Needle-phobic pancreas transplant 'world first'

[Northerner]

A British woman has become the first person in the world to have a pancreas transplant because of a severe needle phobia, her doctors have said.

Sue York - who has had type-1 diabetes since she was seven - would shake uncontrollably and vomit when injecting herself with insulin.

Ms York told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme the operation had "completely altered my life".

Doctors said her life expectancy had now doubled.

'Full of energy'
Ms York, 55, from Lincoln, told the programme that, following the operation, at Manchester Royal Infirmary, she felt "incredible" and full of energy.

"No longer am I struggling to walk up a flight of stairs, getting breathless walking into the wind. No longer is my skin yellow or grey. No longer do I look constantly exhausted," she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35421459

That is one severe phobia to need such a drastic solution! 😱 Doesn't mention pumps at all

 

[Rosiecarmel]

Wow! I wonder if she had possibly tried an insulin pump but it's still inserted into your skin isn't it? Maybe she also couldn't cope with that! I guess she still has to test her BS with a needle (even if it's tiny) on a pump also...

 

[Northerner]

Wow! I wonder if she had possibly tried an insulin pump but it's still inserted into your skin isn't it? Maybe she also couldn't cope with that! I guess she still has to test her BS with a needle (even if it's tiny) on a pump also...

I saw her being interviewed on the Victoria Derbyshire programme. Pumps were never mentioned, but it was clear that it wasn't just insulin injections, but also the fingerpricks she had a big problem with. Hard to understand when you don't suffer from it!

 

[Redkite]

I saw her being interviewed too. She couldn't bear to even fingerprick - so before the DVLA tightened up the rules on testing before driving, she never used to do a test at all - would go out in the car to walk the dog and go shopping, then drive home, all with no clue what her BG was . Clearly she must have somehow managed to inject insulin, or she'd have died a long time ago.

 

[Sally71]

Pump cannulas are indeed inserted with needles, they are bigger than pen ones. So that probably wouldn't have helped her much, even though you only need one every 2-3 days instead of 4-5 a day.