No flu for me!

I had my seasonal flu jab yesterday. The surgery had the task of injecting everyone off to a fine art. When I entered, there was a queue of about five or six people, but by the time the receptionist had checked my name on her list, it was my turn to go in! About fifteen seconds later, it was all done! I remember reading somewhere that GPs get a payment for each patient they inject, something like five or six pounds. Given that the whole procedure took about thirty seconds per person, that’s somewhere in the region of £600 an hour – not a bad rate of pay!

I felt absolutely nothing when injected, although my arm is aching slightly now. I’d much rather have the injection than the real thing. Being diabetic means that my blood sugar control would go haywire if I caught flu, with a quite serious risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Since that was what landed me up in hospital at diagnosis, I know exactly what it’s like, and NEVER want to suffer that again!

So, I’ll be off again in a couple of weeks or so for the swine flu jab. Some scaremongering stories have been doing the rounds, but from the more respected sources I have read, the dangers are minimal, and not to be compared with the problems they encountered in the mid-1970s when some Americans died from sde effects from the vaccine being used at the time. There are risks with all sorts of things, and you just have to weigh up the evidence and make an informed decision. After a year of living with diabetes, I no longer take the word of medical staff as sacrosanct – they often can’t agree with each other so you quickly come to realise that you need to be pro-active with your health choices. This is why I stopped taking statins, although the jury is still out on whether I need to keep taking a daily aspirin. Nine drugs down, two to go!

Just roll up your sleeve now,
You won’t feel a thing,
That’s not totally truthful,
Sometimes it can sting!
But having this jab
Will be better for you
Than a serious dose
Of the seasonal flu!
So don’t be a baby,
Just give me your arm,
I’ll inject this dead virus
To keep you from harm…
In a couple of weeks time
We’ll see you again
For your swine flu vaccine -
We don’t know quite when –
Then that’s it for the winter,
We’ll see you next year,
That’s two bad diseases
You no longer need fear!

Diabetes Support Forum UK

Diabotics Gluco Jon and Polly Urea celebrate World Diabetes Day!

Today is World Diabetes Day. A year ago today, a new forum was launched in the UK, supported by the charity Diabetes UK (although not widely publicised enough still!). Having been diagnosed just a few months before, I had visited a few other forums, but was largely perplexed by their complexity, number of sub-divisions, varieties of diabetes, diet and control methods, plus the sheer number of members and daily postings. So, it was refreshing to encounter a new, home-grown forum that I could get into from the beginning.

Things started expanding rapidly from the start, with between 10 and 40 new members joining every day and introducing themselves. I’d read up a lot on diabetes care since my diagnosis, including studying an Open University course on the subject, so found my self in a position to be able to offer suggestions to the other members in answer to their questions. Plus, I was familiar with the mechanisms of a support forum, having been a moderator on another forum, unrelated to diabetes, for many years. I also had a lot of time on my hands, and an eagerness to learn what I could and discuss experiences with the other members. As a result, after a few months, I was asked to become a Moderator for the forum, to help keep the place ticking over and watch out for any bogus or abusive posts, or simply to steer new members to the appropriate section or give instruction on operating the forum.

The forum grew, and as it was growing, so was a new life in the tummy of the forum’s founder! As a result of her pregnancy, the founder asked if I would take over the administration of the place whilst she took some time of to have, and care for, her baby. Now we are a few months further down the line, having expanded hugely in that time, and with nearly 75,000 posts and 1,676 members! Not all those members post all the time, of course. Some never post, some post for a short while then disappear, yet others have posted thousands of times and then departed. There are new people coming in all the time though, and this keeps the place vibrant and fresh. It’s wonderful to see the transformation in people from frightened, panicking, newly-diagnosed into confident and supportive experts on their own diabetes. Plus, I have learned of the anguish and frustrations presented to parents of diabetic children, who cope with remarkable stoicism and give such tremendous support to one another.

The bond that unites all the members, whatever type their diabetes, or length since diagnosis, or if they are parents, carers, teenagers, pensioners, athletes, makes it a very good place to spend time. There are the realities of diabetes, the terrible complications that can be visited on people, but there is also the great humour of people in the face of adversity, which helps to keep us all going. Next week, a large group of us will be meeting up in London. I am sure that will carry the bond of friendship to new levels, and I’m very much looking forward to it! Pictures, no doubt, will follow!

Motivation

I crawled reluctantly out of my nice warm bed this morning, after spending a fitful night snatching the odd hour of sleep in between listening to the torrents of rain lashing down and overflowing the guttering outside my bedroom window. I was determined to go for a run this morning, chiefly because the weather forecast was for even more dire and dreadful inundations over the coming days, with accompanying gale force winds. If there is one type of weather I hate to run in, it is driving rain whipped into a stinging frenzy by unpredictable and powerful winds.

