I was diagnosed with Type 1 on Friday. I’m currently feeling very stressed, bruised and scared. My BG is very high and has been in the high 20’s and low 30’s for most of yesterday. Is this any concern? Could use some advise or kind words of encouragement!
Newly Diagnosed
- Thread starter 7-3-19wilson1
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Oh dear 7-3-19, that was a bit of a shocker, I'm guessing!
Could you tell us a bit more about yourself please;, nothing too personal, but what sort of treatment regime they've started you on, and so on.
What guidance did your medical team give you on diagnosis about the high numbers? Do you have a blood sugar machine that allows you to test for ketones? If you do, what is your current ketone number?
I was on a set dosage of insulin injections, but gradually that’s moving upend I’m recording everything I eat. I have a meeting tomorrow to learn how to carb count and that should be good. I do have a ketone checker, I’ll do that a little later! I’ve just done my BG levels, this morning they’re 18.8, so still high but lower than yesterday. I’ll check again in a few hours and I’ll also do ketones.
I’ve been given lots of support lines as well as resources!
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Please do keep an eye out for elevated ketones. With numbers any higher than 13, you need to be testing your blood sugars and ketones at least every couple of hours, and drinking plenty of water. If your ketones are elevated, then contact your medical team.
Unfortunately many T1s develop diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) around diagnosis, although it's more likely before you start on insulin. However DKA is a very serious condition which can develop quickly.
Better to be cautious at this time, until you get a handle on things.
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Hi @7-3-19wilson1 ,
Welcome to the forum.
I'd be inclined to check keytone levels now? As a precautionary measure. Untill your appointnent tomorrow..
You mentioned helplines which is good. You can also phone 111 for NHS advice should the numbers come into question.
Kind regards,
J>
Hi, @7-3-19wilson1 , yes, it is very scary at first. You'll go through a whole slew of emotions over the next few months, crying, anger, fear etc. I predict you'll even get annoyed when loved ones tell you, "it'll all be fine"! That's perfectly normal. But it does wear off when you start getting used to it.
I was dx'd at 21, thought my life was over, I'd just be sitting on the sidelines, but after a few months I'd learned the basic rules and went on to live a normal unrestricted life, been away backpacking in Asia for 6 months, done sports like skiing, sailing, cycling including a trip from Rome to Athens (had been planning on cycling from there up through Eastern Europe but got fed up cycling past wheat fields so sent the bike home and backpacked for 4 months from Istanbul to Estonia).
You will have to pay more attention to what you're eating, how many carbs are in each meal, how much insulin to take for it and then there's some fancy stuff like "pre-bolusing", which involves injecting a while before a meal to let the insulin get working before the food starts digesting, and "insulin stacking", which is adding in another injection if it looks like the meal injection wasn't large enough, but don't worry about those techniques for the moment, you'll pick them up as time goes by.
You'll read a lot on this site about people heavily restricting the amount of carbs they eat. They are mainly type 2 diabetics. It makes sense for them, but that's because T2 biology is different. Some T1s do it too, but it's too early for you to make decisions about that. T1s have a lot of leeway in what we eat. I went out for a Chinese buffet yesterday, and will be doing a three course Indian curry lunch today. I make minor adjustments, such as choosing salted popcorn instead of sweet when I go to the movies, and it's also always diet coke etc. instead of the sugary ones, and brown rice instead of white, but that's about it.
The carb counting can be a pain, but after a while, you can get to a stage where you can "eye ball" a meal and say, "meh, that'll be about 7 units."
Don't worry about the 20s you're in at the moment. If your levels come down too quickly it's a bit like bringing a deep sea diver up from depth too quickly. Your body needs time to adjust to lower levels, so your team will be aiming at lowering the levels slowly but surely. You'll also learn how to nudge it down with corrective doses.
Ask about Freestyle Libre. It's a small plastic disc about the size of a £2 coin which gets stuck on your arm. A tiny sensing filament beneath the skin measures glucose every 5 minutes so you can see not only what your levels are at but also where they've been for the last few hours, so you can also predict where they might be going. You've probably not had a hypo yet, where bg drops below 4. Hypos are unpleasant, not painful, more a confusion of thought because the brain doesn't work well with too little glucose, and this is where libre is good - if it shows a number in the low 4s with a downward arrow, it's a good clue to start thinking about a bg test to confirm and then some sweeties/biscuits/dextrotabs. You can use it for a whole lot of other things too, checking basal, pre-bolus timing and so on, but leave that for later.
If you've got a kindle, there's some reading to do:
Think Like a Pancreas, Gary Scheiner - a good reference book for newbies and oldies.
Sugar Surfing, Stephen Ponder - teaches you how to use cgm/libre, and adjust levels on the fly.
Anyway, enough from me, T1 is totally do-able, it can be frustrating at times when doses don't work out as expected, but by and large once you get some of the basic rules under your belt and learn from the inevitable mistakes, you will live a long, full and healthy life!
