Well having decided to
start a blog site the next major hurdle was where the hell do you begin?
So I decided to start at
the most logical place where these shenanigans first came about. The day of
diagnosis.
Looking around at other
sites it seems Obligatory to have something on diagnosis or its impact in your
first couple of posts. So like the beautiful sheep of my native homeland of Cumbria
The day was 13th
September 2004 my diabetes date of birth. That makes me nearly 9 years into the
crazy adventure of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. There have been some crazy highs
and some deeply depressing lows (maybe some more about them in future posts).
However in the main I am now fairly well controlled with the multiple daily
injections of Levemir and Novarapid insulin.
As well as being a thirty
something year old with T1 diabetes I am also a father of two, a brother, a
son, and husband. In the last 2 decades I have earned my pennies being a
consumer scientist and a chocolate salesman, but in more recent times as a
public health nutritionist who is currently managing a research program in the
NHS. So much potential for diabetes related blathering to follow.
Anyways I digress - That
diagnosis.
The day in question is
etched onto my memory forever. However I want to start a few days earlier. My
wife and I were enjoying the last few days of our holiday in Greece
[Point of order No1 - Mum,
if you are reading this, be warned- I am about to mention my penis on the
internet]. The medical problem was not diabetes (or so I thought)…………. but that
my penis was about to fall off. This was rather worrying for a 28 year old
male!
As it turned out my penis
was not in fact about to fall off, but I had a very bad case of Thrush. [Thank
God and Praise the Lord]. Having never had the misfortune to encounter Thrush
before, I was more than a little horrified to say least. I was also more
concerned about where this damn thrush had come from. I was thinking my wife,
who did not have thrush, [NB – my wife told me clarify that point at this
juncture], would be thinking I had been doing the do with someone else or
something.
Point of order No2 (for my
mum really) – The inability of people with diabetes to process carbohydrate if
not controlled properly with insulin means you excrete excess glucose in your
pee. This extra glucose forms a delicious “all you can eat buffet” for the
little Thrushy beasties. Yuk!!! Therefore thrush is often one of the first
symptoms of uncontrolled blood sugars.
So the doctor came out
gave me some pills and some cream and that sorted that. For the last two days
of the holiday I did an unusual thing. I drank loads of full fat Coca Cola.
This was highly unusual for me as being a foodie and nutrition conscious type of
guy I never usually consume fizzy drinks. However I had this uncontrollable
desire to consume loads and loads of coke.
We returned home from
holiday on the Sunday as I was starting a new higher education course on the
Monday. By chance I sat in the lecture theatre next to this Irish guy who I had
never met before. After a couple of hours he turns to me and says “you are
hammering the water this morning, were you out on the beers last night?” I reply “no but for the last 3 days I’ve been
able quench my thirst”.
This chance encounter
quite possibly saved my life. He persuaded me to check my blood sugar levels on
his testing kit. So out comes a new aseptic finger pricker and he drew blood
from my finger. (The first of many thousand times since).
I looked down at the
display and it read 44.7mmol/L. naively I enquired if that was about
right? For the record a healthy person should have reading of around ten times
less concentration at only 4–7mmol/L.
The Irish man very
assertively informs me I better get to hospital. He would not take no for an answer “if you do
not go now I will ring a taxi and take you there bloody myself”. So I
eventually get to A+E, the nurse tests my blood and says “47.5 that’s the
highest blood sugar reading I have ever seen”.
This is not what you want to hear when in an A+E department at a major
hospital. As they say the rest is history.
So that was 2004 the year
of my diagnosis. Thankfully I have not seen readings anywhere near that since
that day although like all people with diabetes I have my ups and downs. I am
very lucky to have been diagnosed and still be treated at North Tyneside
General Hospital who have looked after me in this journey with T1 diabetes.
The moral of story is
- I was unaware of the symptoms
- I was rather blasé about going to the doctors
- I was young, fit and assumed it was nothing serious
- (Consumed by that air of invisibility that good health and youth tends to foster).
As we know there is a growing obesity epidemic in this country and the related rise is Type 2 diabetes is going to be a major health problem. The need for knowledge of the symptoms of diabetes to be communicated to the general public has never been greater.
This story is dedicated to the Irish man who came to my rescue, seen my symptoms and acted on his gut instinct. He did not walk by on the other side. I will forever be eternally grateful to him. He is currently having his own non-diabetes related health issue at the moment. I am hoping that being the inspiration for this blog site will make him proud and it brings a smile to his face at this difficult time. Thinking of you buddy.
So
off we go on this blog site thing and as it begins to evolve and take shape and as my Irish friend would say. I
hope you enjoy the craic!
“I love you baby like a miner loves gold. Come
on sugar, let the good times roll.” (J
Hendrix)