So, I was quite relieved to see that there appeared to be a lull in the Storm God’s diary which coincided nicely with my excursion round the local park. In fact, in some ways it was far more pleasant for running than in recent days, as the temperature was slightly higher, and the good cloud cover meant no blinding sunshine to blur my route. Even so, it was an effort to get myself out of the door. I went for a run a couple of days ago, and though they didn’t feel too bad, my legs were still a little sore and achy from that run. But, what’s a little ache in comparison to what some people have to endure?

My biggest motivator for some years has been to hold the image of Jane Tomlinson in my mind – no privation I might suffer would ever come close (I hope) to what she had to endure. Jane, for those who do not know of her, was an astonishingly tenacious, wonderful, brave, funny Yorkshirewoman who ran London Marathons, cycled across the USA, cycled from Leeds to Rome, and – in my view her most remarkable achievement – completing the full Ironman Triathlon. There are many tremendous and talented athletes who have achieved such feats, but she is the only person I know of who has achieved all this whilst undergoing treatment for terminal cancer. Jane had been in remission from an earlier diagnosis of breast cancer, when the cancer returned, this time inoperable and with a projected life expectancy of less than two years. She refused to let it defeat her, and began running, building up eventually to be able to run and cycle at a level that would surpass many of her peers, with or without cancer. She raised mllions for charity, raised a beautiful family and continued working until finally succumbing in September 2007 – seven years after her diagnosis.


In the face of that kind of effort, how can I complain about my lot? She will forever be an inspiration for me and many, many others. If you get the chance to read the story of her life, please do, I guarantee you will moved and inspired.

The Luxury of Time

How Good is That?: The Story of a Reluctant Heroine

You Can't Take it with You

Friday November 13th, 2009
Distance
3.7 miles
Time
35’ 31”
Calories
432
Blood glucose before (1.5 hour)
7.2
Blood glucose after
8.7

Blood Sugar Blues

I woke up this mornin’
My levels were high…
Feelin’ sluggish and poorly,
Like I felt I might die!
Musta messed up my basal,
Now that ain’t good news!
For it means that all day I’ll have the blood sugar blues!

Oh, the blood sugar blues,
Blood sugar blues, oh my!
When your level’s off the meter,
You wanna lay right down and die!

Thought I’d fix me some coffee,
Put some life in my legs…
Some strong black coffee -
Drink it down to the dregs!
But it ain’t doin’ nuthin’
Don’t feel better, no sir!
That diabetes fairy – put a curse on her!

Oh, the blood sugar blues,
Blood sugar blues, oh my!
When your level’s off the meter,
You wanna lay right down and die!

A Long Cold Summer

I’ve been trying to keep up with my running since completing the Great South Run – if I don’t keep the momentum going now as the days start to get darker and colder, I’ll fail completely when winter really sets in! This is my second winter with diabetes. Last year was horrible, not least because I didn’t really have a summer before it and autumn was particularly bad in this country. My summer was ruined by my diagnosis, of course, but in particular it was the huge number of drugs I was put on. Worst of all were the beta-blockers. I’d had a problem with my heart (myocarditis) when diagnosed and had been restricted to only very light exercise for about two months. This meant I lost much of my fitness from my training for the Stockholm Marathon.

When they finally allowed me to do some gentle running I suffered even more. I didn’t feel I had a problem with my heart, but found that a short run at a very gentle pace would soon have me feeling as though I’d rowed the Atlantic or something. After reading up, I discovered that beta-blockers work by restricting your heart rate to below 100 beats per minute (bpm). As I needed to push my heart up to at least 140 bpm to run comfortably, it meant that my heart was not able to pump the oxygen-carrying blood to my muscles quickly enough, so they became fatigued. The beta blockers also had the effect of making me feel cold ALL the time – even in bright summer sunshine I felt chilled to the bone. I developed chilblains on my toes for the first time in my life.

So, the drugs that were supposed to be saving my life (potentially, by not letting my heart work too hard) were ruining my quality of life. Thankfully, I persuaded the doctors that my heart was fine and could finally get on with my life. If I never have to take those pills again it won’t be soon enough! I found it interesting that, despite all the recommendations I’d had that running – good, sustained, aerobic exercise – was the ideal sport to pursue to gain a healthy heart, I was being stopped from doing it by the very same people who recommended it!

I managed the Great South Run last year, but on very little training so I did feel somewhat dissatisfied. But it was also an achievement to run with diabetes for the first time, so not a wholly unrewarding experience. This year my training was badly disrupted by injury – just little muscle tears, but enough to stop me from training for a while. I didn’t want to miss the event because I had a lot of sponsors. But I was still a little disappointed not to be at my best in the race. It was an improvement on last year, but I’m hoping that next year will be much better. I won’t achieve that without putting in the effort now!