Comments for BeingDiabetic.co.nz

Comment on Guest blog: 50 years of Type 1… and ruling it. by Roy

Roy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:15:09 +0000

Not their arm Nic. Their shirt. I felt the needle tip touch something and the only thing near enough was this persons rolled up shirt sleeve and however it happened, it was touch too much. I am very pleased to say, they never noticed anything, including me performing this act in public, because if they had felt something, I may have had some explaining to do.
As an excuse for my carelessness when taking this shot, I will say that having been away for seven high speed days, which began traveling from Dunedin to Christchurch overnight, to catch the overseas connection from Auckland the next morning. I don’t sleep well traveling and adding in the dislocated time spent at my destination I was knacked by coming home time six days later, nothing unusual for me and my tired thoughts could only focus on the negative, what if I had stuck them? I none the less, by not changing the needle, still finished up with an infection. Bad, bad, bad.

I learned the facts of life on diabetes kind of the hard way and there is a very fine line between correct and trouble in what and how you say something about diabetes and even with the best intentions it can still go wrong. I spent my weekend life as a musician in covers bands from the early sixties until the early eighties. The first band we were all mates and had grown up together. One member joined the emergency services and as his levels went up, he asked how you treated a hypo. Uh huh! I had never told them, anyway, if there was glucose tablets around then I didn’t know about them, barley sugars and jelly beans were the shop produced treatments, but a teaspoon of sugar in warm boiled water was the stand in, especially for the person who could not threat themselves. This I can say, when I did have a hypo those days (ultra rare), this potion made me puke if anything. I told him this was the all purpose solution and years later, he was a senior officer and mentioned that he had attended an accident and one person had diabetes and was hypo, but there was nothing to treat it. No worries, he had the info: and the stand in treatment recipe, pass this on to one of the team who could get this from one of the houses around and job done. His masters received a report that stated medical staff were puzzled by one of the victims having a scolded mouth. Whaa! You can guess can’t you? The warm boiled water had become boiling by the time it arrived at the hypo. This person will be still alive and living somewhere, perhaps nearby.

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:45:00 +0000

It does take the biscuit doesn’t it! I actually wear all of mine under my clothes. In the early days I had little holes in my clothes to thread the tubing through and wore the pump on a belt around my waist outside my clothing. Nowadays I use some little cloth bags with clips on that I bought from Roche and I clip the pump onto my bra. The pump is domed into the bag and hangs upside down.
It fits easily clipped under my arm, but generally I wear it at the front, unless I’ve got very fitting clothes on. Before I got these I used money pouches around my waist; tucked it into my bra and various other methods. However, I have been known to drop the whole thing out if I haven’t clipped it on securely. A bit disconcerting having it dangling down as you walk along! Some of the pumps I’ve had were difficult when bathing or showering because they couldn’t be disconnected. I used to have a shower bag and I hung the pump outside the shower – it was a bit restricting movement-wise sometimes. Awkward if I was away from home and had nowhere to hang it. I used to always use long tubing, but now I prefer a shorter one, so that there is not so much to ‘tuck in’.

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Kay

Kay — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:51:03 +0000

I think if you asked children that pump, “what is the one thing that your parents say to you all the time, that bugs you?” the answer would have to be “tuck in your tubing!” LOL or maybe it’s just me that sweats the small stuff. I use to worry all the time about my daughter pulling a site out in that manner, and even after 7 years of pumping I might still be heard to say “tuck in your tubing”!!

Comment on Return of the night spikes. by Nic

Nic — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:27:38 +0000

You raise an interesting point, Aaron… when I get a minute I’ll do some research into seasonal changes in insulin resistance etc.

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Nic

Nic — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:26:46 +0000

Makes me think – pumps like the Accu-chek Combo or Dana R would be great in that regard because you can have the whole unit (cord and all) totally tucked away under your clothes, and use the remote/wireless unit to program boluses without having to get near your body.

Also, for people like Sianne who wears her pump around her ankle with the cord going up her trousers – no door-related incidents happening there either!

Comment on Return of the night spikes. by Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:49:04 +0000

I’m hearing you too Nic – I woke at 17.5mmol/L the other morning after going to bed on a 6 or something. Change in the seasons maybe it for me though.

I don’t know about anyone else but I often find that I have all sorts of crazy stuff going on when seasons change. It kinda makes sense though right? Our metabolism changes for winter so of course our insulins needs do too. Right?

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:46:57 +0000

Door handles are a menace…an absolute menace! The number of times that I’ve done the same (although I never actually SEVERED the cord) has led me to thinking about cutting holes in my pockets and overlocking them so I can thread the tube under my clothes and not have it exposed at all.

Haven’t done it though of course…too lazy.

Comment on How much carb in a cup of flour? by Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:44:08 +0000

This site is fantastic for me. I’ve started making a lot of our own foods including breads and lentil curries and it can be really hard to calc the CHO.

It’s on the bookmark bar!

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Nic

Nic — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:00:15 +0000

Luckily though, it’s only the bit that actually plugs into the pump, not the needle-y bit, so it was easy.

Comment on Nic ‘Clumsy’ Reade. by Saffy

Saffy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:42:20 +0000

Nic, that takes the cake AND the frosting!! :O AND now you have to do a night time cannula change.. your favourite.

Here’s hoping tomorrow’s a nice clean slate.