At the same time as my eyesight started to change and my career effectively ended, in January 2016, I visited my surgery and saw a new GP, who to this day has been incredible
My HBa1c was ridiculously high at 126 or 13.7%. I restarted antidepressant and lessons learnt from my previous experience resulted in me not stopping them, and I remain on them to present, although they have been changed to a dual use alternative that as well as treating depression, also relieve neuropathic pain, which had increased significantly, particularly since retiring from refereeing and being less active.
At the same time, I was persevering with my T1D, still struggling, but, I think the fact that I was not working meant hypos were not feared.
My GP then did a “full M.O.T.” on me. We found that I had underactive thyroid and a folic acid deficiency and both were treated. My next Hba1c was 75 or 9.0%.
Although my mindset was better, I was still clueless and I did suffer regular burnouts and in August 2017 my hba1c had increased again to 96 or 10.9%.
I was offered the Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) course, incredibly quickly, for the first week of the following month! It was an incredibly rewarding week-long course. My mathematical background meant it made sense, but it did not go far enough for me. However, it did provide me with the starting principles and motivation to research and develop it further into something that worked even better for me.
I had a Hba1c just 3 months after I did DAFNE, in December 2017 and it was 52 or 6.9%. It has remained between 6.6% and 7.0% in every test since and my mental health remains very positive.