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Simon In better control with his pump since 2004
Minimizing hypoglycaemia in Type 1 diabetes
The diagnosis was a shock to begin with.
You don’t know what’s going to happen,
what diabetes even means.
I had started to inline skate
and I definitely wanted to continue.
But it wasn’t clear to me whether I could,
and to what extent I would still be able to do it.
The hardest thing
that I’ve experienced so far was from a hypo
when I was already working in the hospital,
at the start of my practical year.
I had been cycling for one or two hours,
ate a normal dinner afterwards,
and then unfortunately shortly after that
I felt ill and was throwing up.
So although the insulin was already in my body,
I’d thrown up my food.
The insulin continued to have an effect.
The replenishing of the glycogen stored in the muscles after cycling
used up blood glucose.
Within a short space of time I had values below 50 (mg/dl).
Even after I had drunk half a litre of Coca Cola
and eaten dextrose (sugar)
the glucose level dropped even further.
Unfortunately two or three colleagues
finally had to take me to the emergency room in my hospital
where I had to let myself be taken care of.
That was the first time
that I was not able to cope with my low blood glucose.
That was a strange feeling, no longer having control over it,
no longer being able to control what you can do.
Looking back, I’m glad that I came off so lightly.
I started on an insulin pump
two years after my initial diagnosis.
It became increasingly difficult with the multiple daily injections
and sports, inline skating, the competitions and everything,
to manage it properly
so that I could give my optimal performance.
So I tried out the pump,
and since it barely interfered with my daily life
and had functioned very well during sport,
I decided to go on a pump permanently.
The best thing about an insulin pump is that,
with the aid of the pump,
I don’t need to adjust my life to my diabetes
but instead I can manage my diabetes so that it doesn’t restrict my life.
And that’s actually the best thing.
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