KIT
MY DIABETES KIT
PAUL THOMPSON
Paul was diagnosed in
1999 when he was
39 years old and
while working as a
paramedic. At the time
they were short-staffed so he'd been
doing back-to-back shifts. It was also a
very hot summer.
"I'd been working hard," he recalls,
"so I wasn't surprised to feel tired, and
as it was hot I wasn't surprised at being
thirsty all the time either, and peeing a
lot. I thought that was because I was
drinking so much. At one point, because
of working extra shifts, I'd not eaten for
12 hours. I was hungry and feeling unwell,
but thought I must have a low blood sugar.
We had testing strips in the ambulance
and I was used to using them on patients,
and I thought, 'why don't I check if I have
a low blood sugar?'"
Paul used a bottle of the old
colourometric test strips and it indicated
that he had a very high blood sugar. "My
reaction was one of utter disbelief," he
says, "as I thought it would be low. I did
the test twice to check, then though, 'oh
no'. The next day I went to a diabetes
clinic and they gave me the diagnosis of
Type 2 diabetes. I do not know how long
I'd had diabetes, as the symptoms were
masked by the circumstances - over
worked and a hot summer. I continued to
work as a paramedic, but six months later
I had a heart attack, which was probably
due to the high blood sugars I must have
sustained. After that I ended up working
in the private sector as a freelance
paramedic."
Paul says that his freelance role is
still hard work but it gives him more
control over his time. He does training
with students and sport and event cover,
or TV and film work where he is the
paramedic on set. He says, "I've never
been short of work, though I do have
to travel quite a bit. I am now on insulin
and take two long-acting shots a day,
and short-acting shots with food. I use a
Carbs&Cals app on my phone and have
a Freestyle Insulinx meter with a bolus
wizard, so I dial my carbs in to it once
I've calculated them and it recommends
the insulin dose. As I'm on Lantus and
Novo rapid, I have NovoPens, and I also
carry around Needlebay needle pods.
Needlebay is a fantastic product, I find
it really useful. I use the seven-day unit
which has two needle bays per day. I use
if for my pills, as I take Metformin, and for
the two long-acting injections I have daily.
I have another bag for my blood testing
kit and the short-acting insulin."
Paul tests at least three times a day,
before each meal, but regularly does fivea-day,
and sometimes if he's driving a lot
or not feeling well, it might be as many
as seven times a day. In case of a hypo
he keeps either Glucotabs or Lucozade
tablets to hand, or may have the
occasional Mars Bar in an emergency,
though as he's very insulin resistant it's
rare for him to have a hypo. With all his
medical emergency training he's in good
shape for handling his condition, but
he also says that "having the right gear
certainly helps with any medical condition
and I rely on mine a lot."