Contributors

Hayley Carter

My name is Hayley I live in Surrey with my husband and Poppy (our mad beagle hound) and I work for an online wine company. I have been a type 1 diabetic for 10 years and struggled with control for much of this time. I recently completed the Dafne course which has had a huge impact on my hba1c and I'm feeling much healthier. It's still not perfect but for the first time in 10 years it feels like I've got some control and I'm at least moving in the right direction.

Scott Gillan

I am a 30 year old who likes to think he is still young! Like most young men I have a passion for football and music. My job is as a management consultant, no two days are the same and I am seldom in the same location for the full week (and generally living out of a suitcase in some part of the UK or Europe during that week). I live in London but I am originally from Glasgow.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was 22 years old and since diagnosis I have moved throughout the country and been treated and various hospitals and by various GP’s and thought the last 8 years I have spent the time trying to run the tightrope of good control and having a “normal” life. Last year I joined the DAFNE programme and have found this a great help in providing a framework for me to add the flexibility to my treatment. I am interested in hearing other people’s views and experiences of diabetes and hope this blog will offer a great way of sharing experiences of living with diabetes.

Lisa Gough

I am 36 years old. Type 1 diabetic on multiple injection routine - i inject four times a day and have done for some time now. Have been diabetic since the age of 19. I have four children, ages 2 years up to 10 years. One boy and three girls. Have been diabetic throughout all the pregnancies. I work for Southampton City PCT as a Smoking Cessation Advisor. I try and be fairly healthy although it is sometimes easier said than done!

Simon Heller

I am a full-time diabetes specialist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Professor of Clinical Diabetes at the University of Sheffield.

I first became interested in pursuing diabetes as a specialty in the mid 1980s when working in Nottingham with Robert Tattersall.  Seeing people who were having trouble with hypos stimulated me to research this area and we discovered some of the important causes of hypoglycaemia when I was in Nottingham, in St Louis, USA and more recently in Sheffield. 

More recently it has become clear that in the UK we have failed to provide people with diabetes with the skills to self-manage their condition successfully.  We visited colleagues in Germany who helped us to develop the DAFNE education course for people with Type 1 diabetes.  We are trying to ensure that everyone with Type 1 diabetes can go on similar courses but are frustrated by diabetes specialists who still fail to appreciate how helpful it can be.  I have also been involved in developing the DESMOND courses for people with Type 2 diabetes and in research measuring the value of blood glucose monitoring.

Mathew Hipwood

I have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since March 31st 2007. When I was first diagnosed I struggled a bit with controlling my sugars etc but with lots of support and a fair bit of trial and error (more error at the start) in insulin dosage with regards exercise I'm doing much better now.

I am a fairly active person my exercise of choice being martial arts including Muay Thai Boxing, Karate and Combat Submission Wrestling. I recently tried skiing and if I can make the trips to the SnowDome nearby that might become a regular activity as well. Cold fingers don't bleed so well though!

I am a recent DAFNE graduate although I had been following the carbohydrate counting principles for some time before that (something to be said for having DAFNE trained nurses at your clinic on the date of diagnosis). DAFNE has certainly helped me, both in the carbohydrate counting and in that every day does not have to be perfect, you can and will have occasional 'off' days. Sick day rules are also very useful from the DAFNE course and despite my initial scepticism worked very well when I was unfortunate enough to have to put them into practice.

Rob Leggatt

I have been a type one diabetic for the last 15 years. I live in the south east of England in Orpington – not too far from London where I work as the head of Information Technology Services for a large global financial company. I have been married for about 16 years and live with my wife and three boys. My interests are music, mountain biking and rugby (watching the kids play!).

My interests in Diabetes are the impact of exercise on my control of diabetes. I have undertaken many long distance mountain bike rides and I am keen to be in control of my diabetes – not vice versa – for me to be able to undertake these events. I am planning a 100mile off-road ride in a day and a 24 hour marathon ride this year! With the pressure of the job I have and a hectic family life, training for these events will be a challenge.

