements - most particularly when people go from confusion and fear at diagnosis, to learning how to deal with it (most of the time!), to getting things under good control and feeling happier and healthier than they have for years That's why this forum is here, to help inform and support those turnarounds - long may it continue to transform lives for the better Thanks to all the people who have helped me and all the others over the past decade, keep on doing what you do really well!
I had expected to get better from the bug afflicting me, but I now know that my pancreas had already been struggling for over a year (in hindsight, I recognised I had lots of symptoms, but put them down to other things) and the virus completely overwhelmed it. Consequently, the sickness became due to DKA - I had fought off the virus, but was now much more seriously ill At diagnosis my BG was 38 mmol/l and ketones were 6.8 - my blood was very acidic and affecting all my major organs. HbA1c was 11.8%, which translates to 105 mmol/mol
As soon as they gave me insulin I felt immediately much better, and actually thought I might still be able to fly out to Stockholm to run the marathon there on the Saturday - I hadn't realised just how ill I had become, and I was in hospital for 8 days But here I am 10 years later, still largely intact
My levels have been good over the years, and it would appear that my pancreas has recovered to some extent, which has no doubt helped to smooth the BG. I was initially given 45 units of novorapid and 20 units of lantus per day. After about 18 months my needs, particularly for lantus, began to decrease, and after 4 years I reached a point where I no longer needed it at all My novorapid has also decreased, but I still definitely need it - it can vary between 12 and 40 units a day, depending on the whims of the Diabetes Fairy - it can be very stable for a while, then everything rapidly changes and I have to either substantially increase or decrease it - thank goodness I didn't get diagnosed in the 'age' of mixed insulins and two injections a day! This forum didn't exist when I was diagnosed, it appeared about 5 months later. I joined on the day after launch and have been here ever since, becoming a Moderator in December 2008 and taking over as Admin in March 2009
In that time I have followed the lives of thousands of people, and it really brings home to you the huge diversity in how this can affect people, whatever the Type or possible origins leading up to diagnosis. It convinced me at a very early stage that 'everyone is different', and whilst there are common factors and approaches to managing it, everyone has to discover what they personally need to be aware of - things that may affect others in quite different ways. There is no 'one-size-fits all'. I'm continually impressed with how people are able to take on so much information and get to grips with things, and I've seen some very heartening improvements - most particularly when people go from confusion and fear at diagnosis, to learning how to deal with it (most of the time!), to getting things under good control and feeling happier and healthier than they have for years
That's why this forum is here, to help inform and support those turnarounds - long may it continue to transform lives for the better Thanks to all the people who have helped me and all the others over the past decade, keep on doing what you do really well! 
