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Hi, E and I got chatting on another thread about fact we are both diabetics but dont really know any more outside family or diabetic clinics .so if you want a chat with other people who may know what your going through or how you dealt with different aspects of diabetes or just want to have a good chat drop in here.

I have diabetes now for 30 years, was diagnosed as 3y/o. I have 3 sisters and 1 brother who are also diabetic. Obviously genetic.I have 4 children 12, 10, 7,and 3. Their all perfectly healthy. I have to say I was told some horror stories on my first pregnancy and unfortunately dealt with a not very understanding consultant. Im about 2 stone over weight so Im off now for a walk
Louise

hi everyone,
I have been diagnosed for 26 years, have one dd ( ) and 2 siblings neither of whom have diabetes .

They reckon there is a genetic link somewhere down the line, as parents were the last children to elderly parents who both came from big families, some of whom died at young ages iykwim.

I do have some complications, so have been a sahm rather then trying to cope with illness,dd,and work.... Not that being a sahm to wild child is relaxing ( ) but at least I can be exhausted in peace

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And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Hi E just wondered did you have section with you daughter? I am a SAHM since last june and enjoy it most of the time. The girl I worked with was brilliant and dealt with quiet a few hypos when I was pregnant.

Hi girls

I have diabetes 13 yrs now. I'm the only one in my family with it, I have two sisters, 1 of whom had a thyroid problem but surgery sorted it out. My dad is non insulin dependent, and thats as far as it goes in our family tree, but I'm pretty sure it was around during my grandparents stage, they probably did'nt know they had it.

I have two very healthy kids. My first was born by CS and my 2nd - born last Oct was a natrual birth. I found both pregnancies hard, thankfully I did'nt suffer morning sickness. I attended the coombe on both and was seeing Dr Firth for the diabetes and Dr Sean Daly for the baby. Its a big thanks to those two great Dr's that I had two healthy babies!! I was absolutely terrified during my pregnancies that I'd have an abnormal baby..... On my first I was afraid to look at the baby for about 5 mins after he was born, until DH kept telling me that he was beautiful and perfectly normal I did find the checking blood sugars 8 times a day and big pain in the neck

I had desperate hypos on last pregnancy - did'nt quite collapse, but on the verge - truelly awful.. Could'nt go any where without a bottle of lucozde by my side

Have been thinking alot about the insulin pump - anyone out there using one?

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Hi ,
I did have a cs for dd, after a 2 day labour when she went into distress. I didn't mind as the plencenta had been starting to fail for a while and I was 38 weeks so not worry about the little one anymore. She was 6lbs7oz at birth ( which I was sooo proud about) and it was in HS; but I did have a number of run-ins with Drs there. I don't like being talked down to or told I don't know my own body
It was great that your work mate was there for you.

Hi Dutchie, I have heard good things about the pump. Not for me I don't think - tried one years ago, when they were like walkmans and you had to wear a belt!! I am a brittle diabetic, so my control is abit variable, so I don't think it would work. I had such pains in my fingers from testing after dd.. I found it took ages to stop doing so many, iykwim

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Hi girls,
Dutchie, I was the same with my first pregnancy. I was petrified that baby would have brain damage and TBH the consultant was such a jerk he did nothing to reassure me or calm my worries. When DD1 was born I was so stressed I was convinced she was blue . But she was perfect and it was just all my worrying coming to the surface . Shes now a beautiful 12y/o who can tell by looking at my face if I need to eat or am getting low blood sugar.
When I was pregnant my poor Dh was brilliant I had numerous hypos at night and used to frighten the life out of him .
better tidy up and get some sleep ,talk soon

Diabetic mum, how did you persuade dh to have more then one child? My dh id terrified as to what another pregnancy will do to my (already decrepid..) body...

