“What does it feel like when you’re high?”

8 February 2010
19 Comments

…. ok, ok – I’m sure there are a few of you witty ones who were thinking of drug references when you saw this headline…. not so, I’m sticking with the diabetes for now.

I was on the phone to a woman the other day. She has an eight month old son with type 1, and I’ve had several chats with her over time about what it’s like. One of the things she mentioned to me in our recent conversation is that she has some, but ultimately not very much, idea of what it’s like to have high blood sugars. There is a limit to how well her young son can articulate it, and of course she can’t feel it…

Continue reading »


By Nic on 8 February 2010 at 9.02 am
Posted in Community, Hypos & Hypers
Tagged as ,
This post has 19 comments so far. Add yours here.

You had me at hello.

20 January 2010
11 Comments

Wow, wow, wow. This week I came across something which has literally changed my life (from a diabetes point of view). The only thing cooler than using this system to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise would be, ermmm, not to have to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise at all. Check it out!

The little beauty of a system can be found here: https://www.logforlife.com/.

Seriously, I downloaded this on Sunday night and it has already spurred me on to record my blood sugars and all that goes with it in more detail.

Here’s the skinny. You can use this just as a web-based tool, but where it has spun my wheels…

Continue reading »


By Nic on 20 January 2010 at 10.09 am
Posted in Technology & Equipment
Tagged as ,
This post has 11 comments so far. Add yours here.

How to convert mg/dl to mmol/l.

14 January 2010
9 Comments

If you’re like me, you might read the odd article/tweet by an American, citing their BG in mg/dl. It tends to be a little tricky to empathise with them when they complain of a BG of 40, or 240 – what on earth does this mean?

I found this even more tricky when I trialled the Dexcom CGMS. It was all in mg/dl so I had to get good at conversions in my head.

The simple answer? Multiply your mmol/l result (e.g 5.6) by 18 (to get 101 mg/dl). More background on the measurements here. Suffice to say the rest of the world is using mmol/l but our Yankee friends are still using the traditional mg/dl measurement.

Continue reading »


By Nic on 14 January 2010 at 1.52 pm
Posted in General
Tagged as ,
This post has 9 comments so far. Add yours here.

Back on track.

8 January 2010
5 Comments

I dusted off my BG record-keeping sheets today, determined to write down some numbers for a whole week and stay on top of basal rates, carb ratios, correction factors etc. That’s the thing with pumping – if only you could put in the hard work at the very beginning then sit with those ratios for all time – not so! I always knew I’d probably slacken off a bit after about 16 months of hard yakka and conscientious monitoring and record-keeping over my pregnancy and beforehand. Heck, I reckon I deserved the break. But, it’s now 12 weeks after my baby was born and I’m determined to put some systems in place to make sure I keep up a good…

Continue reading »


By Nic on 8 January 2010 at 9.40 am
Posted in Insulin Pumps, Pregnancy, Slice of Life
Tagged as , , ,
This post has 5 comments so far. Add yours here.

Guest Blog: Senile you say?

10 January 2009
1 Comment

I was feeling a bit annoyed when I arrived at work on Tuesday having woken up at 2.8mmol/L and it only being the second day back and all but I got such a nice surprise in my inbox which helped snap me out of it so I thought I’d share it with you guys too.

I’ll start by saying that I have some of the most thoughtful work colleagues. A couple of them who sit nearest me have been privy to the incessant blood testing, swearing and cursing at high and low BGs and the constant wipping out of the pump and so now, whenever they see a site or hear a news article about diabetes it invariably comes my…

Continue reading »


By Aaron on 10 January 2009 at 2.49 pm
Posted in Hypos & Hypers, Science & Research
Tagged as ,
This post has 1 comment so far. Add yours here.