AK is a 32 year old newly-wed man. He was referred to GPSI Diabetes for very poorly controlled diabetes. He came reluctantly. As far as he was concerned, he felt great; he did not see the need to take care of his sugars. Furthermore, he was adamant that his diabetes should never interfere with his life, and having to attend an appointment was one example of the kind of interference that he did not wish to contend with. He stated that he had been made well aware of the fact that having high sugars would cause considerable disruption in his life in the future. But he was willing to deal with that when that time came.

At the appointment he stated that he just wished to enjoy his lovely wife – and pursue their plans to have a family. On further conversation, it was revealed that they had actually been struggling with conceiving. AK shared, enthusiastically, the good news that his wife had had an extensive work up and nothing serious had been found. AK was asked if he had had a work up – he said he hadn't. I asked if he could possibly be struggling with erectile dysfunction. AK looked surprised with this comment and responded quickly with “how do you know?”. We discussed how high sugars could effect erectile function.

Today, AK is the happy father of a lovely boy – and he has beautifully controlled diabetes.

BN is a 24 year old with very well controlled type 1 diabetes. Her biggest frustration has been the amount of weight that she has gained since her diagnosis – and this is despite the fact that she goes to the gym every day, rides a bike to work and generally considers herself to be a ‘healthy” eater.

With all of this activity, she manages her sugars by eating frequent meals, and always has a snack before she goes to the gym as she has a tendency to “bottom out”. At the GPSI Service, BN was taught how to manipulate her insulin doses to accommodate her activity levels removing the need for constant snacking to prevent her blood sugars from dropping – and eliminating her hypoglycaemic episodes, again reducing the number of times she has to snack to bring sugars up.

Now, 6 months after attending the service, BN continues to have excellent diabetes control - but is 4 kg lighter, well on her way to her target weight loss of 10 kg.

Did you know that twenty percent (one fifth) of people who carry the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes do not actually have type 2 diabetes?

JR was a 37 year old who, during hospitalisation for a car accident, was found to have high blood sugars. On discharge from the hospital he was told to change his diet and lose weight. Over the next year his blood sugar control continued to deteriorate, his GP referred him to GPSI diabetes.

After hearing his personal and family history it became clear that JR did not have type 2 diabetes. Blood tests confirmed the suspicion. JR had Late Autoimmune Diabetes of the Adult.

JR was switched onto a more appropriate management regime and today, JR's diabetes is well controlled.