Starter Kit; A Guide for Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

Starter Kit; A Guide for Adults with Type 1 Diabetes.

This is a little project I had been working on since 2010 and I'm thrilled to announce that it's finally HERE! I came across the Starter Kit on an Australian website and thought it was a very valuable and informative document. I showed it to a few of my friends with type 1 who agreed. At this point I realised that there was a lack of educational booklets for people with type 1 diabetes living in Ireland. So I approached Diabetes Ireland, the only organisation for people with diabetes in Ireland and they encouraged me to undertake the project as they have limited resources.

I believed that the book would make a big difference to supporting people with type 1 diabetes and I delved in.

I, with the help of many Irish health professionals, especially Dr. Anna Clarke, Diabetes Ireland adapted this book from its original format, which was written by the Type 1 Diabetes Network; a group of young adults with type 1 diabetes in Australia. We sincerely thank them for giving their permission to adapt it for Ireland.

The Starter Kit is for newly diagnosed adults and contains lots of useful information on how to adjust to life as a person with diabetes, such as a “checklist of stuff to do within the first month after diagnosis” and “10 things we wish someone told us the day we were diagnosed”.

Established adults with type 1 diabetes and adolescents who have recently transitioned into the adult world of diabetes will find the Starter Kit useful too.  It includes information about where to find peer support, recommendations for books and websites, and links to all public resources available to a person with diabetes.

Everybody will appreciate the Cheat Sheet: this is a two-sided page of information aimed at those without type 1 diabetes.  It is there for you to copy and share with your family and friends and can help you get on with living your life rather than feeling compelled to be the “font of all diabetes knowledge.”

I hope that this book will help guide you on the right path to managing your diabetes successfully and open a world of support to you.

The Starter Kit is available to download from Diabetes Ireland’s website, however, you can get yourself a hard copy of this book also by contacting them on LoCall 1850 909 909 or by emailing your request to info@diabetes.ie

Type 1 Diabetes Research Development Meeting

We have been hearing a lot about the Artificial Pancreas project lately in the diabetes news and I have to say when I read in the latest issue of Discovery, the JDRF's quarterly magazine that it had been tested in a non-hospital setting with good results I got very excited. 

If you are at all interested or even just want to know a bit more about what kind of research is going on in the world that might make like with diabetes easier then this is the event for you.

 

Diabetes Ireland Research Alliance (DIRA) in association with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) presents:

Type 1 Diabetes Research Development Meeting

Global Type 1 diabetes research is moving at such a pace that it is bringing renewed optimism of finding a cure to families living with Type 1 diabetes. Recent advances in the areas such as the artificial pancreas and stem cell research give cause for such optimism.

DIRA, which is a subsidiary group of Diabetes Ireland, is inviting the public to come along to a Type 1 Diabetes Research Development meeting in The Greenhills Hotel, Limerick on Tuesday 27th March at 7:30pm and hear from the experts on the latest cutting edge Type1 diabetes research and how to help find the cure.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease and tends to occur in childhood or early adult life. It always requires treatment with insulin therapy. It is caused by the body’s own immune system destroying the insulin-making cells (beta-cells) of the pancreas. It is not caused by lifestyle choices and cannot be prevented or cured. There are approximately 300 children and adults with type 1 diabetes living in Co. Clare.

Cambridge University Researcher, Janet Allen, who is working on the Artificial Pancreas Project, will be among the speakers. The Artificial Pancreas project focuses on developing an artificial pancreas system which hopes to solve one particular aspect of living with type 1 diabetes – controlling glucose levels overnight. The team at Cambridge are developing a system that would be able to take over managing insulin delivery at bedtime and will keep the glucose levels in check until the patient wakes up in the morning. They are also working towards getting a system ready for families to test out at home.

Research communication officer with JDRF, Maebh Kelly, will give an update on “cutting edge” research developments in diabetes and in particular the Diabetes - Genes, Autoimmunity and Prevention (D-GAP) project. This project is trying to identify and understand how and why Type 1 diabetes. If they can confirm this link, this research will pave the way for further developments aimed at preventing or reversing type 1 diabetes.

We will also hear from Emma Warrington, a parent of a child with diabetes on why she and her family got involved with the D-GAP project.