Diabetes Week

This blog was first posted on the Diabetes UK blog site as part of Diabetes Week

It's already well documented that living with diabetes can be a frustrating and challenging experience.  I remember thinking when I was diagnosed with Type 1 in 2001 that it was so fundamentally life changing that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to cope with it.

One of my first thoughts was of a boy who went to my primary school who had diabetes as that was probably my only exposure to someone who lived with the condition.  I remembered that had carried a vial of insulin and a large hypodermic needle around with him all the time.  That memory convinced me I was doomed, that I'd never be able to manage.

Being here 12 years later to write this blog isn't a tribute to my own incredible ability to overcome the impossible, but a real testament to the power of research into treating diabetes and improving the lives of millions of people.

Recently I became involved in a clinical trial called REPOSE (or The Relative Effectiveness of Pumps over MDI and Structured Education for Type-1 diabetes).  The aim of the study is to determine whether an insulin pump provides additional benefit to people with Type 1 diabetes versus Multiple Daily Injections.   All participants, regardless of the treatment type they are assigned, also complete a DAFNE course to ensure that structured education is provided.

Whilst a recent report showed that the UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe and the US in terms of insulin pump usage in treating Type 1 diabetes, there have been no trials in adults that compare how well patient fare between MDI and pump therapy when combined with structured education.  It's important that research like this is carried out to be able to