Here is a photo of Jennifer and myself on the balcony at Silverstone as we enjoyed a moments poause between the hospitality (THANK YOU RENAULT) and the racing (THANK YOU RENAULT). As I blogged earlier it was a good weekend, made all the better by the hospitality on the Saturday and the parking in the centre of the circuit on both days. Jen has loads more photos of Renault cars at the event on her facebook account. Who knows, I may add a few myself.

Courtesy of my lovely niece Melanie, I have seen it before, but I thought I would share it with you.


THIS IS EXCELLENT :) YOU'LL HAVE A GOOD LAUGH AT YOURSELF !!

Try it..

How smart is Your Right Foot?

Just try this. It is from an orthopedic surgeon............ This will
boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see
if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't. It's preprogrammed in
your brain!

1. While sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer,
lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right
Hand. Your foot will change direction.

I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I
both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to
try it again, if you've not already done so. Send it to your buddies to
frustrate them too.


AND....

If you try and concentrate real hard on your foot, you draw your six backwards.

This of course does not apply to my alien readers.

The more I think of the events recently where I was offered a position in a local company, only to have the offer withdrawn a few days later, the more ridiculous it sounds. I was offered the position by a Director, after the position had gone through the companies HR department and had then been passed to a recruitment agency. After being interviewed by the agency and then by a manger in the company, I had my session with the director, during which I discussed my medical condition of diabetes, and the Director showed no concern at the time and the position was subsequently offered.
Now the offer was withdrawn a few days later and the reason given was that the US arm of the company had not given approval for the vacancy. I find it incredible that a company the size of the one that I am talking about can require overseas approval for local junior positions. I even offered to work as a team member with a view to getting the Supervisory role if and when it was approved, this was not acceptable. May be it is paranoia, maybe not, but I really cannot believe the reason I was given. It feels to me much more like second thoughts after considering my health situation.
Well that is their loss. They have lost some one vastly over experienced to do the role, who would have been a great asset to the company, and who was looking to stay long term and establish a new career.

I am now attending my local pain clinic at the hospital and going through various ways of better dealing with chronic pain. You might think that having had constant pain since being a teenager, I would be well versed with dealing with it by now, but I still think that there are new tricks to learn, and I am not an old dog yet!

Okay, so I have switched to Sainsbury Cola, it contains no benzoates and no aspartme. It uses sucralose (originally invented / discovered by Tate & Lyle)

Here are a couple of statements on sucralose that I found after a quick google:

The Sucralose Toxicity Information Centerconcludes that:

While it is unlikely that sucralose is as toxic as the poisoning people are experiencing from Monsanato's aspartame, it is clear from the hazards seen in pre-approval research and from its chemical structure that years or decades of use may contribute to serious chronic immunological or neurological disorders.

Well I think that is reassuring - slightly!

According to Dr Joseph Mercola One small study of diabetic patients using the sweetener showed a statistically significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin (Hba1C), which is a marker of long-term blood glucose levels and is used to assess glycemic control in diabetic patients. According to the FDA, "increases in glycosolation in hemoglobin imply lessening of control of diabetes.

Well that is 'less' reassuring, we will have to see what my Hba1C is next month when it is checked.


Is there no safe cola to drink???

You will find a huge amount of information at DIPEX. This site has a whole range of interviews with people having a whole range of medical conditions - you can see, read and even hear me on it. It has a lot of real people giving real accounts of conditions and how it affects them. Whatever you have, this site is worth a look, so much so, that I have made it number one in my links. After my website, this should be your next call.

DIABETES TYPE 2 - A REFRESHER

I thought it worth a quick overview and refresher on type 2 diabetes, you may have just been diagnosed and wonder about it, or a friend or co-worker may have just told you that he/she has it.


Diabetes is a CHRONIC disease, which basically means long lasting. It has NO CURE, treatment is mostly to mitigate the side effects which most likely would lead to premature death if untreated. Diabetes is typified by a metabolism that is awry and also abnormally high blood sugar levels. It is caused by too low levels of insulin in the body. In Type 1 diabetes the pancreas stops producing insulin, in Type 2, the body becomes resistant to insulin and the pancreas simply cannot produce enough insulin.

Main symptoms are high blood sugar levels which cause increased urinating and blurred vision, dehydration caused by increased urinating leading to an abnormally high thirst, tiredeness or lethargy and an unexplained weight loss.


Diabetes Type 2 can go on to cause many ACUTE complications such as a doubled risk of heart and other cardio vascular problems, hyperglaecaemia, renal failure, optical (esp retina) damage, nerve damage.

CardioVascular problems affect the arteries and veins, and as this system is the most important 'bit' of our system that keeps us alive, any risk to it needs avoiding. Untreated Diabetes Type 2 is a very large contributor to CV problems. CV problems can lead to death. It is vital to keep blood pressure down ( I am advised 130/70 is my target, scarily I did get to 200/100 when my diabetes first struck), keep cholesterol levels down ( I am advised to get mine down below 4, it was well over 7 when diagnosed, had previously been as high as 11), and even more importantly, do not smoke. (I Don't, so didn't need to give up).

