h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Hypoman
I'm new to h2g2 (I'm always a bit slow like that - didn't develop diabetes until I was nearly 50).
I just read your article on IDDM, as a way of checking out what sort of thing I might find on h2g2, and wanted to thank you for it. A very clear and concise assesment of what it feels like which also hints at what I myself have concluded - that you better go find out for yourself (I too was once a librarian....) the best way to deal with this - for YOU - because, with the best will in the world, there's more they (the health professionals) don't know about it than they do!
For my part, because of my age I was simply labelled Type 2 - and as far as I know this is still what's on my file - wheras it has become blindingly obvious to me that I am no such thing. I'm probably LADA (come across that before?), one of the several 'intermediate' types 'they' don't bother to tell you about. About 6 months after my diagnosis I was convinced by a book by an American doctor - himself a diabetic - to try an extremely low carb diet. I won't bore you with the whole story, but it effected a remarkable transformation in how I felt, and I lost a fair bit of weight, which directly resulted in the discovery of breast cancer, fortunately in a very early stage and (apparently) treatable; so in a wierd way I almost feel as if the diabetes saved my life. I no longer stick to the low-carb as religiously as I did in the beginning, and frankly it doesn't do a lot to stabilise my BSL , but it seems to suit me and I feel great on it, and it also enables me to keep my insulin use to a minimum which I'm grateful for as in my search for information it has struck me that, although insulin is something your body produces, it's not something that you want to be taking too much of if you can avoid it. In fact it would not surprise me one bit if one day they discover that some of the long term problems of insulin dependent diabetics stem from too much insulin sloshing about just as much as they do from too much sugar.
I currently live in Amsterdam. To date I'm not wildly impressed with the support I get from the team dealing with my diabetes; it's OK, but a bit inflexible: dieticians who refuse to discuss the possibility that a low carb diet might suit some people, a national policy that says all type 2 diabetics ("Hello, excuse me but I don't think I am a type 2 actually.......") should be prescribed statins (No thanks! Try looking up some of the info on those if you fancy scaring yourself witless!) "whether they need them or not" (!) In fact I suppose the thing I resent most about my diabetes - apart from a deep nostalgia for the days when I could just grab a spare pair of knickers and head for the airport without spending 2 days with a checklist to make sure I've packed everything I need to keep me alive - is being labelled and stuck in a box. If there's one thing I feel is needed in the treatment regime it's an acknowledgement that each diabetic is an individual first, which might result in a rather more holistic approach to treatment than we seem to be getting now. I refuse to let diabetes dominate my identity. I already have one of those, and I don't need to become a professional diabetic thanks.
Hope I haven't bored you too much with my personal perspective on the subject, but I enjoyed your article and thought you might be interested.
regards
pegscam