By Mathew Hipwood
Hmmm, my first post on a new blog, do I write about something that has happened this week? An anecdote from the past? Or should I just introduce myself?
Well, firstly my name is Mathew Hipwood, I am 26 and have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes since 31st of March 2007. I had the usual symptoms of extreme thirst and fatigue and after a battery of tests including an abortive glucose tolerance test early February (I was too high first thing in the morning for them to continue) my GP made the diagnosis of Diabetes but could not decide on the type. He put me on Gliclazide, gave me a glucose monitor and made an appointment for me to see a specialist in a months time.
After 4 weeks where I felt awful with glucose readings as high as 32.6 mmol\l I saw the specialist who immediately diagnosed Type 1 and began insulin. It made an enormous and almost instantaneous positive difference to my energy levels. After 3 months of trial and error (mostly error) in balancing diet, insulin and exercise (with a huge amount of support from my nurses and dietician) I was very pleased to have lowered my diagnosis HBA1c of 10.4 to a healthier 6.3 which I have maintained since then.
I am taking Lantus as my Basal insulin and novorapid as my bolus. I use the disposable novopens and I am currently using an autopen24 for lantus but I am changing that to the Sanofi Avensis Solo Star soon, the autopens are pretty cheap and nasty feeling plus the numbers rub off the dial after about 3 months use. Hardly ideal!
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