Listening to the newbie moaning about forgetting their Insulin pen.... ahhhh such hardship
I am an old hand at this topic I was diganoised before my first birthday so for the maths wizs that means I've been Diabetic for 30 years now. When I first started they didn't have blood glucose monitors, you had to use urine dipsticks. They didn't have fancy dedicated insulin delivery pens, you had to use a brutal glass injection syringe that you took apart and then soaked in disinfectant between uses.
I've seen the developments and been there to enjoy the fun of them. Visits to the Diabetic clinic were about as complex as you ain't dead, ok keep doing what you are doing.
Then we got new insulins, instead of one insulin to do the whole job, you now had long acting insulin and short acting insulin. So I went from one injection a day to two. The insulins were basic, called pig insulin because quite simply it was extricated from pigs. It was this new combination of two insulins that brought about one of several of the worst hypos I have ever had. 1.7 is child's play compared to what happened to me. The hypo occurred during the night and to put it simple my parents thought I had had a stroke. I couldn't speak and I was paralysed down one side of my body. Of course this resulted in a trip to the hospital and this event would happen to me two more times in youth.
Then things moved on, the testing of hemoglobin A1c came along, A system for testing your average control level over a period of time and with that came the home blood glucose testing machines. I remember the first day I had to use that thing, the best way of describing it would be as a catapult that fired a needle in to your finger, if you could see the thing you would be able tell how brutal it was (I'll google for it if I find it I'll edit and post a pic). I hid in the backgarden and refused to come in to the house for fear of having this thing used on me. It was vicious and painful and the test itself took over two minutes to read the sample.
Things really have moved on though. The insulin I now use and inject three times a day is called Humalog, it is a synthetic insulin not like the old fashioned pig insulin you used to get. Designed to more accurately mimic natural human produced insulin. The old pig insulin you used to have to inject 30 minutes before you ate, which meant if something happened in between those 30 minutes that prevented you from eating you were screwed. This new stuff you inject it right before you eat so little chance for mishap. I was one of the first people in the country to to be trialed on this new insulin over a decade ago and it's so damn good I am still using it to this day. I was also one of the first in the country to trial the new long term night insulin called Lantis.
Not only has Insulin, injectors and blood testing moved on so has the the clinic appointments. I remember the day I went from visiting the childern's diabetic clinic to visiting the adults one at a different hospital. It wasn't so much a clinic as it was a room in a corridor where you spoke to the doctor for 2 minutes and that was it. Now you visit the clinic they test PB, Weight, Height, check urine, check HB1AC, do an eye drop retinopathy test, do a neropathy check, and then the doctor sits you down and sets about scaring you to death because your HB1AC is 1 above what they want.
Let's put it this way when my parents took me to hospital all those years ago the doctor they spoke to when they diagnosed me said 'in ten years time they'll have found a cure for it'. For a large part of my life I hoped they would but I have now moved on, I've seen what it was like and what it is like now, I know they won't cure it now, not in my life time anyway but some how I am not that bothered it's so much easier to deal with now and it's also brought me some unexpected bonuses. First girl I kissed was at a holiday camp for Diabetics, first girl I... uh hmm well... you know, was on a Diabetic holiday and I met my wife via a friend I met almost 20 years ago on a Diabetic holiday.
Oh for the guys wondering why some people have targets of 4 to 7 and other have targets of 120. The Americans measure their blood glucose on a different scale to us Brits. Take a look at the measuring chart in the side of the strip bottle you'll see that both measuring values are printed on the side.
