SHOCKING news story on the BBC website

[Pumper_Sue]

That's the thing Copepod. Essentially I agree with idea that human insulins should be considered as a first option for many (though perhaps not all) patients with the considered decision of the clinic/consultant.

What got so under my skin was the assertion that *everyone* should be on the older insulins, and stop making such a fuss about it. They were just as good anyway...

For me the older animal insulin's are the way for me personally


It's all very well making big statements in the press about what a waste of space we all are, but what hasn't been pointed out is that it's the manufactures that are holding the diabetic population and health care systems to ransom.
As soon as the patent is finished on the human insulin's they will be withdrawn.Due to no profit for the manufacturers.

 

[FM001]

For the record I've had T1 long enough to pre-date analogues so have seen the improvements I was able to make by changing to them when they became available.

Likewise. Human insulin was an improvement on the slow acting animal insulins but analogues kicked them all for six when they came along, the rapid action of the likes of novo and the flat and longer profiles of basal made good control diabetes more achievable.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Likewise. Human insulin was an improvement on the slow acting animal insulins but analogues kicked them all for six when they came along, the rapid action of the likes of novo and the flat and longer profiles of basal made good control diabetes more achievable.

Again though Toby, it made things better for you but that does not mean it made things better for everyone. 🙄

 

[Northerner]

Im incensed too but on a lighter note, there's no such thing as "designer" insulin - to me that would indicate bottles/cartridges in fancy colours to match our outfits, a bit of bling maybe - you know what I mean folks?!

There has to be a poem in there somewhere, methinks! 🙂

 

[FM001]

Again though Toby, it made things better for you but that does not mean it made things better for everyone. 🙄

That is very true, but I'll bet that it transformed more lives for the better than it did for the worse.

 

[Twitchy]

For me the bottom line is that the whole point of the article was lost in the diabetic bashing tone / approach. I personally am another who would feel being forced back on to the older insulins would be a slow death sentence (nasty side effects & rubbish 'control', to use that term very loosely!), but whatever the truth behind the sensationalism, the layman will skim read & go away thinking dark thoughts about the burden on their taxes we pesky diabetics represent...like we need any further vilifying?!!

I wonder if DUK will be bold & brave enough to stick it's head about the parapet & come back at the Beeb for all of us on this matter? Joe Freeman - what about it?! 😉 Be our champion!

I've complained online, but I don't for a second think it will get anywhere unless an organisation like DUK makes a stand against the perpetual antagonism the media is throwing at diabetics these days. They wouldn't dare run similar articles about other groups like cancer patients or motor bike crash victims, so why should they get away with doing this to diabetics?! At this rate they'll be able to double those 'burden' figures due to all the blinking anti depressants the nhs will need to dole out to us all!!

Grrrrrr.

 

[glitteryredshoes]

This article is disgusting!! Without this new "designer insulin" many of us wouldn't be able to live a normal life. Just shocking

 

[Abi]

The article disgustged me. HOw would they like to have a regimented life i.e. getting up and meal times by the clock- I mean hello- most of us have to work- we can;t live our entire lives around diabetes and always have a big enough meal break to wait half an hour between injections and eating. And I personally found analogs better than having waking readings consistently either in the teens or hypo range
.On the other hand some people can get by on older insulins- a lot of older people who were retired were quite happy on mixtard although I assume they were not all put onto insulin after retirement and I wonder how they coped at work.
And Copepod is a shining example of how someone can use an older basal insulin and still have control and flexibility- but she still uses an analog for her bolus insulin.
Sue mentioned in a thread some time ago that someone was coping on just soluble insulin and working shifts after having some kind of reaction to all the longer acting insulins
The precursor to DAFNE was pioneered in Dusseldorf long before analgues were available so the regimen was isophane morning and night and soluble premeal
Most of us have enough ( too much) variation and unpredictability in our results without throwing another spanner in the works but sometimes alternatives can work if they are tailored to the individuall rather than a standarf regimen set down by health care professionals with limited time and sometimes limited interest in the condition

The nighmare scenario would be when someone is doing badly annd not getting the correct advice to either tweak dosage or timing or change preparation if this is appropriate

 

[Cate]

For the record I've had T1 long enough to pre-date analogues so have seen the improvements I was able to make by changing to them when they became available.

Me too!

And FWIW, here's my complaint that I submitted earlier:

This article on the whole is misleading and unbalanced. It does nothing to help change the views of many that diabetes is essentially a self-inflicted condition brought on by poor lifestyle choices. Indeed it seems to imply that spending money on drugs to treat this chronic disease is money wasted.

Nowhere in this article does it refer to the fact that analogue insulins have been "tweaked" to better represent the way that insulin acts in a non-diabetic. They give the ability (via a minimum of 4 injections a day) to mimic the body's natural use of insulin, ie a steady background level or basal, alongside a bolus dose given to match the amount of carbohydrate eaten. This is not possible to the same degree of control with human insulins.

Without good control, diabetics face a sea of complications including blindness, amputation, stroke, heart disease and nerve damage - to name but a few. For many (me included), this control is impossible to achieve without the use of analogue insulins.

The cost of treating complications far outweighs the cost of providing these insulins to those that need them, both in terms of treatment and ongoing support eg benefit payments (diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among the working-age population in the UK). So why should we be made to feel guilty for costing the NHS money in the short term when our actions are helping to save far more money in the future?

 

[Twitchy]

Stop the harassment of diabetics campaign

Hello All,

For anyone who's interested in registering a protest (fwiw!!) I have officially become a grumpy old woman & started a FB protest page... I'm to inept to figure out how to stick the link in, but Northerner has kindly put it in on the "Media campaign" thread... might not achieve much, but at least we can all stand together & register our disgust at the way diabetics are being targeted at the current time! 🙂 The page is called "Stop the media harassment of diabetics" (I was feeling quite cross last night! 😱)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-media-harassment-of-diabetics/150888078338279?sk=wall

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Tried to post some links to recent howlers on the wall Twitchy, but it looks like they were marked as spam?

 

[Twitchy]

Hi Mike, did you manage to get it to work? I'm a bit rubbish with fb at the mo to be honest, I wonder if it's the permissions settings or something? I've tried tweaking them, might be worth trying again? Thanks! 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Ah yes... looks like it's showing up now 🙂

 

[heasandford]

This article on the whole is misleading and unbalanced. It does nothing to help change the views of many that diabetes is essentially a self-inflicted condition brought on by poor lifestyle choices. Indeed it seems to imply that spending money on drugs to treat this chronic disease is money wasted.

Nowhere in this article does it refer to the fact that analogue insulins have been "tweaked" to better represent the way that insulin acts in a non-diabetic. They give the ability (via a minimum of 4 injections a day) to mimic the body's natural use of insulin, ie a steady background level or basal, alongside a bolus dose given to match the amount of carbohydrate eaten. This is not possible to the same degree of control with human insulins.

Without good control, diabetics face a sea of complications including blindness, amputation, stroke, heart disease and nerve damage - to name but a few. For many (me included), this control is impossible to achieve without the use of analogue insulins.

The cost of treating complications far outweighs the cost of providing these insulins to those that need them, both in terms of treatment and ongoing support eg benefit payments (diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among the working-age population in the UK). So why should we be made to feel guilty for costing the NHS money in the short term when our actions are helping to save far more money in the future?

Wow, wish I could write as well as that, FANTASTIC! Hope someones takes notice, good for you!