No deal brexit and insulin

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Jamiesamp

Jamiesamp

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Is anyone else worried about the consequences of no brexit on our insulin supply and food
 
Concerned, yes of course. Not actually worried though - yet!
 
Jamiesamp said:
Is anyone else worried about the consequences of no brexit on our insulin supply and food
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Not worried, no.
There won't be an existential threat to the country's supply of insulin but it might be sensible to make sure you are well stocked for a couple of months.
Just picked up my new bolus today and that will see me through to probably March.
 
Yes a little bit but there isn’t much we can do about it. I very much doubt that even our incompetent government would allow lots of people to die because of Brexit. I have gradually built up a good stock of everything though just in case!
 
I am so glad someone has raised this as it is something that has been on my mind! I have only been diagnosed a few months so haven’t been able to ‘stockpile’ anything and have been wondering if my Insulin would be difficult to obtain after the new year (is it imported?)
Will there be a toilet roll style rush to get Insulin do you think!!??
 
SaraKaya said:
I am so glad someone has raised this as it is something that has been on my mind! I have only been diagnosed a few months so haven’t been able to ‘stockpile’ anything and have been wondering if my Insulin would be difficult to obtain after the new year (is it imported?)
Will there be a toilet roll style rush to get Insulin do you think!!??
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Insulin suppliers have been asked to keep six weeks extra stock in the U.K. just in case of delays, see here.

Brexit and diabetes

If you’re living with or affected by diabetes, we know you might be worried about how Brexit and leaving the EU may affect things like your diabetes medicines, particularly insulin supplies. How could Brexit affect diabetes? The UK is no longer a member of the European Union (EU) and the...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
Almost all our insulin is imported. I'm perhaps being overoptimistic but I think the government will work really hard for this kind of thing to go OK. The official advice is not to stockpile.
 
Thank you that’s really helpful.
 
There can’t be a toilet roll style rush, you can only get insulin on prescription and your doctor will only allow you to order so much. If I put in a request for some, I’m not allowed to order it again for 3 weeks, and trying to get the quantity per prescription increased was a right palaver when my daughter was growing all the time and the two bottles per month we had was not lasting long enough!
 
My doctor only allows me to order three vials at a time but they do not not limit how often I order.
I will not be massively stock piling because I believe that is selfish but, given it is also Christmas, I will make sure I have some spare for the new year.
 
I know it will be a controversial comment but....
Maybe a good time to start eating lower carb and therefore needing less insulin perhaps?
A prescription of 5 cartridges might last 6 months for me if I am extra careful. Rather than stockpile, does it not make sense to try to use less?
.... Just my thoughts.
 
Good God Barbara - that really is a tiny amount! But of course my eating less carb wouldn't have made very much difference to that. I've never needed massive doses but on MDI I was using 30+u a day. 18-20u basal and the rest bolus and corrections. With all the airshots and general wastage I'd easily get through 7 x 3ml cartridges per calendar month.

But you just need however much your body needs - so shouldn't really compare since it doesn't help anyone really.
 
Sally71 said:
There can’t be a toilet roll style rush, you can only get insulin on prescription and your doctor will only allow you to order so much. If I put in a request for some, I’m not allowed to order it again for 3 weeks, and trying to get the quantity per prescription increased was a right palaver when my daughter was growing all the time and the two bottles per month we had was not lasting long enough!
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I take it you are on vials and not on insulin pens?
My pens come in packs of 5 which will end up lasting me for over 2 months and I re-order when I am down to my last 2 to avoid possible problems with a dodgy or broken pen.
 
rebrascora said:
I know it will be a controversial comment but....
Maybe a good time to start eating lower carb and therefore needing less insulin perhaps?
A prescription of 5 cartridges might last 6 months for me if I am extra careful. Rather than stockpile, does it not make sense to try to use less?
.... Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...
As an emergency, this is obviously something which could be done but there is no solid evidence in the scientific literature that I am aware of for any benefit to Type 1s in deliberately adopting a low carb diet as a matter of course either in terms of avoiding diabetes complications or in controlling blood glucose levels. I suspect that a low carb diet might actually make blood glucose control much more difficult for a type 1 because of inevitable large glucose dumps during the day and large glucose reclamation at night by the liver but I have no proof of that.

