Guest Blog: Thank YOU Mr Banting

20 January 2009
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While I was at work last week lamenting the fact that I had to work instead of still being at the camp with the kids and the sunshine and fun, I got to thinking about how lucky diabetics are these days. I know that this will age me chronically but it’s the truth so I’m gonna say it anyway.

Back in the day (1991 to be exact) we sure as heck didn’t have pumps. Hell, we didn’t even have insulin pens so I was a little shocked I suppose when I saw these young ones all doing what I thought were complicated regimes of testing, boluses etc at the camp fairly independant of their parents and us. That train…

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By Aaron on 20 January 2009 at 5.53 pm
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Hands up for insulin suppositories!

6 November 2008
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Ahem – I suppose ‘hands up’ might be a little too close to the bone on this subject. I saw this article a few days ago, and to be honest it didn’t really fill me with joy quite like the announcement about inhalable insulin a few years ago.

Apparently insulin suppositories are an area being explored for young children and older patients, who have trouble with injections. Which I suppose counts me out of the target market entirely. But I have to say – the improvements with diabetes which excite me are the ones which bring my life closer to the everyday person’s, not something which would see me having to run off to…

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By Nic on 6 November 2008 at 9.48 pm
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Oh deary me – so THAT’s what happens.

4 November 2008
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I came across this article recently and while it sounds like a particularly horrible thing to have happen (to summarise: a school nurse injected five teachers with insulin instead of a flu vaccine), it did answer a question I’ve pondered a few times – what happens if a non-diabetic gets injected with insulin?

I guess this answers it – if it’s a small amount, even if it’s intravenous – it will not kill said non-diabetic. I always assumed it would be close. You’d have to eat a pretty big handful of jelly snakes to get yourself out of that one I’m thinking!

(What has sparked this thought before is when people do that little joke with you…

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By Nic on 4 November 2008 at 9.00 pm
Posted in Medical Services
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Insulin smash ‘n grab.

5 October 2008
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I saw this article come across the wire the other day and thought I’d sit down and read it properly over the weekend:

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=65390&catid=2

To summarise: a guy put a molotov cocktail under a woman’s car in Knoxville, Tennessee in order to send her car up in flames, create a diversion for the police and rob a pharmacy across town. Police assume he was after what was in the locked cabinet in the pharmacy (narcotics), but when he failed to get into this, he made a getaway with a tote bag of insulin.

If you read the article, then the comments underneath, there seems to be varying opinion. The police think the thief was after narcotics and would have been…

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By Nic on 5 October 2008 at 3.19 pm
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Running on empty.

29 August 2008
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It takes a little bit of getting used to, this pump business. On MDI (multiple daily injections) you can’t help but see how much insulin you have left in the vial because you are looking at it every time you inject.

However, on the pump you don’t look so much. The cartridge is round the side, at the back – you’re always looking at the screen as you navigate through all of the programming options. Which is not to say you don’t have full visibility at all times regarding how much there is left in the cartridge – there’s a display on the home screen indicating how many units you have left, and how much battery power you have…

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By Nic on 29 August 2008 at 8.28 am
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