RACH Diabetic Clinic Newsletter No. 21

Spring 2010

Welcome to our Spring newsletter. It seems ages ago but thank you to everyone involved in organising the Christmas party. These parties are a lot of work to organise so thank you to the families involved with the organisation.

DUPS

(Diabetes UK Parent Support)

This group meets regularly in the Children’s Hospital. It is run by a group of parents for parents of children with diabetes regardless of how long they have been diagnosed. They also organise activities throughout the year including the Christmas Party. The next couple of meetings in Aberdeen are on Monday March 29 and Wednesday May 12. Contact Tania at dupsupportgroup.aol.com for more details,

Teenager event

The DUPS group have organised an outdoor activity day for anyone at secondary school up to the age of 16. The afternoon (1-4) of Sunday May 16 has been booked at Lochter Activity Centre, Oldmeldrum. You will get the chance to try out a few activities including quad bikes, raft building and 4x4s. The cost for the day is £40 each but Grampian Voluntary Diabetes group will fund half of that so you will only need to pay £20. Numbers are limited to 20 so get your name in quick. The committee need numbers by the end of March so contact Ann on 01358 721705 or A lot of effort has gone into organising this afternoon, please come along and have fun

Fund Raising

Thank you to Emma’s dad from Peterhead who raised £250 for our clinic fund.

Lucozade®

There are a lot of different varieties of Lucozade® available. The following table may help you decide which, if any, are suitable for you.

It is important you don’t get mixed up between them as it may lead to you having either too low or high blood glucose levels. If you need more advice ask the dietitians or nurses at clinic.

Just to clarify the different types

Lucozade Energy 20gcarbohydrate/100ml, use only for treating hypos

Lucozade Sport 5g carbohydrate/100ml use during exercise to help maintain blood glucose and help rehydration

Lucozade Lite No carbohydrate. Only helps with rehydration. Will not help maintain blood glucose level. Should never be used to treat hypos.

Holidays

Most of you will be planning some kind of break over the summer or October holidays. Whether you are going camping in this country, cycling through France, lying in the sun or doing the theme parks of America good forward planning will make the holiday go more smoothly.

Some things to remember include

Take plenty supplies of insulin, blood glucose strips, hypo treatment and ketone strips. Make sure everything is indate.

Take an extra insulin pen incase your pen breaks.

Think about any time differences and flight times. The nurses will be happy to discuss this with you. Give them your details and they will help you work out the best plan for you.

Remember being more active than usual or being excited can make your blood glucose

lower. You may need less insulin and certainly need to test more often.

If you are flying you will need a letter to say you are carrying insulin in liquid form. If you have a letter like this from previous year it will still be valid but if not get in touch with Dr Mayo’s secretary who can organise this for you. Please give her at least 3 weeks notice to get it organised for you.

Diabetes Transition project.

As you may know Edna Stewart left us to take up the post of Young Persons diabetes nurse in February last year. Part of Edna’s role has been to help develop a new service for young people aged 14-18 who have Diabetes. This includes transition from the Children’s Hospital to the Young Persons or Adolescent Clinic. It has been a busy year and some changes are due to start in March with the introduction of a formalised transition process between the two services. Around the time of your 14th birthday the Diabetes team at the Children’s Hospital will start to discuss moving on with you and your family and the process will begin. Your appointments will be slightly different and over next 6-9 months you will attend pre-transfer clinics at the Children’s Hospital.The first two appointments will be at 3 months apart at RACH. The first will be with Colin or Isla and Edna, the second with Edna and one of the consultants from RACH. You will also see one of the dietitians at this second appointment. Three months later you will have your first appointment at Woolmanhill in the adolescent clinic where Edna will also be. This is only one part of the service development and we will keep you informed over the coming months via the news letter of other developments.

Recipe

Cullen skink

Serve this with crusty bread for a substantial lunch.

For 4 servings you need

360g smoked haddock, bones removed and cut in bite size cubes

1 small onion peeled and finely chopped

20g butter

360g potato – peeled and diced

300ml hot vegetable stock

Black pepper to taste

480ml milk

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

100g frozen peas or sweetcorn (optional)

Melt butter and gently sauté the onion and potato for 5 minutes. Add stock and black pepper, simmer for 10 minutes.

Add fish, 3 tablespoons parsley and milk, simmer a further 10 minutes until potatoes are soft. Stir in peas or sweetcorn if using. Once cooked serve sprinkled with remaining parsley.

Linda (secretary to the medical team)

01224 550125

Appointments – to change your appointment 01224 552667

Diabetes Nurses :

RACH (Isla and Colin) 01224 552734

Sheena (Fraserburgh) 01346 585244

Dietitians RACH 01224 552630

Out of hours emergency number: 01224 550380