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Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

martin.janiczek.cz

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Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#171

Post by sjhatfield »

Scotrix wrote: post #42

I‘m T1D and using Freestyle Libre + Omnipod Dash and iAPS + Apple Watch. Apple Watch is for me primarily to automate physical exercise detection and target adjustments but also works great with iAPS to control bgs and inject insulin from your watch without taking your phone out of pocket. All built as a homebrew closed loop. While it was somewhat difficult initially to make it work I managed to get over the last year…

Are you still announcing meals? I know some people use iAPS with no meal announcement which sounds amazing. We are moving our T1D son from OP5 to Loop but would consider iaps in the future. Hoping we can recreate our 92% average time in range with less work needed

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#172

Post by jevogel »

stranded22 wrote: post #80
mjaniczek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, is your wife's closed loop solution official, or homebrew? (If official, which country do you live in, if I may ask?)

It's official - UK (England).

In the US, the official Omnipod 5 with Dexcom G6 closed loop solution is also available, starting early this year I think. My wife prefers her DIY AndroidAPS setup with Omnipod Dash and Dexcom G7, though, because the G7 allows you to warm up a new sensor when the old one is still active, so she doesn't have any gaps in her data.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#173

Post by nradov »

carimura wrote: post #119
flanked-evergl wrote: post #36

Not a diabetic and I live in one of the richest countries with a social medical system, but the medical industry is an abject failure. My experience with most Doctors who are not surgeons has mostly been that are overpaid for doing essentially nothing and think all their patients are hypochondriacs.

In the US, my experience has largely been that it's not healthcare, it's sickcare. Wait until sick, get treated. Annual checkups are a weight check, blood pressure, a few questions, maybe a blood panel if you're lucky, and then a "you look great see you next year", aka, come back when you're sick. I spent the last few years seeking proactive healthcare and the "system" is very much stacked against you. If you're fort…

I don't know why you would expect the healthcare system to do all of that stuff. If you want to know your VO2 Max you can just go to the local running track and execute a Cooper Test for free. But the results aren't really actionable. Regardless of the quantitative result, unless you're already an elite athlete the prescription will always be the same: exercise more.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#174

Post by sgt101 »

janandonly wrote: post #76

Very dumb question here, but I don’t dare ask it to ChatGPT. What would happen to T1 or T2 diabetics if we would stop eating all sources of sugars and carbs? So no fruit, no rice, no potatoes and so on? Would it be possible to survive and live comfortably in a state of Ketosis? Or is a 100% ketogenic diet simply not possible on diabetes? I’m asking because my true question is: what if insulin becomes too expensive? T…

T1 needs insulin, some T2 are ok without it.

Insulin is cheap to make, now, it is expensive because of commercial considerations like monopolization or investment. In reality any national system worth its salt could produce enough insulin at a very low cost for all diabetics in the world. But, this won't happen because of trade rules and so on.

Some people are trying to build the infrastructure for local/homebrew insulin production, but it's proving to be challenging. See this site for more: https://openinsulin.org/2023-recap/

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#175

Post by sgt101 »

kapitanjakc wrote: post #158

Dumb question here :- My father has diabetes since he was 30, my grand father had it too in his 30s. I am beginning my 30s, will I get it too ? Is it guaranteed that I'll get it ? Can I avoid getting it ? Both my father and grandfather had heart attacks...

It depends on genetics and luck.

The luck part is that it seems that infections trigger the autoimmune reaction that kills the pancreas. The genetics bit is that you may or may not have got the gene from your father.

Most people die of heart attacks in the end. Factors like smoking, lifestyle and fighting in wars are probably more important than well managed type 1 nowadays. The big difference now is that the insulin is human insulin, made by genetically engineered microbes. In the past it was harvested from animals and it didn't work as well. Also constant blood monitoring means that highs and lows can be detected and fixed before damage is done. So - things have moved on, there isn't as much to be frightened of, I'm sorry your dad died young, but you will probably be ok.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#176

Post by jevogel »

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #161
kapitanjakc wrote: post #158

Dumb question here :- My father has diabetes since he was 30, my grand father had it too in his 30s. I am beginning my 30s, will I get it too ? Is it guaranteed that I'll get it ? Can I avoid getting it ? Both my father and grandfather had heart attacks...

