Newly diagnosed with Type 1

[zireael]

Hello!
I’m 24 and have been diagnosed with a Type 1 diabetes on Tuesday. After not feeling well for weeks, I went to the walk-in centre (as an appointment with the gp was scheduled for 23rd April - couldn’t wait that long), the nurse sent me to an A&E with DKA, then I spent two days at the hospital - got back home on Thursday afternoon. Ever since my blood sugars seem to be high (average 15mmol, going up to 20s after a bigger meal; the lowest I got down to was 12.1 yesterday morning), and I can’t seem to bring it down. Last night before bed it went up to 24mmol so I’ve tested for ketones but thankfully it showed 0. This morning it was 15.3. I was advised to take 8 units of Levemir first thing in the morning and before bed, and then 4 units of Humalog after meals. Diabetes nurse at the hospital said I could eat whatever Ive been eating before, but I decided to go for healthier options anyway (like brown rice and pastas and stuff). The thing is, I constantly feel hungry... so I’m not sure whether I’m not eating enough or maybe it’s the wrong stuff? I’ve also tried exercising a little every day (20 mins medium cardio a day plus a short walk).
Also am I supposed to increase my insulin intake if my sugars are so high? Don’t want to do any harm to myself... I’m still waiting for contact from my gp and the diabetes clinic hence the confusion.

 

[scotteric]

am I supposed to increase my insulin intake if my sugars are so high

Yes, it's a dynamic disease and the goal is to match the insulin you take to your needs, there is no "correct dose" for anyone and how much you need at any given time will change. Rice and pasta are very difficult meals to eat. Rice is very high GI and will spike you very fast. Pasta digests slowly and usually requires additional doses of insulin hours after eating it, as you will need more insulin after the initial dose has run out. Also why did they tell you to inject after eating? This is setting you up for failure. The consensus is to inject before eating, and often in advance (called pre-bolusing) so that enough insulin is active in your system to handle the carbs you are about to eat. If you inject after eating you are always going to go high, and it takes much longer to bring down a high blood sugar (and a lot more insulin) than to keep BG from going high in the first place.

 

[EllieM]

Diabetes nurse at the hospital said I could eat whatever Ive been eating before, but I decided to go for healthier options anyway (like brown rice and pastas and stuff).

In the long run, you'll learn to count carbohydrate, and balance the insulin you inject to the food you're eating. It's actually more dangerous in the short term for your blood sugar to go too low than too high, as if it goes too low (less than 4) your brain gets starved of energy and you become confused and even unconscious. So they start you on a low dose and increase it rather than a higher dose. The nurse will probably tell you to increase your insulins when she gets back to you, but we're not in a position on these forums to tell you how much. In the mean time, no need to panic too much about the high readings. They've been running high for a few weeks or months and nudging them down gradually to more normal levels is much safer than overdosing on insulin.

 

[zireael]

Also why did they tell you to inject after eating?

Thank you so much for your reply!
I’m not sure why they told me to do it after the meals to be honest! What you said makes much more sense. I shall try doing it before and see how it goes.[/QUOTE]

 

[zireael]

In the long run, you'll learn to count carbohydrate, and balance the insulin you inject to the food you're eating. It's actually more dangerous in the short term for your blood sugar to go too low than too high, as if it goes too low (less than 4) your brain gets starved of energy and you become confused and even unconscious. So they start you on a low dose and increase it rather than a higher dose. The nurse will probably tell you to increase your insulins when she gets back to you, but we're not in a position on these forums to tell you how much. In the mean time, no need to panic too much about the high readings. They've been running high for a few weeks or months and nudging them down gradually to more normal levels is much safer than overdosing on insulin.

Thank you Ellie! This is very reassuring, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been panicky over the past couple of days, thought I might be doing something wrong...

 

[KK123]

Hello!
I’m 24 and have been diagnosed with a Type 1 diabetes on Tuesday. After not feeling well for weeks, I went to the walk-in centre (as an appointment with the gp was scheduled for 23rd April - couldn’t wait that long), the nurse sent me to an A&E with DKA, then I spent two days at the hospital - got back home on Thursday afternoon. Ever since my blood sugars seem to be high (average 15mmol, going up to 20s after a bigger meal; the lowest I got down to was 12.1 yesterday morning), and I can’t seem to bring it down. Last night before bed it went up to 24mmol so I’ve tested for ketones but thankfully it showed 0. This morning it was 15.3. I was advised to take 8 units of Levemir first thing in the morning and before bed, and then 4 units of Humalog after meals. Diabetes nurse at the hospital said I could eat whatever Ive been eating before, but I decided to go for healthier options anyway (like brown rice and pastas and stuff). The thing is, I constantly feel hungry... so I’m not sure whether I’m not eating enough or maybe it’s the wrong stuff? I’ve also tried exercising a little every day (20 mins medium cardio a day plus a short walk).
Also am I supposed to increase my insulin intake if my sugars are so high? Don’t want to do any harm to myself... I’m still waiting for contact from my gp and the diabetes clinic hence the confusion.

Hi Zirael, I was in your exact position last July. Sent away with an insulin regime and told to eat what I normally ate. They said this was so they could see what my glucose levels were doing in conjunction with the insulin I started on. As the first month or so went by my instinct was to change to the so called 'healthier' options such as wholemeal bread/pasta/rice but I soon discovered that whenever I ate these my glucose levels rose but after a few tweaks with the insulin they were all within range.
Of course the 'honeymoon' period factored into this as well and still does 10 months later. The problem was for me was that once I had researched it all I did not wish to continue eating food that raised my glucose levels so reduced my carbs accordingly. I stopped all the 'rubbish' carbs (not that they were excessive to begin with as with any 'normal' person, I had too much processed stuff). Then I reduced and weighed out any pasta so that I knew exactly how many carbs were in what I ate and could then gauge how much insulin to take.
This however, meant that my glucose levels plummeted and I was regularly under 4. The Nurse said to stop the insulin altogether and I have not been on any for the last 3 months.
I would NOT suggest you do this of course but I do think the reason why they want you eating what you normally eat for the first few months is because if you change your eating drastically immediately your glucose levels will be 'artificially' low.
Where am I now?, well I am still waiting for another Consultant appointment (haven't had a blood test for 4 months as they are running late) but my readings are all between 3 and occasionally at the most post meal, 8. Of course it could all change at any moment.
My point is your natural instinct will be to cut carbs (I almost became paranoid about a piece of toast or a single carb) but once I settled down I realised that as a type 1 I am lucky, I choose to eat roughly 50/60 carbs a day, I can have a piece of toast if I want to, I can take a shot of insulin if I decide to have a high carb meal and so on. This however, only comes with confidence of how it works and knowing what you are doing and that is not easy to begin with.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Yes, it's normal to take the Bolus insulin up to 10/15 minutes before the meal and not after. I can't understand where the nurse got the idea to inject after the meal. Shortly, hopefully, you will be taught to carb-count for your meals i.e. adjust the Bolus to suit the amount of carbs in the meal. If not you should ask for advice from the nurse on how to do it.

 

[zireael]

Thanks everyone for replying! I’ve managed to get my sugar levels down yesterday and I’ve been feeling much better. However, today I’ve tried doing a test and after pricking my finger the blood just wouldn’t stay in one ‘blob’, it just smears all over my fingers which is very frustrating because I keep wasting testing strips and all I get is an error message on my device :/ Been trying on different fingers, massaging them and stuff but nothing seems to work. Does anyone know how to tackle this? Wouldn’t want to go without measuring my sugars as I know how important this is...