UKC

Hi I was wondering if there are any type 1 diabetics out there on the forum. A Friday morning trip to the doctors with my 14 year old daughter,turned into a trip to the hospital where she still is as they try to get her ketones and blood sugar under control. She is very active, she climbs, backpacks, hillwalks and has done a bit of winter climbing with me and is about to start her DofE journey. How do you cope with blood testing and injections in the outdoors. She needs a bit of reassurance that life will go on once she is back out in the real world. Thanks James

In reply to jhb0510:

As long as she is sensible about it she will be fine. Im not diabetic but I know a few. The kit for testing is small and light nowadays and the injections are easy enough because they are preloaded. The main thing will be learning to balance exercise and eating. Hope she gets settled soon.

In reply to jhb0510:

No problem at all presented by 'outdoors'. Tiny testing kits & insulin injector pens are discreet & easy to use, helping her to monitor & maintain blood sugars on the go. Food is fuel for exercise, insulin helps the body access the fuel. Diabetes does require an adaptation of lifestyle, but being active is essential. It will be fine. Nik

In reply to jhb0510: done a couple of Himalayan trips with diabetics - no major problems, though they needed to take into account the typical response of the Sherpas to the question of how far to the camp or how long to the next meal. Normal response is "an hour", even though it might be much longer, so timing an insulin injection can be tricky. Some blood sugar testers can be affected by altitude.

In reply to jhb0510:

Jerry Gore is diabetic and he does some pretty cool stuff....
http://www.alpbase.com/entries/jerry-gore-diabetes

Thanks for all the replys, especially the link to Jerry's page, very inspirational. I guess a one of those group shelters you can get would give some protection from the elements when trying to do a test, the injections I don't see as being a problem, but trying to get a drop od blood onto a strip as it is hosing it down and blowing a hoolie I can see as a challenge. Perhaps there is a more outdoor friendly test kit you can get than the standard one the NHS give people!

In reply to jhb0510:

I have found diabetic youngsters tend to be very responsible with it and manage it well. I have come across more now who have insulin pumps fitted rather than doing injections, which can be convenient. It does mean harness fitting needs to be done carefully, but that's something she will get used to if they give her one

In reply to jhb0510:

Hi I am a friend of Jerry's and live near him in the alps, I am sure he would be cool if you emailed him if you have any questions or for advice, he is a super nice bloke ( don't tell him I said that) he is away for a few weeks so you may not get a response straight away?

Here is his face book page he dose lots of fund raising for diabetic charities,

https://www.facebook.com/JerrysInsulinChallenge

Cheers Rob

In reply to jhb0510:

I've walked/scrambled a lot with a couple of friends with type 1 diabetes, and it's never caused any significant problems. Might take a short while to get used to, but certainly doesn't need to stop all activity. One of them switched to an insulin pump to make things easier, although I think they're still not that common in the UK (they were very popular in the US for diabetics who did a lot of sport when I was still working in diabetes research, but that's over 10 years ago, and things might have changed....

We do blood glucose tests in mountain rescue, and it's perhaps worth knowing that it's harder to get an accurate result if you're cold - peripheral circulation shuts down, so a result from a cold finger will often be low (ie it's accurate for what's happening in the finger - blood is just sitting there and slowly using up glucose, giving a low reading - but doesn't necessarily mean blood glucose is low in the more important bits of the body that still have a good blood supply). Might be worth knowing to save a panic!

In reply to jhb0510:

One of the pro teams in the tour of Britain this year were all diabetic as is one of my friends who I used to ride with. There are some excellent books (the diabetic athlete??) and thinking about it there wa another girl Eva in bad tri who wrote a load of stuff about ironman racing and other long distance stuff as a diabetic, she may have been celiac (spelling) as well.

I fondly remember rescuing Rob a few times out riding when he got things a bit wrong. One time riding in the Pyrenees I passed him on a decent so clearly something was wrong. We had about 2 miles to go and the mother of all thunder storms was about to soak the world. He stopped ahead of me shortly after, uh oh, I pulled up next to him to see if he was o.k. He's looking around smiling and then says, "this road is AMAZING". We managed to get him back and sorted and just made it in as the heavens opened.

Hope she's feeling better soon.

Toby

I was diagnosed at 17 (32 now) so have a fair idea how she is feeling at the moment. so long as she manages it well it wont really hold her back. it probably seems quite restrictive at the moment but as she learns more about managing her diabetes it should become second nature. its never stopped me enjoying the outdoors weather thats Climbing, mountainbiking or running.

In reply to jhb0510:
Hi I was diagnosed with type 1 last New Year's Eve, bit of a shock. I'm an outdoor instructor and climb, hill walk kayak and mountain bike regularly. I find my diabetes quite easy to control while outdoors and active as I just have less long acting insulin before the activity then just eat more regularly rather than having a big lunch break. It's also worth noting that blood testers don't work in temperatures less than 10c which can be a bit of an issue. But if you keep your tester in a chest pocket to keep it warm then you can normally just about manage to get a test done before it stops working. While out I carry hypo stop gel, glucose tablets and a biscuit of some type just in case. Hope everything goes well.