> Can I avoid getting it ? Yeah, by losing weight. Unless the reason they got it is because of some autoimmune timebomb that's genetically programmed to go off in the 30s and destroy the pancreas.

FFor more context:

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease. Your own immune cells attack your insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas, leading you to lose the ability to produce insulin to absorb glucose from the blood. You will lose weight, be frequently thirsty, and have to pee frequently. T1D seems to have a genetic factor which you can be tested for.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a lifestyle disease where you become less sensitive to the insulin that your body produces. It can be prevented by maintaining healthy diet, exercise, and weight, and it can usually be detected early as prediabetes. There may be a genetic factor predisposing you to T2D, but I don't know if there are tests for it.

You need to know which disease your family had to know which answer it is. They are two totally different diseases that just happen to both be related to insulin.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#177

Post by GenerWork »

mapt wrote: post #155
noodleman wrote: post #134

I'm T1D and currently working on something like this because diabetes healthcare in the UK is effectively non-existent past diagnosis. Managing the condition isn't too difficult after 30 years of it, but dealing with the politics of NHS diabetes care is astronomically more difficult than it was in any decade previously. In my experience, if you are not pregnant, or you aren't at risk of passing out in the next 15 min…

You guys are decades deep into an ideologically propelled plan to "Starve the beast" by denying the NHS funding so that care quality declines, and use that as justification to privatize the NHS entirely. The starting salary for a first-year doctor is below the national median income, and for a nurse significantly below. Their inability to requisition funds & time for care is something there is repeated labor action a…

Isn't one of the selling points of universal healthcare that it's overall cheaper in total cost than private insurance? If so, the UK should be celebrated for having such a low percentage of its GDP being spent on universal healthcare.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#178

Post by mpreda »

supertofu wrote: post #145

I'm prediabetic with two T2 parents and a T2 grandparent and my primary care doctor is entirely unconcerned about it. My lowish tech solution to delay (and hopefully prevent!) the onset of T2 is to use a glucose monitor every 2 hours, every day, and create a database of foods with my postprandial blood sugar reaponse at 1.5 and 2 hours. I also keep track of how exercise affects my blood sugar. Over the last couple ye…

What is your weight situation?

Eat less, exercise more, and you may delay T2D. Reduce or avoid fast carbohydrates. Reduce carbohydrates.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#179

Post by coldtea »

supertofu wrote: post #145

I'm prediabetic with two T2 parents and a T2 grandparent and my primary care doctor is entirely unconcerned about it. My lowish tech solution to delay (and hopefully prevent!) the onset of T2 is to use a glucose monitor every 2 hours, every day, and create a database of foods with my postprandial blood sugar reaponse at 1.5 and 2 hours. I also keep track of how exercise affects my blood sugar. Over the last couple ye…

>My doctors care about my inflammatory markers and nothing else

They care about your payments, more likely...

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#180

Post by s1artibartfast »

xeromal wrote: post #169
jklinger410 wrote: post #137

What I've learned that, as an adult in 2024 in the United States, you cannot take for granted: - That your medical professionals are acting in your best interest - That your insurance company is acting in your best interest - That your medical professional knows what they are talking about - That things that are legal to put in your body will not cause irreparable harm to you - That the legal level of pollutants in t…

There's a time in every human's life where the rose tinted glasses wear off and the reality of human living hits you.

agreed. I think we are at a unique time in history where the rose tinted glass can even exists. Where children can live sheltered in a low risk reality well into their 20's and then whiplash and disappointment and cynicism hits them like a ton of bricks.

I think that low baseline expectations is very important for mental health and general resilience.

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