Hyperglaecaemia or a HPYER (not to be confused with HYPO which is a predominantly Type 1 issue), is also known in America as HONK (hyperosmotic non-ketotic acidosis (HONK)), typically requires the blood sugar to be over 33mmol/l (mine was at 27 when I was diagnosed). As I understand it you get into a cycle of increased urination which causes increased dehydration and (strangeley) increased urination ..... Leads to Myocardial Infarction, Stroke, Thrombosis, Motor Impairment, Focal Seizure, can lead to death.

Renal failure or Chronic Kidney Disease caused by untreated Diabetes Type 2 causes a loss of kidney function (Dialysis for the rest of your life) and development of cardiovascular disease which we have already seen can lead to death. It is important to reduce alcohol levels (if you drink a lot), and also not to drink too much water (which can bring its own complications)

Retinal damage ( AKA Diabetic Retinopathy) is caused by the growth of poor quality blood vessels in the eye and can lead to blindness.

Nerve damage (AKA Diabetic neuropathy) can lead to severe complications starting at limb extremities. Healing time can be poor, and simple cuts or small wounds may be become infected, leading to gangrene and amputation. Loss of sensation or tingling (pins and needles) can be an early symptom.


I AM NOT A MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, so if you suspect that you are diabetic, or have any of these symptoms, then for goodness sake, go and see a doctor and get proper treatment.


My boss when I told him that I had diabetes, said "oh thats easy, just ease up on the sugar" I think that was an "Ignorant and foolish comment from someone who should think before commenting" (That is the polite publishable comment, at the time I just thought 'stupid p**t'.

At the moment, it cannot be cured, you cannot just get a Pancreas transplant, because it is often not that you are not producing insulin, but rather have become resistive to it. The Pancreas might be the only bit that doesn't need changing. I did read an article ( I forget where) that suggested that the problem may be in part of the small intestine which may be producing an unknown hormone that counters the effects of insulin. This is as a result, I believe, of gastric bypass ops in morbidly obese people, over 50% of which go on to no longer have diabetes. As far as I know there has been no clinical study that has lead to a definitive statement that leads to a cure for Type 2 Diabetes.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is that if you get it under control, and that has to be with the aid of a practising doctor, the complications lessen and the risks become manageable. You still need to be careful of course, see an opthalmist and podiatrist regularly for checkups (apparantly the feet and eyes are the furthest reaches of the CV system and the first to show symtoms). You need to get your meds right - too much diabetic medicine can cause a HYPO (two little glucose) and coma, too little can cause a HYPER (see above).

When you are diagnosed you may be put on STATINS and ASPIRIN straight away, Statins will help reduce cholesterol and low dose (typ 75mg) of Aspirin to reduce the risk of developing blood clots. Depending on other factors, you may be advised on diet and exercise, and you may be given medication, such as METFORMIN to control your diabetes.

YOU CAN LIVE WITH DIABETES, IT IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE. (Did you know that being born is the only actually guaranteed death sentence?). You must take control of it and not let it control you.

I have been interviewed at Dipex and you can see my thoughts in full there. (LINKed on this page). Your doctor must be your first point of call, but I am happy to discuss further with you, or your loved ones, co-workers etc if you want, just contact me. Hopefully you know a bit more about diabetes, and hopefully you will also have searched online for more info on diabetes. For me the biggest gripe is that most people still think of it as a fat persons disease. True fat people get it, but i'm not fat and I got it. There is more to diabetes than just overeating! There can be so much more to life if you don't give in to diabetes.

Well now, sometimes things seem so obvious that they don't get told, and then when they are reported as news it seems like 'non news. The BBC have a report on their site (CLICK HERE) about the MED Diet and how it may help prevent type two diabetes. Now I know that the testing was not really a map onto real diabetic age groups, but, has no-one read the report that I read about a year ago about how much lower the incidences of type 2 are in some areas of the med? I wish I could find the original report. It didn't really help me, I am not fat, have a lot of fruit and olive oil in my diet yet I am still Type 2. But then those of us that are the exceptions probably prove the rule.

I have been lined up for an interview with a reporter from the beeb because of my 'Its not just a fat persons disease' stance, so I will hopefully be able to balance the views a little.

Another of the so obvious it didn't need saying until someone said it was on another report I saw at the BBC website (CLICK HERE) As we get older we need more care, especially us diabetics, and we are not, aparantly, getting the right care. It seems that we get more frail as we get older (der!) and perhaps diabetes causes an increased fraility. Hello, it's a chronic condition, just ask a diabetic how they feel. I recall that when the diabetes came on, I have never felt so ill and so old. In fact, looking back, the clues were there. In the 12 months prior to it 'coming out', I was beginning to really 'feel my age'. Now that I am stabilised and living with 20 odd tablets a day, I actually feel like I did 10 years ago, so that 'feeling your age' thing is a load of old tosh.

AND FINALLY, well I guess that I am better off having changed from the aspartme laden diet colas to the Sainsbury's cola which doesn't use aspartme, but my urine is a lovely shade of burnt umber now!