Starting on Insulin

The nurse at my GP's surgery had mentioned insulin a couple of times, as no matter which drug she prescribed, my BS were not coming down.  I had by this time discovered www.diabetes.co.uk, and had begun reading about low carbohydrate diets.  Many diabetics both type 1 and type 2 have had good results by restricting carbs.  I tried it for a week or two, and did see a reduction in the very high blood sugars.

So at my appointment with the specialist nurse, I was prescribed insulin.  Novomix30, which is a mixed insulin, consisting of 30% fast acting and 70% long acting insulin.  Anne, my surgery nurse showed me how to inject using a pen.  The needle is really tiny, and I hardly felt a thing.  I don't think I will have problems injecting.  They went through all the symptoms of hypoglycemia, and what to do on sick days.  I was given a new meter which also checks for ketones if my BS is high.  This is to check that I am not going into diabetic ketoacidosis, another life threatening condition that type 1 diabetics can get if they have no insulin on board.

Oooer!  I was a bit shell shocked!  Unfortunately, none of the chemists I went into could do my prescription that day, so I left it with the chemist near the doctors and went to pick it up the next day.  It was the bank holiday weekend, and Maurice was flying off to Phoenix on business for 1 week.  But there is a lot of support.  I can phone my nurse at the surgery, I can phone the specialist nurses at the hospital, or there is an out of hours helpline run by the drug company that make the insulin.  Knowing that the support was there was very comforting.

I picked up the prescription on the Friday, which included insulin (keep in the fridge), 2 pens, disposable needles, test strips for my meter, for BS and ketones, metformin, and lancets for the stabber!  I went home, made a cup of tea and sat down and read all the leaflets.

Here we go!  Now I have to inject insulin every day for the rest of my life!