Every day ups and downs, a diabetes blog

More than Diabetes, 4 minutes of Marvin - DBlog Week Day 5

2017-05-19T15:19:00.000+01:00

Today is the last day of Diabetes Blog Week, and the prompt is an invition to share something non-diabetes related - "an interest, hobby, passion, something that is YOU... because there is more to life than just diabetes!". Huge thanks again to Karen at Bittersweet for organising such an inspiring week. I read the topic list at the beginning of the week and really had no idea where to go with

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Diabetes, emotions, resilience and mental health - DBlog Week Day 4

2017-05-18T11:31:00.000+01:00

Today's Diabetes Blog Week topic recognises that living with type 1 diabetes is not just about looking after our physical health, "What things can make dealing with diabetes an emotional issue for you and / or your loved one, and how do you cope?". Read how others have responded to this topic by visiting the Day 4 link list. Today is also described as 'Throwback Thursday' in that this topic

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The Blame Game - DBlog Week Day 3

2017-05-17T16:01:00.000+01:00

Today's topic in Karen at Bitter-Sweet's fabulous festival of Diabetes Blogging is entitled 'The Blame Game' - Having diabetes often makes a visit to the doctor a dreaded experience, as there is invariably bad news of one kind or another. And sometimes the way the doctor talks to you can leave you feeling like you’re at fault. Or maybe you have a fantastic healthcare team, but have

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The Cost of a Chronic Illness - DBlog Week Day 2

2017-05-16T15:31:00.000+01:00

Today is Day 2 of 2017's Diabetes Blog Week and today's topic is entitled The Cost of a Chronic Illness. For a wider perspective on this topic head over to the Day 2 link list. I have read a lot of anguish, rage and despair from people living with diabetes in the US in recent months as insulin manufacturers increase prices again and again. The costs involved are simply eye watering - the

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Diabetes and the Unexpected - DBlog Week Day 1

2017-05-15T23:13:00.002+01:00

This week sees the eighth Diabetes Blog Week - an amazing festival of healthcare blogging organised by the wonderful Karen of Bittersweet Diabetes. Wow! Eight years - that's quite an achievement. I've taken part a few times before, and it is always an inspiring week seeing so many writers coordinated to post on the same topic each day during the week. Today's topic is 'Diabetes and the

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Medtronic Guardian Connect Review - iPhone CGM in the cloud

2017-05-15T00:52:00.000+01:00

Guardian Connect on iPhone, Guardian 2 on MM640G and Contour Next Link 2.4 As some of you may know I've been lucky enough to be wearing Medtronic's new box of CGM tricks recently, and with nearly 4 weeks' wear under my belt and a few more days to go, it seems about time to post my thoughts about this new addition to the list of CGM options. Ground rules As I have been reflecting on my time

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Running 10Km with Type 1 Diabetes

2017-05-07T23:15:00.003+01:00

It's a few years since I did any running with much regularity, but inspired by raising money for a good cause, I found myself pulling on my trainers again in preparation for today's 10Km road race in Bristol. If you are tempted to give running a go, there's a lot to be said for a 10K, it's long enough to provide a challenge, but short enough to remain fun, and the training runs themselves are

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Video: Inserting an Enlite sensor with One-press inserter for Medtronic Guardian Connect

2017-05-05T18:14:00.000+01:00

I am a couple of weeks in to my trial of the new Medtronic Guardian Connect and I'm busily making notes to bore you all senseless with my thoughts about it at some point over the next couple of weeks, but thought I could grab the moment yesterday to shoot a short video showing sensor insertion for Enlites with the new 'One-press' serter. Guardian Connect is a new 'standalone' CGM from Medtronic

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Guardian Connect in Amsterdam and #TADtalk2017

2017-04-28T20:20:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was a crazy whirlwind of diabetes-based shenanigans! I was already looking forward to #TADtalk2017, 'Talking about diabetes' having missed the first one last year I made sure I reserved my place as soon as I was able. It looked like a brilliant chance get inspired by some fantastic speakers and to meet in actual real-life with many people that I have 'known' for years, but only

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Aaand relax! Thoughts on the REPOSE trial

2017-03-31T14:22:00.001+01:00

I've been watching Twitter with some interest today, following a conversation about a recent piece of research published by top-notch diabetes Doc, Sheffield's Dr Simon Heller. I first heard of the REPOSE study (Relative Effectiveness of Pumps Over MDI and Structured Education) in 2016 when I was able to sneak into the Diabetes UK Professional Conference, where Dr Heller published some of the

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Nothing like as '2016' as it seemed

2017-01-01T16:50:00.000+00:00

Parliament (or possibly Hogwarts?) - one of a number of inexplicable invitations in 2016 When I was imagining writing this post, the inevitable looking back over the last 12 months, I thought it would start 'last December' but as is the way of things these days, I have missed that particuar deadline and now I have to start with the significantly more cumbersome 'in December 2015', or possibly

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T1 Resources - a long overdue blog post

2016-12-30T15:54:00.000+00:00

As is almost inevitable at this time of year I've been finding myself reflecting over the last 12 months in recent days. I'm hoping to post something as a bit of a 'look back - look forward' in the next day or two, but wanted to give this long-delayed post about T1 Resources some room of its own. T1resources.uk is a website that acts as a gateway to rated, reviewed and reliable online resources