Nicola Moxey

I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes about 4 years ago, and so am just changing from the mode of dealing with the diagnosis and wresting good control, to the longer-term task of maintaining fitness, health and good blood glucose control for the long term. At 47, I hope to be diabetic for the next 40 years, with full acees to my eyesight and kidneys.

I control with diet and exercise, and am very interested in the controversies breaking at the moment about low-carb diets, and what exactly makes a good diet for diabetics. I've also recently become interested in the dietary options to South Indian diabetes.   

Exercise is another thing I could do with a blog to keep me honest on - I do a fair bit, but could do with more!

Tom Pewter

I’m 35 years old, married to Jo and have a daughter, Alice who is almost two years old.  I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic since developing the extreme symptoms three years ago during a long weekend in Devon.  A week in hospital later, and it suggested that I was unlucky to have had such a severe virus that it essentially killed off my pancreas! 

The health and diet side of things was obviously a huge shock and a big worry to me, but I had a double blow.  Two years previously I had ditched my city job to fund myself through Commercial flying school.  I lost my flying licence, and with that, my aviation career on the day of my diagnosis.

I do find there are frustrations with being insulin dependent.  Hypo’s when you least expect them, trying to keep a good balance of sugar levels, and of course managing my love of wine. I’ve also struggled with playing squash competitively and being too high, or too low, thus not performing to my potential (well that’s my excuse when I lose anyway!).   Completing the DAFNE course last year was a real eye opener for me though and has helped me no-end.  It also made me feel much more positive about my condition, rather than just being scared of it.

Richard Surridge

I've recently turned 30 and I'm currently teaching 10-11 year olds in Newham, East London.  They're lovely kids who come from all sorts of different backgrounds.  Never a dull moment.

I have Type I Diabetes, and have done for about 4 years now.  I was diagnosed completely by accident - our school had joined a Health and Wellbeing programme to make our school a happy, healthy, stressfree place to work, which meant getting a nurse in to give us all a health check.  When she did me she said, "This is meant to be about reducing stress, so I don't want you to worry, but I think you've got diabetes." 

I did the DAFNE training about a year ago, so I feel I'm starting to get things under control, although something always seems to change.  However, I refuse to stop doing the things I enjoy - last year I did the Inca Trail in Peru to raise money for Diabetes UK.

I've now got two diabetic children in my class.  I'm always open about my condition with the class, and I hope that's helping them too.

Neil Walden

I have had type I diabetes since October 1995 and my twelve year old son Sam was diagnosed in January 2007.  My wife has recently passed an Open University course in Diabetes Care. These family connections with diabetes clearly give me a significant interest in treatments, research into future cures and fund raising for all aspects of diabetes support. 

I am a member of the Diabetes Campaigner's Network and regularly write letters to my local PCT, local MP and other officials in order to help improve various aspects of diabetes care. I attended the DAFNE training course in Havering in January 2007 and have been following the DAFNE principles ever since and reduced my HbA1c from 9.1 to 7.7.  I can now eat what I like and compensate with additional injections of quick acting insulin.

My entire career has been spent in the Pharmaceutical Industry where for twenty years I have been an information analyst working for R & D. Outside work and family life I enjoy gardening, and am actively involved in my local Baptist church, and help at the Youth Club where I enjoy a game of table tennis.

Kate Wentworth

I was diagnosed almost ten years ago when I was in my early fifties.  Unusually for new diabetics of that age, I had to go straight on to insulin so I suppose I have some kind of late onset type 1. 

For a few years I kept wonderful control on mixtard, by exercising extreme self discipline and denying myself all kinds of goodies, which sometimes made me very bad tempered.  Then, by very good fortune I met someone from Kings College Hospital socially who got me referred there for Dafne.  Since then my life has been transformed, my temper greatly improved and my blood sugar control remains almost as good even though I have become quite self indulgent in terms of eating what I fancy.