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

DD1 was born before I met DH and I have to say we actually didnt plan any pregnancy which can be frowned upon by diabetes mediacal . We were using two different types of contraception on last two pregnancies so after last ds was born consultant tied my tubes (as obviously we cant be trusted to not get pregnant ). I have to say I found first two pregnancies much easier, less hypos etc. I actually fell downstairs at 9weeks pregnant(hypo) with DD2 and got an awful fright. We now live in bungalow and DH said we wont ever live in two storey houise again.

I just reread last post and realised anyone who may read this who has not had diabetes long may worry about problems .Just wanted to say dont worry it just means being more careful and accept peoples help. Diabetic nurses give so much more support now than they did when I was on my first pregnancy.

The first thing they asked me when I went to the diabetic clinic at HS was "was it planned, your HBa1c is a little high (7.8.....) " and it took us a year to concieve .

Very scary to have such sudden and dramatic hypos, actually much more scary for dh I know - my dh flaps around panicing if I feel my bs dropping, and I'm lucky to have a big llooooonnnnggggg buildup. Can still function at >1.
Have to say though, luzocade is a lifesaver isn't it - found out about it's quick acting qualities in HS, and now I have a bottle in the fridge/car etc... Great to have around with a toddler

I would like to have a sibling for dd, but dh is terrified as to how we would cope with the pregnancy Maybe I'm just fooling myself, but I see the pregnancy as a state that is only temporary, but I know what he means.. Because the body is abit worn at this stage ( ) god knows what another pregnancy would do to it.. How did each pregnancy affect you? Do you have any complications?

E

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Hi E , I must say Im very lucky (TG and a very strict mother when I was young) in that I dont have any complications of diabetes as yet .I have just recently started taking a blood pressure tablet to protect my kidneys seemingly . Like you I would see the hypos of pregnancy as temporary ( as scary as they are). I definitely found the last pregnancy very difficult ,sickness for most of pregnancy but it was not diabetes related just morning sickness that seemed to go on all day for months I feel I got more support medically last time as well. Second pregnancy is probably harder as you have a child to mind as well. I can see why your DH would be worried, Its really scary to watch someone else have a hypo. Last month my younger sister had bad hypo ,collapsing in kitchen hitting head and she didnt know what month it was or year or what had happened when bs started to return to normal.
If I was to have another baby I think I would probably have to put a lot more planning into it, and definitely plan to do nothing except relax an d watch my bs for whole nine months.
Do you have family near you who could visit, keep you company, check your ok during day if DH was worried?. We live close to my MIL who used to come and check on me when DH was working.
Talk later

Do you mean Cozaar? (sp) Works well for protecting the kidneys from starting to leak protein. Have been on it for a number of years.
I don't think a strick mother would have made any difference in my case: once I was diagnosed, I went into early puberty and hormones all over the place + a v.stubborn non-specialist doctor ( should have admitted he didn't know what he was doing...), it took 4 years for them to get me under control. And I was in hospital for the large majority of this time, 2 comas, only went back to school at 14 .. Anyway, the damage was done.

I don't really talk about my health to others (friends) as I feel its boring and not really going to solve anything, so I'm afraid its all coming out here .. I think that I am unlucky, so I hope no-one is worried about bad things happening..

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

You wouldn't know it from my posts on this thread, but I'm actually quite a positive & upbeat person

Will get all that out of my system & be more positive

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Thankfully I don't have any complications, but thats not to say that I don't worry about getting something.......Any time I have a little pain or twinge my mind starts thinking all kinds of awful things My biggest worry is not seeing my kids grow up

The hypo's that I did have on my last pregnancy frighten the bejaysus out of DH and me. The very first time I experienced one was when I was down visiting my inlaws with DH and DS. I "woke" up at some stage during the night, but could'tn move my body, all I kept thinking was that I needed to use the loo, but I was stuck to the bed...... that feeling seemed to drag on for ages and ages, yet at the same time I knew DH was next to me snoring away, but I could'nt raise my arm/hand to tell him to help me. I then discovered that I could move my left leg slightly and started trying to throw the bed covers off me, I eventually fell out of the bed, slumped up on the floor, DH in the meantime jumped out of bed, switched on the light, to find me on the floor and throwing up. He asked me was I OK, and all I could mumble was "need loo now", he said that I sounded like I was drunk (but I was'nt obviously), so then he had to litterally drag me down the stairs to the kitchen and litterally poured the lucozde down my throat... I remember coming around very quickly and then bursting into tears with the fright. Fair play to DH he was extremely calm and never once panicked.... But I'll never forget that awful experience....