Of course, if someone who was type 1 made a low carb diet a lifestyle choice then that's a matter for them personally but the idea that you can control type 1 largely by diet is not supported by the science.
 
pm133 said:
I take it you are on vials and not on insulin pens?
My pens come in packs of 5 which will end up lasting me for over 2 months and I re-order when I am down to my last 2 to avoid possible problems with a dodgy or broken pen.
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Yes we are pumping, one 10ml vial is 3 1/3 pump refills, each refill lasts 3-4 days (because it's doing basal as well as bolus)
pm133 said:
As an emergency, this is obviously something which could be done but there is no solid evidence in the scientific literature that I am aware of for any benefit to Type 1s in deliberately adopting a low carb diet as a matter of course either in terms of avoiding diabetes complications or in controlling blood glucose levels. I suspect that a low carb diet might actually make blood glucose control much more difficult for a type 1 because of inevitable large glucose dumps during the day and large glucose reclamation at night by the liver but I have no proof of that.

Of course, if someone who was type 1 made a low carb diet a lifestyle choice then that's a matter for them personally but the idea that you can control type 1 largely by diet is not supported by the science.
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To some extent it would, meal boluses are smaller if you eat less carbs and you’d probably get less or smaller spikes between meals. My daughter's blood sugars are much more likely to go crazy if she's eaten a particularly carb heavy meal, which means more likelihood of needing correction doses as well. I agree it wouldn’t work 100% though, you always get those days when it all goes wrong and you can’t work out why, female hormones are wonderful too...
 
Sally71 said:
Yes we are pumping, one 10ml vial is 3 1/3 pump refills, each refill lasts 3-4 days (because it's doing basal as well as bolus)

To some extent it would, meal boluses are smaller if you eat less carbs and you’d probably get less or smaller spikes between meals. My daughter's blood sugars are much more likely to go crazy if she's eaten a particularly carb heavy meal, which means more likelihood of needing correction doses as well. I agree it wouldn’t work 100% though, you always get those days when it all goes wrong and you can’t work out why, female hormones are wonderful too...
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Spikes in type 1s don't happen because of "high carbs" though. They happen because of the type of carb and how it reacts with your body. That is person-specific.
The carb heavy thing is more to do with the fact that the bolus has ran out but there's still food to metabolise. That's when a correction is needed. If your daughter is spiking I would check the nature of the carbs causing it.

We have posters on this site on ultra low carb diets and still experiencing wild an unpredictable blood sugar swings.
 
pm133 said:
Spikes in type 1s don't happen because of "high carbs" though. They happen because of the type of carb and how it reacts with your body. That is person-specific.
The carb heavy thing is more to do with the fact that the bolus has ran out but there's still food to metabolise. That's when a correction is needed. If your daughter is spiking I would check the nature of the carbs causing it.

We have posters on this site on ultra low carb diets and still experiencing wild an unpredictable blood sugar swings.
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Please remember, Sally is experienced in caring for her daughter's Type 1, she's been at it for years. Her daughter is still growing which throws spanners in the works and you have to take females hormones into account as well!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Puts moderators hat on.....

Everybody's views have merit and everybody is entitled to suggest an alternative way of looking at things but getting personal when disagreeing helps nobody, especially the original poster or anybody else seeking help from the thread. So, come on people, bury the hatchet and get on with what you do best which is to use your varied experiences to suggest ways forward for members who are confused or struggling.

Takes moderators hat off.....

Good to see you posting again @Kaylz. I have found your contributions really valuable when it comes to my trying to understand what living with type 1 is all about. Not only that, because of your openness about your life they always remind me that there is a person behind the words and that is something I must not forget when I respond to posts. 🙂
 
Interesting to see how we vary in our insulin needs. If I don’t eat any carbs I still need 35 units for basal in my pump and that hasn’t changed too much over the years.
 
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