In reply to jhb0510:

Great report from this year's CCC race in Chamonix from someone who hasn't let diabetes stand in the way of him.
http://ultrarunningcommunity.com/13-report/168-ccc-race-report

In reply to jhb0510:

It's no big problem. Carry some jelly babies to keep blood sugar levels up, and stop to refuel when you feel you need to. Never had a problem with blood sugar testing, just by keeping a Freestyle Lite (very compact) kit in an inner pocket. Modern injection pens are very easy to use, with no messing about changing needles etc. You can get pouches to put them in to keep them cool, if it's going to be very warm, made by a company called Frio.

Thanks to all for your replies. She is back home from hospital now and is doing really well, both in herself and with her new routine. She needs a visit from her diabetes nurse, then will be back to school.

In reply to jhb0510:

Glad she is home. Hope it doesn't apply in her case but with teenage girls there is a worry that they can feel pressure to be slim, and that diabetic girls have on occasion been known to skip injections to loose weight. Not a good idea. Just something to be aware of. Like I said I hope it doesn't apply.

In reply to jhb0510:

Hi. My daughter, also age 14, is type 1, diagnosed 18 months ago. All the above messages are right and true: it will be ok. But...there is a steep learning curve ahead for both of you, in my experience.

My advice would be to hook up with the Children With Diabetes group where there are a lot of supportive parents who will gladly answer questions on anything and everything. & you will have a lot of questions over the next year, I promise. I also suggest that the first advice you should ask for on CWD is which hospital clinic near you is the best. All children's diabetes is under a hospital clinic, not a GP; there is a huge variability in the quality of clinics, so the clinic you are first under (presumably whichever hospital your daughter got admitted to) may well not be the best around; she is entitled to go to any clinic of your choice, anywhere in the UK if you wish; many people do switch, many find it worth travelling quite a way to go to a better/bigger clinic; and, trust me, the quality of the clinic makes a huge difference - as far as I can tell everyone who switches always then wishes they'd done it sooner.

This is the CWD page: http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/uk/. There is a sign up for a fairly old-fashioned email list service. But they have recently set up a Facebook group, & I suspect a lot more people now use that instead (I haven't really migrated to it yet, not being a big Facebook user).

If you want to get in touch somehow I'd be happy to try to answer any questions. This is my first ever post on UKC, after probably 10 years of membership, so I'm not really clued up on whether you can PM me or email me or whatever, but I'll keep an eye on this topic.

Nigel

In reply to girlymonkey:


My Aunt has one of these on her upper arm. Took her a while to get used to it, as far as I understand it, but doing ok now. She's got a good 50 years on OP's daughter, though, so she may adapt quicker to it.

My Mum was a diabetic nurse and has seen lots of people in similar circumstances - I'm sure OP'd daughter will be fine.

In reply to LastBoyScout:


A friend's daughter got one as a toddler, so I reckon a teenager might be OK

When I was working in diabetes research, there was usually chat on the web forums about the best way to hide a pump in your bra so it didn't show under a skimpy top or tight dress......

In reply to jhb0510:

Someone I know has type 1 diabetes and is a very active hill walker. I think he's even a member of a diabetics outdoors club, which i'm sure google will find. He gets on fine and even enjoys the hidden perks... On the hill is the only time he can enjoy a mars bar!

In reply to jhb0510:
James,

I can understand your anxieties and also your whole family's worries but can assure you that outdoor activities may well form the cornerstone of your daughters diabetic control for many years to come. Obviously she must get over her Diabetic ketoacidosis (yes one of many new long medical words you will start to learn). Then she needs to build her confidence in her self care.

On principle I do not give personal medical advice on a public forum but am very happy for you to contact me via my e mail address or via the BMC if you would prefer to check on my credentials. I can assure you there many active diabetic mountaineers. Many of us share ideas via Mountain Active Diabetics (MAD). Jerry Gore is a member as am I. I also advise a commercial expedition company and we have diabetic clients. I am currently updating the UIAA Medical commission guidelines on diabetes in the mountains.

I am happy to work closely with your family GP (pleased he spotted the diagnosis), with your daughter's hospital consultant and whole diabetic care team. Just as she has to slowly develop her climbing skills she also has to slowly build her diabetic control skills and adapt them for a "hostile" environment. Do let he know that testing blood sugar on Zero Gully is hard due to spindrift but it is possible.....and the shelter on the Ben is useful for retesting and sorting oneself out for the descent in the dark.

Yours,

Dr David Hillebrandt
Medical Advisor to BMC