Other hypos were'nt as bad, I had the lucozde right next to me incase... sorry if anyone is ready this and is frightened I don't mean to......It has never happened again, and am making sure it never does

I hear that the mater hosp now have a pre pregnancy clinic aimed at getting hba1c's down before getting pregnant. Sounds good, but don't know if I'd be bothered giong into town every week. My last two pregnancy's were planned, but not in terms of getting BS down to 4 or anything!!!!! But on both pregnancy's I was admitted, on my first I was admitted at 6 weeks as BS were shocking And on 2nd pregnancy was admitted at 32 weeks as consultant thought BS was spiralling out of control, but once admitted was discharged within 48hrs as BS were fine

gosh, better go before I write a book!! As you can obviously see I don't talk about my diabetes to friends/colleagues, as I don't want to frighten, bore people... thanks for even reading this far!!

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I just wrote long reply Dutchie and lost it. I too worry about not seeing my children grow up. And when I get sick I worry its related to my diabetes. I actually was really upset last February where I was getting hypo unawareness where I didnt feel when my blood sugars were low and went through a few weeks worrying about kidneys liver,heart, bp etc etc it was like diabetes burnout and I was really scared. Thank god we have a wonderful diabetic nurse in Mayo General Hospital and I had good chat and cry with her . She got me an appointment at diabetic clinic and I got cheked over and everything was ok TG.
Like you I didnrt talk to anyone about it. Did nt want to worry DH or family
TG I feel a lot more positive now .talk later

I think having a chronic condition like diabetes makes it more difficult to talk about sometimes. Everyone thinks they know something about diabetes, but most of the info is incorrect. Plus as its an auto-immune disease, it affects each one of us differently.. as we know. I always sigh when someone says to me "Oh, I know a diabetic, he/she is fine - never ill - and each lots of sugar.." looks at me accusingly as if I am making things up . My IL's are particularly bad for these types of comments, not that they have chosen to inform themselves or anything..

Anyway, I know how you feel about looking to the future. I have made my peace about my life expectancy, and I refuse to let my diabetes define my life while I'm here. My only worry is the guilt about bringing dd into this world only to leave her This is compounded by the desire to give her a sibling, don't know what to do

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

the worrying is something else is'nt it, and no one else understands and they don't really know a lot about the condition.

The hypo unawareness is awful is'nt it..... I told my consultant about this last time I was with him, and he said that most long term diabetics at some stage start to lose their hypo signs, sometimes the signes come back, but in most cases it do'esnt , so it was then he mentioned the pump and asked me to think about it, but reminded me a few times that the wait list is quite long, so not to leave it too long.... Funnily enough he did'nt have any leaflets for me to take home to read up about it, but told me to look it up on the web...... have googled and can't find much info. Would love to talk to someone who has had it done just too see does it make much of a difference..... I'm kind of put of having to wear a device attached to my body all the time

E - have you thought about talking to your team about having a 2nd baby? If your based in Dublin the Mater seemingly have a great service running for women thinking about having a baby, but want to get their hab1c down....... We were just talking the other night about whether or not we'd go for baby #3. Obviously not just yet!!!! but I think secretly DH would like 3 - he thinks its a nice number - easier said than done as I'm the one that has to go through the pregnancy bit first

Must run, work duties calling

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Hi girls, I try not to google to much medical stuff as I find they have a lot of negative stuff. Definitely didnt help me when I was worrying in February, actually according to most of it my kidneys should have packed in years ago and I was a rare specimen to be healthy after 30 years.
I havent heard much about the pump, it hasnt been mentioned to me. Is it like a belt that feeds insulin as you need it?
have a good day and talk later.