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Facebooking my diabetes for #WDD2016

2016-11-19T12:32:00.001+00:00

Monday this week was World Diabetes Day. It's is one of those made-up things that come around every year and hope to raise awareness of something or other - World Sparrow Day... International Day of Happiness... World Toilet Day... One of my own favourites is 'International Talk Like A Pirate Day', but I digress... Aaaaarrrrrrrrr! World Diabetes Day is held every year on November 14th, good

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Guest post: Lessons learned from insulin pump breaks

2016-10-26T11:12:00.000+01:00

Guest post from 'Big Purple Duck'. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 3. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone vital to the process of transforming the food we eat into energy. Without it, death is certain. So in the absence of a fully functioning pancreas, those of us with type 1

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Night-time nonsense. Perfection isn't possible.

2016-10-25T14:49:00.000+01:00

The darkest hour, just before dawn, yesterday I stumbled across this little bit of research again today. And while I know I had clocked it in the past, and was aware of it - this time it came as a huge relief. I have not been feeling altogether cheery about my diabetes of late. Off and on for something getting on for a year I have been feeling more than usually grumpy and disheartened about

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64 Days with the Minimed 640G - A year on

2016-10-12T22:00:00.002+01:00

Someone at Medtronic expressed an interest in some of us who video-blogged as part in their '64 days with the MM640G' trial to post a follow-up after a year to say how we were getting on. Well I slightly missed the deadline, but such is life at the moment. I still have a post waiting in the wings that I've been wanting to write since March. Somewhat unexpectedly I have managed to get it put

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Cholesterol confusion and climate change

2016-07-23T17:16:00.002+01:00

Photo by Malcolm Koo (Creative Commons) There are two types of people in the world - those who repeatedly suggest there are two types of people in the world and those who don't. When it comes to cholesterol and heart disease however, there seem to be three types of people in the world: Firstly those who think fat is bad, cholesterol causes heart disease and statins should basically be put in

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Dinkleflakes, diabetes, discussions and #DXStockholm

2016-06-10T16:38:00.000+01:00

DxStockholm doesn't make sense, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually exist. And if it *did* exist, then I'm almost certain I wouldn't make the list. It must be a particularly vivid dream, probably someone else's. I suspect Philippa's Dinkleflake-(me neither)-bacon-pancake-apple-sauce-and-double-cream breakfast is causing some sort of hallucination and I'm in it. Grand, wide, impeccable streets

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Appointments, priorities and the importance of buy-in

2016-05-29T21:11:00.001+01:00

Well this is a bit unexpected - but I have been going through a bit of a weird patch over the last 8 weeks or so, and even though it's not one of the posts I have been struggling to get written for some time - I have decided to leapfrog this post ahead of the others and get it written while I it is still fresh in my mind. Some ground rules before I start - I will try to keep the moaning to a

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Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

2016-05-07T14:21:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the interruption - the fluffy four-footed addition to our household has made finding time for blogging very difficult in recent months. Which is unfortunate really, because I have at least three or four posts waiting in the wings that I would really like to put together! We picked up our young Clumberdoodle pup at the beginning of April and time has absolutely flown by since. For a

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Your Diabetes May Vary (again!) - BG variation after food

2016-03-10T09:52:00.000+00:00

Two different carbohydrates, yesterday. (CC) Which would hit your bloodstream faster, a banana or a biscuit? Pure glucose or a slice of white bread? Well, in news that will come as a bit of a shock to some (and not at all to others), you can't actually know without checking for yourself. Anyone with diabetes who has spent much time monitoring blood glucose levels before and after meals (

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Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2016 - Education, Individualisation and steps in the right direction

2016-03-08T23:57:00.000+00:00

Between Wednesday and Friday last week I found myself in sunny Glasgow immersed in the insanely intense experience that is the annual Diabetes UK Professional Conference. I had been lucky enough to attend last year as one of Diabetes UK's bloggers and tweeters. This year Diabetes UK wisely ran a competition to throw the net a little wider for patients interested in attending the event and

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Freestyle Libre - Going for the hat-trick?

2016-02-07T15:21:00.002+00:00

Abbott have been able to announce a couple of really exciting bits of news in the last few weeks. Just in case you hadn't heard here they are... Libre approved for use in children The lovely Lesley Joseph from INPUT was attending ATTD 2016 (Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes) in Milan last week and was excited to share a glimpse of one of the presentations where Abbott announced

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Another Non-invasive BG Meter?

2016-01-20T12:19:00.000+00:00

Stumbled across this yesterday. I'd heard rumours of this new non-invasive BG monitor a while back, but it looks like they are gradually creeping towards a finished product. It's not a continuous monitor (so can't offer trend arrows on the device or any kind of automatic alerts) but *is* measuring blood glucose values so, perhaps, might be sufficient for DVLA. Measurements look to take 10s and

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New Clinic vs Old Clinic - Guest Post by Lucy.

2016-01-20T09:55:00.000+00:00

After the excitement of Saturday's #t1talk and with the kind permission of someone I have only ever met 'electronically' on a forum, I am posting this account of a patient experience in clinic. For someone who has really struggled in the past, this new patient-centred approach has been nothing short of mind blowing: "I honestly left feeling quite stunned and shocked, and with the thought "have i

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