26KIT
ED GAMBLE
INTRO: on two lines
intro
my diabetes kit
Many people will
recognise Ed Gamble
from the telly - he was
a regular on Mock the
Week, where comedians in teams
competed to be the funniest with an
'open mic' section where they had to
ad lib on topics not previously seen.
Filmed in front of a live audience, it
was fairly nerve-wracking to watch,
"Imagine what it's like to actually do
it!" he says.
Ed Gamble was diagnosed with
Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13. He
remembers it well but describes the
whole event as, "the least extreme
diagnosis story you will have heard."
Gamble's mother had been in
the NHS, with most of her career
being spent as a nurse. She was
familiar with the symptoms when
he began to display them, namely
extreme thirst and frequent trips
to the toilet. "She took me to the
GP, I took a test and I was told then
and there by the doctor. I was not
hospitalised but I did go into the
local hospital's diabetes programme.
It was a bit silly really. Because I
was 13, I was considered to still be a
child and had to go to the children's
outpatient clinic and sit on a tiny seat
surrounded by Disney characters
on the walls. As a teen boy who was
into heavy metal music, it was a little
galling! However, I have heard scary
tales from other people so can only
count myself as being lucky."
Daily injections
Gamble was given two insulin pens
and had the action of short- and
long-acting insulin and he's been on
Humalog ever since, though he's used
a few different long-acting insulins
over time. At this point in time, he
is still on Multiple Daily Injections
(MDI). "It's not that I don't want to go
on one, there are just certain factors
to take into account. I'm not sure
about using a pump with tubing. I've
talked to my team at clinic, but for
a while all they said to me was that
my control wasn't bad enough to
justify going on a pump. I hear that
an insulin pump can make control
a little bit easier, which I would
certainly welcome. I'll probably get
around to going on one, but I'm not
sure when!"
At the time of his diagnosis,
Gamble says he found it all 'a bit
annoying', and that until he got into
his early 20s, after college, he started
to take more interest in his health.
Until that point, he says he 'did the
basics', but that he had his 'head in
the sand' for a while. He recalls, "I
did blood test, and I did inject, but
I was not really focused on it. To
be honest diabetes tech made a big
difference, as well as learning about
carb-counting. I did a carb-counting
course, one much like DAFNE, when I
was 23. I'd heard of it but the course
was amazing, it was invaluable and
totally changed how I managed
my T1D.
"I've been on Dexcom for about
five years now, I think I first used
the sensors in 2018. My career was