I actually go and see a consultant in London.
I know this seems a little strange, but I used to live there, and after battling on for many years here with various health issues, I decided to see if I could get things sorted out over there.

It has worked out very well for me, and my consultant is a great support (e-mail if I need to ask him anything, go and see him every 6 months). He was the one that encouraged me to have dd, whereas here they had told me I would not be able to have children .

He thinks we should go for no.2 (easy for him to say ).

I think one of the things holding me back - along with lots of other factors (mum not very well, sister just had premmie baby - who is perfect now..) - is the thought of going back into that HS clinic. I really did not get on with one of the doctors, and as a diabetic who takes responsibility for her own health, I found it very difficult being told I did not know what I was talking about and that my baby would die if I did not do what he said. Even when she was born, weighing 6ilb7oz, he could not acknowledge that I was RIGOROUS with my food intake..
I know we had a personality clash, but I trained in the medical world, and I would never talk to anyone the way he spoke to me.

Rant over. . (Sorry)

Dutchie try this link for more info on the pump:
http://www.londondiabetes.com//display/ ... tionid=280.
This is the clinic I attend.

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Hi E, he sounds just like the obnoxious git I was under on my first pregnancy. He wanted a woman who worshipped him and thought he knew everything. Maybe it was personality clash but I had enough worries with being single, dibetic and scared stiff, without having a know it all who knew nothing looking after pregnancy side of things(sorry for rant). I actually refused to have him on all other pregnancies but I still came across him from time to time. Early in last pregnancy I was hospitalised because of nausea , dr appeared at end of my bed as my bs went low ( he announced to trainee guys with him that I had poor control ) nurses had to ask him to leave ,I needed sugar and he was upsetting me more. After he left my own dr came on rounds and I explaied about the ass , he told me that other dr didnt know anything about diabetes and actually hypos in pregnancy were quiet normal even under strict control and not to take any heed of other guy. That evening I told the nurses that I didnt want to see ass under any circumstances. No matter who was doing rounds.sorry for going on but he really annoyed me.

Poor you.. I could not get away from this man, so wasn't it great that you had rock-of-sense Dr to back up your treatmant.

This guy is still going and lots of people seem to think he is great, including my dutch friend (who sees him privately - we have agreed to not really talk about him ) and has been mentioned already..

Ithink he thought that I thought I was 'special', when in fact I'm just complicated

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.

Hi girls I m really worried and need to say this to someone apart from DH cos hes worried enough about hypos over last few days. I hope its just this viral bug that seems to be doing the rounds around here, butIm really tired and have had 4 hypos over last 3 days , my nose is really sensitive and I dont know is it because i have these other symptoms of pregnancy and Im getting paranoid but my breasts seem to be bigger . TBH Imscared stiff Im pregnant even though I had my tubes tied. I dont really think I could manage another pregnancy or baby. My period isnt late or anything I just feel awful. sorry for throwing this at ye. Could it just be some bug please say some prayers for me

Hey DM, I hope its ok but I'm going to nickname you

Have to say it sounds like it could be a combination of things: maybe the weather (I always have more hypos when its hot????) , maybe a knock-on of having a few bad hypos in a row - do you know it takes 24 hrs for your liver enzymes to recover from a hypo, so you can po-go abit (thats what happens to me again..), and finally I don't think its possible to get preggers when you have had your tubes tied.

Now I have been feeling abit dodgy for the last couple of days - queasy, knackered, back killing me, but as I am right at the end of my period (TMI - sorry ) I know I'm not pregnant. But I actually could have convinced myself I was up untill I got af on Tue.

I'd say you have a bug.

If you do, then your bloods are going to be off, so try not to panic. Your body is busy fighting a virus.
Time to eat LOTS of long acting carbs, and drink lots of water, and rest up so that you can recover.. ..just in time for your dh to look after the kids over the weekend


Try not to worry, the mind is a powerful thing and can talk you into believing anything..

xE

_________________
And this must be the prime of life..
P.Larkin.