Recently the lovely folk at Cara Collection contacted me with the offer of three beautiful cases for a Freestyle Libre Case Giveaway (UK only)! Cara Collection make absolutely beautiful bracelets and accessories, but better still they come from a place of knowing about type 1 and wanting to make a difference using their skills and reach.   I have THREE of their beautiful cases for a flash (geddit) giveaway on your favourite all-things-diabetes blog!  Check out the full video for details, but if you want to get your hands on one of these gorgeous cases ABSOLUTELY FREE, all you ..read more

It was just like any other sensor removal - something which had become second nature over my 3-year Dexcom use.  Frustratingly on only day 6 of wear, the edges of the sensor tape had lifted off so much that when I rolled the dog-eared tape edges back and peered underneath, I could see the puncture site where the sensor pierced my skin.  Time to take it off.   I was a little annoyed because I hate removing a functioning sensor early, but since my daughter arrived I haven't had the time to continuously check that my CGM tape is still taught on the skin, and quite often I ..read more

It's hard to pinpoint when or where it began but it's been creeping in for some time, and the feeling is all too familiar.  There is so much in my life to be grateful for; a wonderful family, a beautiful, healthy daughter, a good job and cosy home. I go on holidays and have had a rare, precious opportunity to spend more than a year at home with my kiddo before returning to work, something people all over the world would give their left arm for.   But when the early days of depression begin, it is rarely because of dwelling on what you lack. It is a complicated issue made murkier by t ..read more

This May just gone I had a little too much going on to manage to make it to the Animas Sports Weekend.  So this October, when the new-format weekend takes place on 8th and 9th October at Loughborough University, I will be there with bells on.   The weekend has been going around five years now and continues to draw people in time and again. Those who are there for the first time build friendships that last a lifetime. Those who have been before, want to go again.   Sports Advice   Exercising with type 1, particularly for those unfamiliar with exercise or those doing exe ..read more

I have very mixed feelings about Theresa May. On the one hand the industry I work in has been decimated on a scale far greater than if she had driven a steam train into Piccadilly Station and set off an atom bomb. Morale is at an all-time low and the derogatory comments and smears she has made of services I treasure, such as the Police, are unforgivable. On the other hand, as a person with type 1 diabetes in a public role, she flies the flag bearing the mark of diabetes.  I often think about the 'what's ifs' of my daughter one day developing type 1 diabetes. She shouldn't, given that she ..read more

DexCom has always been a market leader in Continuous Glucose Monitoring; that's just a fact. While there are some fantastic sensors out there, for example, the Enlite sensor by Medtronic and the Freestyle Libre by Abbott (not strictly CGM but as close to and for many a more preferred way of engaging with their glucose levels). But, DexCom has always been just a hair breadth ahead in terms of accuracy and length of wear of sensors. The exciting news from camp DexCom is that they are set to increase that gap even further with longer wear, an improved inserter (leaving 'the harpoon' i ..read more

I have a confession; for the last few months I have wanted nothing less than to engage with my diabetes.  Burnt out from having a baby and managing thyroid issues on top of diabetes, I've retreated completely to the land of head-burying.  CGM sensors have been stacking up in my paraphernalia cupboard, and my transmitter is lost somewhere in North Wales following a holiday where diabetes was ignored to an impressive extent.  As diabetes week appeared on the horizon I had nothing to say, and thought it had nothing I wanted to pay attention to. Or so I thought, until along cam ..read more

Having a baby is like setting a bomb off in the centre-most part of your life.  Everything gets blown to smithereens and scattered around, and chaos ensues.  It's marvelous, in the most 'Armageddon' type way you can imagine. By four months old even during her most sleep-resistant nights baby McP was doing 3-4 hour stints in between wake-ups, and a routine had started to emerge.  I was told it would take about 4 months to start feeling a little more normal by my more experienced baby-mama friends.  Only at four months exactly I started feeling worse. My self-raising ..read more

Until now the use of Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the UK has been through distributors, mainly Advanced Therapeutics for those using the G4 system with the separate receiver, or for those on the Animas Vibe, which has integrated Dexcom CGM, we could purchase directly from Animas. However, as from this Monday, 16th May, 2016, Dexcom will be distributing themselves in the UK, meaning changes to the way its done and most importantly, new pricing. From now on there will be no postage charge (which at a steep £6.95 per delivery would have been an extra sensor and up to one months use ..read more

This weekend I was reminded just how invaluable my Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) really is, and of how precarious the balancing act we have to live by really can be. I love gym classes - anything by Les Mills, really, but particularly the Body Combat series.  Structured as separate 'tracks' to loud music, it is a high-intensity class which makes me feel strong and powerful - in a flappy-armed, mistimed-stepped kind of way.  I am 'that girl' who can be seen close enough forward to see the instructor without squinting, but far enough in the corner not to stick out like a sore thumb ..read more