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Type 1 Support

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
J

JoeJOns

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi guys,

What is your opinion on the support systems available for type 1 diabetics in the UK? I, personally, am not living in the UK. But I'm very interested in hearing about the support from diabetic teams, consultants and other bits of support you might have?

Kind regards.
 
Well I have a red-hot support system, no 1 is my husband. No 2 is the hospital diabetes clinic because all the nurses there are approachable and contactable by phone Mon- Fri 9-5, The consultants there are also approachable but not so easily contactable and frankly I'd rather they spent their time with people who need em more than I do! I can relate to the nurses, and they to me, far better than my consultant - they appreciate we have other lives to lead than being a full time diabetic - and are more empathetic - when Himself wants to know why I went hypo at 3pm a week last Wednesday, I won't have the slightest idea but obviously I noticed hence why he could download the blood test result since I don't make a habit of testing at 3pm (or 3am) and corrected it - cos I'm still here! Probably bolused for lunch and miscalculated the carbs or didn't finish what I'd planned - or perhaps a troublesome grandchild was having a financial crisis and disturbed me? - nothing different enough for me to remember anyway!
 
Excellent support from OH who has become an expert over the years.
Good consultant, who I can email with questions between appointments.
DSNs there at the end of a phone on rare occasions, but I rarely see them.
Loads of practical advice and support from people on here.
 
Family aren't the greatest support, my mum and OH don't really take the time to understand how fluctuating bg's affect mood etc, they don't get how much a hypo can take out of you
Consultant is absolutely fantastic, he had no problems with giving me a 2 week trial of the Libre in 2017, I enquired and he said you want a trial you've got a trial so I was booked in with DSN to get it a week or so later
DSN's are great as well, I was quite a regular for the first year or so as my hba1c plummeted and they wanted to check me all the time but now I haven't seen a DSN since January and have only been in touch with them once to see about getting my prescription changed but they are always at the end of the phone or an email away
Mental help not so great, I was on the waiting list for over a year to see someone about my eating disorder but after 1 session had to turn down help due to the only place to deal with it being a 6 hour round trip so I think they could expand the areas where help is available there
 
This forum is as good as anywhere, but I don’t have any support at all. In Scotland, I had regular hospital reviews and I could always the phone the team. In England, zip, but I’m not particularly worried. I worry for newbies and folk who aren’t equipped with a medical education, though.
 
I have fantastic support from all areas of HCP`s, I live in Torbay and my Diabetic team are second to none in my opinion. My surgery is also a great help although they are merging with another surgery so I never know which Dr or nurse I see but I have two well trained Diabetic nurses stationed at the surgery. My OH is a great asset too, she lives 400 miles away, the further the better.:D
 
I was seen by the main teaching hospital in our area for the first few years, with consultant appointments and a helpful DSN, then when I seemed to know what I was doing, I was transferred back to my doctors surgery, to see the nurse who mainly knows about Type 2. At one point, she confessed I was her only Type 1.( The surgery told her to mug up on Type 1 from the internet, so I have been pointing her in the right direction over the years). That was fair enough, and the proviso was that I could always ask for a referral back to the hospital if I needed more help. The thing is, though, the surgery nurse doesn’t see many people on insulin, if it wasn’t for this forum, I’d never have kept up with the latest developments (half unit pens, pens that record your last dose, the Libre, for example).
 
Sorry @JoeJOns I didn`t mention this fantastic forum without it I would not know the very accurate details of living with T1D. Doesn`t matter where you are in the world as long as you have access to the internet you have a whole family of support.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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