Warning: This is long rambling post and a rough summary of my original diagnosis and important related events between then and now.
Since being diagnosed with Diabetes in 2003, I’ve probably never been in better health. That kick started a lifestyle change that has done me so much good it’s hard to imagine now looking back exactly how I used to be. If you click on the little thumbnail on the right you’ll see a photograph from last year that tries to explain some of the changes (that was uploaded to Flickr last June)
One of the major benefits of having Diabetes is that I get regular medical checkups. There is currently talk of offering regular checkups for everyone – prevention being better than cure as the saying goes.
Despite my change of lifestyle though, every time I’m being examined by someone there is always the bit at the end when they say “everything’s fine” where you’re relieved despite how good you’ve been! Today I went for an eye test – partly the normal checks but also to examine the eyes for evidence of diabetes / blood sugar related problems in the eye – to do this they put drops in my eyes (0.5% Tropicamide) which make the pupils dilate so they look huge! – they then shine a light in your eyes and have a good look around in there. Of course they don’t say anything until they’ve finished but I never know what they can see in there – although last year the lady described some of the patterns inside my eye and wrote it down just so that the next person the year after would recognise it confirm that the previous test hadn’t been rushed! The downside to these eye drops is that your vision goes a bit crap for a few hours – I remember last year coming out of the opticians and trying to phone someone on my mobile and not being able to see it properly to determine who I was going to phone and no amount of squinting was going to help. It does wear off though, I came out of there at 10:15 this morning and went back to pick up my glasses at 12:30 – by that time my eyes were fine again – my pupils were still large, but I could see clearly which was the important thing! 
Now that the eye exam is out of the way I’ve got more tests to look forward to next month. In the past I’ve had all sorts of tests done and it has been quite interesting. All sorts of levels in my blood measured and things like blood pressure and cholesterol levels under much tighter reign than if I didn’t have diabetes. Of all the tests I’ve had the highlight for me was listening to blood go around my feet with an ultrasound scanner – that was strange and fascinating at the same time!
When I was diagnosed in September 2003, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and had to inject insulin twice a day. I’m the kind of person who hates needles but to be fair, things have moved on medically over the years and it was nowhere near as bad as I was imagining. Between then and the summer of 2005 I was injecting insulin and it just became part of day to day business – my doctor at the Diabetes clinic smelt a rat though – he thought that I was using far less insulin than I should be needing if I really had type 1 diabetes. He said to me “Have you tried going without?” – Er, no! I was under the impression that I needed the insulin to stay alive!
Well, he suggested reducing my insulin intake by half for a few weeks and monitor my blood sugar levels and if they didn’t go up out of the safe range, half my intake again for another couple of weeks and monitor again. This time if after the two weeks the blood sugar level was still safe, stop taking insulin all together.
So, that’s what I did, a month later my blood sugar levels remained safe and stable and I wasn’t taking insulin any more. This in a way seemed like a bigger change than starting to take it in the first place, I kept feeling like I ought to be doing something!
So this month I’ll have some blood tests done ready for my visit to the clinic next month. The suspected diagnosis is for MODY which is a rare form of diabetes. Because of this I get to see one of the big cheese consultants which is a nice bonus – every member of staff at the clinic has been great to be fair, but they now think I’m special which is great! hehe!
Summary of differences between September 2003 and now: I no longer smoke, I’m at least 6 stone (38Kg) lighter, Cholesterol and blood pressure levels perfect, so much healthier due largely to a lot of mountain biking and walking. The weight thing is a bit of a guess, I don’t know how much I weighed initially – at my first checkup, 3 months after being diagnosed was when i first had my weight checked and the 6 stone reduction is from then. However, at that point I was already struggling with trousers being so baggy they’d fall down if I didn’t have a good belt on, so it could well have been a fair bit more weight – I’m just not sure. What I do know though is that I had jeans that were 16 inches larger than my favourite comfortable jeans I wear now! That’s just dawned on me, bloody hell!
I don’t think I’ve been as active this winter as previously and I’m really looking forward to spring and more daylight so that I can really go to town and get fitter throughout the year.
diabetes,mody,eyes,health
![Portrait with a Clumber horse [10/52]
I actually intended to try and do quite a straight portrait and include the horse at the side of me. I stood with my back to the horse with my camera at ...](http://publicenergy.co.uk/Projects/52-Weeks/20100306-1145-0017-Edit/803460292_nQg6M-Th.jpg "Portrait with a Clumber horse [10/52]
I actually intended to try and do quite a straight portrait and include the horse at the side of me. I stood with my back to the horse with my camera at ...")
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lizzie, 
emdot 2:07 am on November 8, 2007 Permalink |
That’s an awesome shot, Dave. Emotional, even, somehow.
Congrats on the clean bill of health. You are very inspiring. :)