I was dx'd at 21, thought my life was over, I'd just be sitting on the sidelines, but after a few months I'd learned the basic rules and went on to live a normal unrestricted life, been away backpacking in Asia for 6 months, done sports like skiing, sailing, cycling including a trip from Rome to Athens (had been planning on cycling from there up through Eastern Europe but got fed up cycling past wheat fields so sent the bike home and backpacked for 4 months from Istanbul to Estonia).
You will have to pay more attention to what you're eating, how many carbs are in each meal, how much insulin to take for it and then there's some fancy stuff like "pre-bolusing", which involves injecting a while before a meal to let the insulin get working before the food starts digesting, and "insulin stacking", which is adding in another injection if it looks like the meal injection wasn't large enough, but don't worry about those techniques for the moment, you'll pick them up as time goes by.
You'll read a lot on this site about people heavily restricting the amount of carbs they eat. They are mainly type 2 diabetics. It makes sense for them, but that's because T2 biology is different. Some T1s do it too, but it's too early for you to make decisions about that. T1s have a lot of leeway in what we eat. I went out for a Chinese buffet yesterday, and will be doing a three course Indian curry lunch today. I make minor adjustments, such as choosing salted popcorn instead of sweet when I go to the movies, and it's also always diet coke etc. instead of the sugary ones, and brown rice instead of white, but that's about it.
The carb counting can be a pain, but after a while, you can get to a stage where you can "eye ball" a meal and say, "meh, that'll be about 7 units."
Don't worry about the 20s you're in at the moment. If your levels come down too quickly it's a bit like bringing a deep sea diver up from depth too quickly. Your body needs time to adjust to lower levels, so your team will be aiming at lowering the levels slowly but surely. You'll also learn how to nudge it down with corrective doses.
Ask about Freestyle Libre. It's a small plastic disc about the size of a £2 coin which gets stuck on your arm. A tiny sensing filament beneath the skin measures glucose every 5 minutes so you can see not only what your levels are at but also where they've been for the last few hours, so you can also predict where they might be going. You've probably not had a hypo yet, where bg drops below 4. Hypos are unpleasant, not painful, more a confusion of thought because the brain doesn't work well with too little glucose, and this is where libre is good - if it shows a number in the low 4s with a downward arrow, it's a good clue to start thinking about a bg test to confirm and then some sweeties/biscuits/dextrotabs. You can use it for a whole lot of other things too, checking basal, pre-bolus timing and so on, but leave that for later.
If you've got a kindle, there's some reading to do:
Think Like a Pancreas, Gary Scheiner - a good reference book for newbies and oldies.
Sugar Surfing, Stephen Ponder - teaches you how to use cgm/libre, and adjust levels on the fly.
Anyway, enough from me, T1 is totally do-able, it can be frustrating at times when doses don't work out as expected, but by and large once you get some of the basic rules under your belt and learn from the inevitable mistakes, you will live a long, full and healthy life!
- Messages
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Hi @7-3-19wilson1
Have you done the ketone check yet? Which insulin are you on? When do you next see the medics?
The fixed dose is for two reasons, first to bring numbers down slowly and second to help work out your insulin:carb ratios
But - seeing high number carries a risk. So checking that you do not have high key tones is key. I’ll be back in a moment with some info about levels.
And welcome to the forum.
Have you done the ketone check yet? Which insulin are you on? When do you next see the medics?
The fixed dose is for two reasons, first to bring numbers down slowly and second to help work out your insulin:carb ratios
But - seeing high number carries a risk. So checking that you do not have high key tones is key. I’ll be back in a moment with some info about levels.
And welcome to the forum.
- Messages
- 5,186
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
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- Dislikes
- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
High @7-3-19wilson1 and welcome to the forums.
Stress can raise your blood sugar levels so firstly, RELAX ! After first diagnosis it can take a while to get your glucose levels under any semblance of control, I think for me it took about 12 weeks. You can find information online relating to the speed that you bring your levels down after diagnosis and in many cases it is advised not to rush this process as you'll most likely feel pretty awful as you readjust to lower glucose levels.
Good luck.
- Messages
- 5,591
- Type of diabetes
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- The smell of cigars
Here is some info
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/
Check your blood sugar and ketone levels
Check your blood sugar level if you have symptoms of DKA.
If your blood sugar is 11mmol/L or over and you have a blood or urine ketone testing kit, check your ketone level.
If you do a blood ketone test:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/
Check your blood sugar and ketone levels
Check your blood sugar level if you have symptoms of DKA.
If your blood sugar is 11mmol/L or over and you have a blood or urine ketone testing kit, check your ketone level.
If you do a blood ketone test:
- lower than 0.6mmol/L is a normal reading
- 0.6 to 1.5mmol/L means you're at a slightly increased risk of DKA and should test again in a couple of hours
- 1.6 to 2.9mmol/L means you're at an increased risk of DKA and should contact your diabetes team or GP as soon as possible
- 3mmol/L or over means you have a very high risk of DKA and should get medical help immediately
Thank you all for all this support, it’s much appreciated! Especially Scott-C, thanks very much! I’ll check my Keytones now and post them shortly, thanks Diakat for those levels!
