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Can’t Control My Diabetes :(

J

Jdevine685

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I have been diagnosed with diabetes since I was 2 I am now 19. My blood sugars have always been a bit over the show and more recently my eye sight I’ve noticed is getting worse - I have went to opticians, I feel very dizzy, nauseated and I have high blood sugars. I do take my insulin after meals and lantus once per night. I used to be on a higher dose of lantus and it made me go way too low. I don’t know what to do every time I go to the doctors I feel like I’m being lectured about my diabetes and how to control it which just makes me not want to go cause i feel like I’m being spoken down to. Any advice on how to better manage it as I work anything up to 60 hours a week with my job currently
 
Jdevine685 said:
I have been diagnosed with diabetes since I was 2 I am now 19. My blood sugars have always been a bit over the show and more recently my eye sight I’ve noticed is getting worse - I have went to opticians, I feel very dizzy, nauseated and I have high blood sugars. I do take my insulin after meals and lantus once per night. I used to be on a higher dose of lantus and it made me go way too low. I don’t know what to do every time I go to the doctors I feel like I’m being lectured about my diabetes and how to control it which just makes me not want to go cause i feel like I’m being spoken down to. Any advice on how to better manage it as I work anything up to 60 hours a week with my job currently
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Hello, can you tell us what are your doses? Why and when did things fall out of control? What is your carb intake and insulin to carb ratio?
 
alphabeta said:
Hello, can you tell us what are your doses? Why and when did things fall out of control? What is your carb intake and insulin to carb ratio?
Click to expand...

I think things are falling even more out of control because I don’t organise my meals I’m eating a lot of unhealthy things but because I’m so exhausted working physically I couldn’t stand and cook food for work after shift as I go straight to bed after a shower. My doses kind of change everyday due to being able to eat whatever I want at every meal time. I did the carb counting course you see and I use the smart meter to work out insulin doses. My carb ratio for -
Breakfast is: 1 unit for 4g of carbs
Lunch: 1 unit for 4g of carbs
Dinner: 1 unit for 5g of carbs
Supper: 1 unit for 5g of carbs
24 units of lantus
 
How often are your bloods high? And when are they high? Are they higher a few hours after you have eaten?
Can you get an appointment to see your DSN? Could be that your carb ratio is incorrect??
 
Basically high all the time most times throughout day. I don’t have one of them I have a doctor who is very cheeky it makes me not want to go because it’s just so uncomfortable. Yeah my ratio was all different but that last one didn’t work either to be fair. I don’t know what to do. It’s really starting to affect my personal life now my eyesight, being very dizzy I’ve been to doctors as well today and they said it’s just because my blood sugars are high why I’m feeling this way but I’ve been in DKA before once and I never felt dizzy... :/
 
Are you in the UK??
We are not allowed to give any medical advise on the forum. BUT it looks like your Basal (Lantus) is too low??
You are taking a lot of insulin to carbs as your ratios are so small.
You really need to be seen by a consultant for you diabetes and not your GP. Or if you are not comfortable with your current Dr then change doctors!

By the way. Welcome to the Forum :)
 
Sounds like you are having a lot of stress with work, as well as everything else. I have found with diabetes management that I end up with either a virtuous circle, where nice stress free good management creates better and better control, or I've got caught in a vicious circle where it all gets worse and worse.

You need to turn something around, to end the downward spiral of lost control, and gradually change, before it all crashes. It can be done, but stopping the downward spiral, and turning things around to start the virtuous circle can be very hard.

What are the easiest things to change first, to start improving things? What also, are the most important things to change, because they are causing the most problems?
 
If you are concerned about your basal insulin dose, you could do a basal test to see what is happening.
This is easiest if you have the option to invest in a Libre which will save your fingers from all the pricks (and the time needed to take them).
If you cannot get a Libre on the NHS (assuming you are in the UK), I think the cheapest is £35 from SuperDrug.

Basically, with a basal test you check your BG every 30 minutes (or as often as you can) during a period of about 8 hours without eating or exercising or anything else which may affect your BG.
As your basal is supposed to be covering this period of glucose drip from your liver, you can see if it is keeping your BG stable.

With a Libre, you can do this overnight and look at the results.
 
Do you shop for yourself?
Maybe buy already cooked meat, portioned carbs such as cakes and biscuits or boxes of fruit sold by weight - sliced bread, packs of salad - meal preparation reduced to a minute or so and all easily calculated.
Your GP might not be the right person to help with your management, but you can at least organize what you eat - consider shopping online if you are short of time.
 
