Transcript - The T2D Podcast - Interview with Jimmy
Interview – 16 August , 2023
SPEAKERS
Jimmy, Olivia Crinion
Olivia C 00:00
Hello, and welcome to Ireland's first patient-led type two diabetes podcast. And this is the first patient podcast. Thank you to everyone who has completed questionnaires, volunteered for interviews and who is listening now. Hopefully this will be a source of information for you and one which can be updated as the science evolves and your questions change. My name is Olivia Crinion and this podcast is part of a dissertation to complete a master's degree in Health and Science Communication in Dublin City University. But I hope it will be more than that. I would like to produce something that would make a difference in the lives of people with type two diabetes, to try to ensure that you have the most up to date information you need to take charge of your own health and well-being. To start off an anonymous questionnaire was sent out via the Diabetes in Ireland Facebook page, social media and friends and family for anyone over 18, who has been diagnosed with prediabetes or type two diabetes. And thank you to all of you who took part in that and took the time to reply to the questionnaire. Your responses formed the basis for the interviews with the diabetes professionals, Sinead Powell from Diabetes Ireland and Professor Diarmuid Smith from Beaumont Hospital so you can listen to those episodes on the podcast as well. And please remember to consult with your own health care professional before acting on any of the information that you might hear in this or any of the other podcasts as general advice does not apply to specific individual cases. Well Jimmy you are very good, thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us.
Jimmy 01:45
No problem.
Olivia C 01:46
And I believe you have been diagnosed with type two diabetes Am I correct?
Jimmy 01:53
Correct. Since 90, or since 2008. A year I was 50. I gave to myself for my 50th birthday.
Olivia C 02:02
You gave it to yourself...was that your present to yourself?
Jimmy 02:05
Exactly.
Olivia C 02:07
So 2008 So that's 15 years.
Jimmy 02:11
Yeah, I'm 65 now.
Olivia C 02:13
And can you remember back to when you were first diagnosed?
Jimmy 02:19
For about four or five weeks before I was diagnosed. I was very thirsty most evenings and that I was working shift. I was a bus driver. So, I was earlies, middles, lates. So, I was going, you know, over a five week cycle you had shifts and this and that. And your cycle was just all over the place. So I got very thirsty and was thinking loads of apple juice and orange juice and minerals and being quite honest, with you, I didn't feel too hot. Then eventually, I bit the bullet, rang the doctor, and said look, I'm not feeling the best, can I come in? Went in, did the test and he rang me a couple of days later when I'm driving the bus. Tells me there's something very serious wrong with me. I'm sitting on the side of the road saying, ‘Tom, how bad is it, is a cancer’? He says ‘No, no, no, oh James, oh James I'm very sorry’, he says, ‘it's diabetes’. ‘That's grand Tom, I tell you what, I will ring you when I get to the terminus, and we can talk’. That's how he told me.
Olivia C 03:22
Okay, so, and so when you were diagnosed, then obviously it was over the phone, basically. So then I'm did your GP ask you to go back into him to visit him?
Jimmy 03:39
Yeah, I went back in and visited him a couple of days later. And I talked to him and he says, Look, it's not the end of the world. You're not going to keel over at the moment. He says, you just have to start doing a few things. So he sent me down to Wexford hospital to Dr Yeusef who is the diabetic man in Wexford. And I got to see one of his top nurses down there, lovely lady, and she sat me down, and she said to me, right, this is what you got to do. You got to start doing A,B,C. I said, right fair enough. At that stage, I was around 97/99 kilos, I was fairly heavy. And my diet wasn't the best. So, she told me what to do. And then she put me on to courses about what you can eat and what you can't eat and what you should eat and what you don't eat. So we did all them and I found a happy medium. So you know, Im down now to between 70 and 80 kilos. Bloods, I did them this morning. And they were 6.2 So I was told to I was to keep them between six and 10 because I was a bus driver. and I shouldn’t let them go below six because of with the driving and that you could get a bit noddy. So I just, I've been keeping it so the last bloods I got done, I was in with Tom, and he very happy with it, he says that's practically normal. So I said, fine.
Olivia C 05:16
Okay. And did anybody ever discuss the idea of remission with you?
Jimmy 05:20
No, no, no, it was mostly that, like, you've got type two, you're gonna have to do this that and the other. Now when I go down every six months or every year to the clinic, you're asked the usual questions. What are you doing? What medication are you on. They put me on to Ozempic about a year and a half ago. So I inject myself once a week. And that seems to have, it's brought the weight down, it's kept the weight down, my diet. My appetite is not as big as it used to be. I don't eat as much, I do eat, but I don't eat as much if you know what I mean. So I'm getting there.
Olivia C 06:06
So So one of the things I know that's very important in diabetes care is self-care. So, you've no obviously no problem with that idea.
Jimmy 06:17
No, no, don't get me I'm not a saint. I do have the odd splurge. But you have a splurge one day, you don't have it for two or three days. So, you have to, you know, you've got to treat yourself, right, you got to be normal as I put it and you've got to eat every now and again, as I say, you have to have a splurge. Otherwise you don't feel like a human being. If you know what I mean,
Olivia C 06:42
And when you went to the nurse, and did she discuss nutrir…, and she discussed nutrition with you, was there a specific diet plan? Or was it just a general healthy eating plan?
