Sometime last week, I marked a year since I started using Loop. Measure for measure my diabetes is a lot nicer to deal with these days and I know that I have settled into the comfort that comes with something that just seems to be working. The predictability of loop seems to fly in the face of all that is diabetes, so I do admit to not getting too comfortable with it all – even after fifty-two weeks of seemingly boring diabetes.

This was startlingly obvious to me when I reflect on my last two very busy weeks. As I ran around the Adelaide Convention Centre last week, not once did I think about Conference Hypo Syndrome. As I flew from Melbourne to Sydney to Adelaide and back home to Melbourne, I didn’t think, even for a moment, about travel lows and highs. And throughout the busy days, and the long busy nights of the two weeks – which involved hours sitting still in sessions and meetings as well as times of a lot more activity – apart from a cursory glance at my Loop app, diabetes didn’t bother me.)

It has been almost 12 months since I first spoke about Loop at a health professional conference, and it’s fair to say that I am still slightly traumatised by the memory of that session. I know that for the vast majority of the people in the room on that rainy day in Sydney, most had never even heard of the world of DIY diabetes, and the idea that a forty-something-year old woman with diabetes was standing before them talking about how I’d built my own pancreas was more than a little terrifying. And they let me know about it.

There was disbelief, horror and alarm that I was telling my story. I repeatedly heard people tell me that this was irresponsible and unsafe. And a number of HCPs were shocked, worried and appalled that the instructions for others to do what I had done were freely, easily and openly available online. (My cheeriness about open source wasn’t mirrored by most at ADATS.)

I’m pleased to say that wasn’t the response last week, during or following the DIYAPS symposium ‘The Brave New World of Diabetes Technology’, which featured me sharing about my own personal experience of why I decided to, and my first year of Loop; David Burren speaking about the technical aspects of the DIY technologies, and Cheryl Steele encouraging HCPs to support people using these technologies. The formal presentations were rounded out with Greg Johnson launching the Diabetes Australia DIY Technologies Position Statement.

It was standing room only, and great (and surprising) to see a number of endocrinologists in an ADEA symposium. We deliberately programmed the session to have a lot of time for questions, because we knew there would be lots! And there were.

There were a number of questions from the audience about what the role of HCPs is if someone comes to them and says they are, or they want to start, looping, and I think the consensus is that while we don’t necessarily need our HCPs to understand the intricacies of the specific technologies, and we are very clear that we don’t want, expect or need them to be able to help us build our loop, we need them to acknowledge that DIYAPS is a reality for more and more people with diabetes.

The overall feeling in throughout and following our symposium was of interest and curiosity. But even more, a desire to truly learn and understand more about the #WeAreNotWaiting world and where HCPs fit into it all, and how they can support those of us making the choice to loop.

The shift in the attitudes of health professionals is significant and important, and it extends far beyond DIY diabetes technologies. Because it all comes back to the whole idea of choice. There will never be only one right way for all people with diabetes. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about the foods we choose to eat, the technologies we choose to use, where we decide to see how HCPs, our decision to wait or not wait, or the support and services we choose to link in with. We need to have the space to do what is best for our diabetes. We need the freedom to make the choice. And we need our HCPs to support our decisions.

I have already shared this, but in case you missed it, the three presentations from our symposium can be watched here:

DISCLOSURES

My travel and accommodation to ADC was funded as part of my role at Diabetes Australia. Thanks to the ADS and ADEA for providing me with a media pass to attend the Congress.