Long term T1

J

John Pamplin

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Pronouns
He/Him
Hi,
First diagnosed and started on insulin at King's (RD Lawrence Ward!) in 1971 at age 30.
What a change there has been over the years, boiling glass syringes, blunt needles, I'm sure you've heard it all before.
Now using tandem and dexcom G7.
Suffering now from mobility difficulties due to femur fractures after falls. Never broken a bone before, so a word of warning to all: diabetes can lead to osteoporosis in long term.
Joined Balance as it was then called (?) almost upon diagnosis.
A great help with additional information and of course NHS staff who cannot be praised too much. At present under care of York/Scarborough NHS who supplied tandem/cgm and much help.
 
No mate - you joined the BDA -British Diabetes Association, same as I did in 1972! I'm currently using comparatively old pump technology with a Roche Combo (my 3rd pump) I could have had a Tandem but No Way Jose(fina) were UHCW going to also supply CGM to a well controlled woman like me - I started with a Combo, I swapped it for an Insight 5 yrs later, but UHCW wouldn't allow me to have another Insight because many other people (not me!) had had so many probs with them so they stopped offering them. Wouldn't have minded Medtronic but the 780 had been out a couple of years by then and they would only allow people to have the phased out 640s. This is Coventry by the way - not the deepest depths of wasteland somewhere!

Dr Robin Lawrence was indeed a diabetes pioneer - but it was a letter (in the Times, where else!) from a bloke named Herbert G Wells (who happened to write fictional books) bemoaning the fact there was no way for people like him with diabetes to meet & get together with others with D and compare notes - so the two of them did get together and form the BDA! Very sobering indeed to realise when you and I were both newly diagnosed that treatment by insulin jabs had only been rolled out 50 years ago - certainly freaked me out, anyway.

And I bet you were told exactly the same as me - 'they' were all sure thered be a cure found in the next 10 years!!!!!
 
Yes it was likely '72 how did you know that?
My first pump was a Roche and I must say as a pump I thought it excellent. I especially liked the thoughtful way the reservoir would take ~1/3 a standard insulin vial.
I have never found deterioration of insulin over ~5 days noticeable and often ran cannula for this time without problems. Uncoupling cannula at site to insert replacement much easier than tandem which I find impossible.
I had 3 Roche before moving to t slim. Though closed loop operation is a great advance using decom g6 now g7 seem to find diabetes management takes more time that it used to.
Yes HG Wells instrumental in obtaining better treatment for diabetics, he and RD were great friends I think. I had as a kid the collected works of HG in my bedroom as my dad a great fan. HG was of course a socialist, he would be a great fan of NHS but think he died in '47 a year before it was founded in '48...though not understanding I can remember the excitement.
I now am running t slim using completely filled reservoir of 300 ml ~5 days on same cannula. So far seems to cause no more trouble than trouble changeing every ~2.5 days.
 
Actually my diabetes was certainly in recent times farly well controlled but had always expressed desire to go on closed loop as I was professionally involved with CL control systems. I did say I did not want to take resources from more deserving cases but Scarborough bless 'em said no probs. different budget.
 
Welcome to the forum @John Pamplin

Glad to have your experience on board!

I’m a relative newbie, with less than 35 years on the clock, but we do have a few members with similar levels of experience to yourself 🙂
 
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