Jimmy 06:57
Just a general healthy eating plan. We did, they did do in the clinic, in Gorey, over the years there has been several different courses about eating healthy and what you should, what you shouldn't eat and what you can and what you can't eat. We've done them and I found what works for me. As I say I'm not a saint, I can be a sinner at the best of times. But we do eat and we do eat healthily. And I've do admit to eating stuff I shouldn't eat but I'm still living, and you know, you've got to do it.
Olivia C 07:35
Were low carbohydrate diets ever discussed with you?
Jimmy 07:38
They were but being quite honest with you, they kind of went over my head, okay. All this technology talking about low carbs and high carbs and I’d prefer if they'd just turn around and say, look, you can't eat potatoes, but you can eat this. Or you can't eat onions, but you can eat scallions. If they kind of went that way. I'd probably be a bit better. But as I say, we found what works for me. And I'm quite happy.
Olivia C 07:40
Very good. So you see, you seem to be managing. Okay,
Jimmy 08:14
well, I'm happy. Good. There's times I get very tired. That's fine. I've always been getting tired, but that could be part of it. So just go to bed and go sleep.
Olivia C 08:30
And when you were diagnosed or anytime actually since have the long possible long term complications been discussed with you?
Jimmy 08:39
Yeah, yeah. eyesight, losing of limbs. You know, that's, as I put it, that's the major downside of it. That's if you, you know, don't kind of keep yourself healthy. Yeah, so I keep everything checked, I go back every six months and I get bloods done and I get checked. They checked me for … they do the little thing on the feet, the soles and the toes and and Denise takes great pleasure in jabbing me, do you feel that, do you feel that?
Olivia C 09:14
So you have a good relationship with your with your healthcare providers?
Jimmy 09:18
Yes, with the GP and my nurse, the nurses in there, they're great. So you know, if I have any problems I can go into them and there's no problem,
Olivia C 09:28
which is very important.
Jimmy 09:29
It is.
Olivia C 09:31
And have you listened to the podcast?
Jimmy 09:35
No, I haven't, is being quite honest with you. I am more of a music man. And I like listening to music all the time. The only podcast I really listen to is I'm ashamed to say is to BBC Gardeners World on a Sunday. I like to listen to that. Otherwise, I don't really listen to podcasts.
Olivia C 09:56
Okay, but you do listen to podcasts.
Jimmy 09:59
Yeah, To the BBC One, that's the only one
Olivia C 10:03
Must listen to it, I didn't even know that they did one
Jimmy 10:06
if you can get the BBC app you can download all their podcasts,
Olivia C 10:11
there you go. And so you've never actually listened to a health podcasts. And I suppose you wouldn't really have an opinion, then on podcasting in relation to health information?
Jimmy 10:28
there are people out there that listen to them, and they get great information on them, and they're a great help to them. Personally, no, I'll either read about it or talk to the team inside? and I know I'll get the answers I need that way.
Olivia C 10:44
Yeah.I think in your case, you have such a good relationship with your healthcare providers that you don't need to.......
Jimmy 10:49
Yeah I can go in and ask them things, and there's no problem that they will talk you and give you advice. And if you're stuck, or if you're not feeling the best, you can ring them up and say, look, I'm not feeling the best and I need to see someone. You’ll get to see someone over a day or two and you can explain what is wrong. Maybe it's the medication, maybe it's my diet has gone a bit astray. I don't know but normally. it's fine.
Olivia C 11:15
And would you yourself ever aim for remission? If you if you i knew how to achieve it? Would it be....
Jimmy 11:22
If I knew how to, I would, I would do it. But I've never been told I can be remission? I've been told, you know, you are going to be a diabetic for the rest of your life. I've accepted that. I know, there's been advances made. I know they have new medicines and things like that. But the Ozempic pen is the latest thing I have and I take that once a week, and that's it? Well, unfortunately I'm taking two, three tablets a day for diabetes. So unless they tell me to stop, yeah, I won't stop.
Olivia C 11:41
You are very good. Thank you so much for talking to us. And if there's any information that you would like, an expert to tell you, what would it be? Are you happy with what you get from your own,
Jimmy 12:04
I'm fairly happy with what I get. And when I say when I get down to the hospital the nurses down there, you can pull them aside, if there's anything you want checked there. Even the doctor. if you go in and talk to them, you can say something to them, and they'll tell you so they can I'm quite happy with that down there.
Olivia C 12:19
Well, you've been absolutely great Jimmy. And I hope that anybody's listening will have that got something from what you said and it will help them.
Jimmy 12:27
As I say what I do works for me, maybe the next person it mightn't work for them. But that's what we all have to we all have to get our own little groove that we can fit into and get it going. Losing the weight does help, I will be one of the first to admit it. It does help and I feel a lot healthier now, the last couple of years that I had, prior to that. I wasn't able to do half as much as I do now. Yeah, yeah. So I'm keeping the weight down and the boss looks after me. She makes sure I do.
Olivia C
Thank you very much.
Jimmy
No problem. I hope I was of help to you
Olivia C 13:01
Thank you very much to Jimmy for talking to me today about your experience of type two diabetes. And thank you to everyone who has listened, and I hope that it will help you in managing your own type two diabetes. If you have any concerns about the information that is contained in the podcasts, you can get in touch with me Olivia Crinion via email at the following address. Olivia dot Crinion at mail.dcu.ie That's Olivia dot c r i n I o n number two at mail dot d c u dot ie. Thank you for listening.