Jdevine685 said:
because I don’t organise my meals I’m eating a lot of unhealthy things
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Eating unhealthy is not great for anyone regardless of diabetes.
However, if you continue to inject for this and have the correct insulin to carb ratios, this should not cause ongoing high BG.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Your doctor sounds like an idiot - it's no good shouting at you for not being controlled without offering any help on how to control it :banghead:
Ask for a referral to a hospital clinic - you should get more help there as many GPs only have a basic understanding (to be fair, they can't know everything about every condition, but they should give you access to the specialists)

Take a look at this thread (a sitcky on the Type 1 forum) https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/useful-tools-and-links-for-t1ds.88209/
Don't get overwhelmed with it all at once though - start with getting your basal rate right and once you're more confident with thatstart looking at your insulin-to-carb ratios.

And ask/vent on here - you will get a sympathetic ear and some help

YOU CAN DO THIS! :D
 
you need to get the basic dose adjustment training........ask about DAFNE or anything similar to that.....

starting from scratch is the best thing to do in your position I think.....
 
porl69 said:
You really need to be seen by a consultant for you diabetes and not your GP. Or if you are not comfortable with your current Dr then change doctors!
Click to expand...
^^
This is the important bit!

It's possible you may need a change of insulin, I know Lantus can cause night time lows in some people* - so it's possible a change may work - but do note - this is entirely speculation on my part - you need to discuss with a consultant or diabetes nurse (I never see my actual doctor about diabetes stuff - it's mostly my DN)

*in fact I've been reducing my Lantus for that very reason.
 
Hi. Can you let us know roughly what your BMI is? If you do have some excess weight and hence insulin resistance then that could cause your Bolus ratio to be higher than the 'norm' of 1:10gm of carbs. As someone else has said, if your Basal is too low then that could also cause you to use more Bolus.
 
helensaramay said:
If you are concerned about your basal insulin dose, you could do a basal test to see what is happening.
This is easiest if you have the option to invest in a Libre which will save your fingers from all the pricks (and the time needed to take them).
If you cannot get a Libre on the NHS (assuming you are in the UK), I think the cheapest is £35 from SuperDrug.

Basically, with a basal test you check your BG every 30 minutes (or as often as you can) during a period of about 8 hours without eating or exercising or anything else which may affect your BG.
As your basal is supposed to be covering this period of glucose drip from your liver, you can see if it is keeping your BG stable.

With a Libre, you can do this overnight and look at the results.
Click to expand...
I do agree! I have been (still partially) in this sticky situation where my basal is low. The first step in my opinion, eat a standard rotation of meals, get a libre, and figure out your Lantus (basal testing). This seems the most reasonable and the highest priority in my opinion.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Can you let us know roughly what your BMI is? If you do have some excess weight and hence insulin resistance then that could cause your Bolus ratio to be higher than the 'norm' of 1:10gm of carbs. As someone else has said, if your Basal is too low then that could also cause you to use more Bolus.
Click to expand...

My BMI is: 18. I’m 5 foot 4 inches and 60.8kg.
 
Rokaab said:
^^
This is the important bit!

It's possible you may need a change of insulin, I know Lantus can cause night time lows in some people* - so it's possible a change may work - but do note - this is entirely speculation on my part - you need to discuss with a consultant or diabetes nurse (I never see my actual doctor about diabetes stuff - it's mostly my DN)

*in fact I've been reducing my Lantus for that very reason.
Click to expand...
Yeah I have an appointment soon. I have never met my diabetic nurse weirdly. It’s only the doctor as I’ve switched over from children’s to adult about 2 years ago. Lantus was doing that to me which is why it was reduced from 32 to 24 but now I’m too high.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Can you let us know roughly what your BMI is? If you do have some excess weight and hence insulin resistance then that could cause your Bolus ratio to be higher than the 'norm' of 1:10gm of carbs. As someone else has said, if your Basal is too low then that could also cause you to use more Bolus.
Click to expand...

BMI is 18. I’m 5 foot 4 inches tall and 60.8kg roughly. I must review this all at next appointment to make sure everything is right.
 
BeccyB said:
Your doctor sounds like an idiot - it's no good shouting at you for not being controlled without offering any help on how to control it :banghead:
Ask for a referral to a hospital clinic - you should get more help there as many GPs only have a basic understanding (to be fair, they can't know everything about every condition, but they should give you access to the specialists)

Take a look at this thread (a sitcky on the Type 1 forum) https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/useful-tools-and-links-for-t1ds.88209/
Don't get overwhelmed with it all at once though - start with getting your basal rate right and once you're more confident with thatstart looking at your insulin-to-carb ratios.

And ask/vent on here - you will get a sympathetic ear and some help

YOU CAN DO THIS! :D
Click to expand...

Yeah calling her an idiot is a nicer thing to say than what I could say about her lol . I must look at this link thanks for sharing. I’m sure I can need to stick to it!
 
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