Drug Methadone

 

Type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile onset diabetes or insulin-diabetes) seems to strike out of the blue. Unlike the other, more common form of diabetes (Type 2 or adult onset), being diagnosed with this condition isn’t dependent on what you have eaten in the past.

This article is not supposed to take the place of the advice you get from your doctor and specialists, but it is written from the perspective of someone who has an insulin-diabetic child. And yes – this medical condition does have something to do with the domestic cleaning London and keeping the house organised!

Firstly, regarding cooking and reducing sugar in your meals. Your dietician (chances are you will have a session with a dietician shortly after you or your child is diagnosed) will give you the best advice on what to eat. But, personally speaking, I have found that it’s not that hard to keep cooking the same things as normal – just reduce the sugar. You can still cook cakes and muffins quite easily. I’ve found that you can halve the amount of sugar in most recipes and still have the result taste good in the end. Here are a few low-sugar treat foods that are good for children’s parties:

Instead of regular icing on birthday cakes(the sort that uses icing sugar and water or icing sugar and egg white), use cream cheese icing. This is only 50% sugar instead of nearly 100% sugar. The slightly acidic flavour goes with most basic cakes, including chocolate, and you can colour it as usual. Yes, it’s higher in fat than regular icing, but it is lower in sugar.

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Make your own ice-cream by mixing whipped cream and a little sugar with fruit puree. Blackcurrants work brilliantly, as do other berry fruits. You could also try freezing yoghurt.

Never add sugar to meat, even as a marinade. You don’t need it at all.

 

If you have an insulin dependent person, you will find very quickly that the process of testing blood sugar levels and injections creates a lot of debris. You will have to deal with the little test strips, the foil packets (and other packaging) that the test strips came in, syringes, the caps off the syringes and all other packaging for the syringes. While the testing strips and the packaging may be able to be disposed of in the regular rubbish system, the syringes can be a health hazard. Where I live, the local council provides proper “sharps” bins for people on the needle exchange or the methadone programme for drug rehabilitation, but doesn’t provide them for diabetics (unfair, really, as diabetics can’t help having to use insulin, but drugs are a deliberate choice). We have the choice of paying for proper bins or supplying our own. The best substitute sharps bins are old containers for dishwasher powder or bleach (bottles made from Number 2 plastic – look inside the recycling symbol to check). However, you may be luckier about being provided with sharps bins – find out what applies locally.

The little bits from doing blood tests seem to go everywhere. Corral them in their own mini bin (a one-litre yoghurt container works well). Keep this mini bin near where you keep your insulin gear.

Speaking of the gear, it’s best to dedicate a special cupboard or box to the equipment to keep it all together. Insulin vials that aren’t in everyday use will need to be kept in the fridge, as will the hypo/glucagon kits, but everything else should be easily obtainable.

 

When you go out and about, it’s important to take your blood glucose monitor and some “quick fix” form of sugar with you for every trip (usually jelly beans). For longer trips when you’re likely to go out for a meal, you may need to take your insulin as well. Have a series of containers – a small one with the testing kit and the jelly beans that goes in a slightly larger one that contains the insulin and syringes (or a pen).

Don’t carry loose jelly beans in your pockets. The sugar goes everywhere and the jelly beans get covered in fluff. They are also a nuisance if they go through the washing machine.

To be able to keep a proper record of blood glucose levels during the day, keep a pen or pencil in the container that holds your insulin, preferably tied to your record book.

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