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Hello! Newly diagnosed Type1

Claire007

Claire007

Well-Known Member
Messages
166
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, my names Claire and I was diagnosed with type1, 3 weeks ago today.
I'm 44 and it's all been a bit of a shock and I still feel a bit numb. I have to say my care has been amazing, I've been reading the forum and I see that's not the case for many people (apart from my GP initially who wouldn't listen to me and told me it was another UTI due to 'having sex at my age! ) He took me seriously when my hba1c came back at 108 & BG of 20.
I'm on levemir/Humalog and had managed to gain good control fairly quickly until this weekend when I kept on having hypos and going low in the night so just trying to get the dosage right. ( think the honeymoon phase has kicked in and everything's gone haywire, feel completely worn out at the moment)
I've had a couple of appointments with the dietician & have been referred to DAFNE. My DSN is lovely and very supportive.
I have my first consultant appointment tomorrow who will hopefully have antibody test results back. ( I've had so many appointments I missed it last week, my brain is like mush at the moment)
So, I'm still getting my head round everything and trying to come to terms with my diagnosis. I've read loads of threads on here already and thought I should stop lurking and join up.

If anyone has any advice re questions to ask the consultant tomorrow then that would be great.

Thanks for reading my essay!
 
Welcome Claire ! :D

" having sex at your age" eh ? I'm assuming he thought you were waaaay too young for that sort of thing !:eek::D ( Thinks: " Plonker ":rolleyes: )

At least you have hit gold with a good Diabetes team, hang on to them and if your GP mentions switching your care to the practice, resist , resist, resist !

Signy
 
Well I was feeling pretty spaced out at the time and was just sat there thinking 'What the hell is he on about? I'm here cos I think I've got diabetes'

He dipped my sample which I'd thought to take and said 'oh yes I think you might be right, but at your age it will be type2, we'll just get you on some tablets.....' Thankfully when I went back for the results I saw another GP who spent an hour with me while he tried to get hold of a registrar to see if I needed to be admitted. All type1 patients are cared for at the diabetes centre in the hospital, so I won't be passed back to GP.

At that point, I didn't even know the difference between type 1 & 2. I feel like I've done a degree in diabetes in the last 3 weeks with a dissertation on carb counting. :D
 
@Claire007

Hello Claire and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. There is so much to learn but it will all seem easier soon. Ask all the questions you like and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 140,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Just wanted to say hi and welcome. I'm a new type 2 so not much help on the question front. There are some questions on one of the pins at the top of the forums which you might find useful. Good luck for your appointment
 
Hi. Are you carb-counting yet i.e. adjusting the Humalog to match your mealtime carbs? If not you should be taught this on DAFNE or ask the GP. My DN taught me in 10 minutes when I first went onto insulin. Beware any advice from the dietician. As you may well be aware most of us on the forum believe that carbs are the problem and need to control that and not the fat.
 
Welcome to the forum Claire :)

Any questions do come back and ask, there's always someone around who will reply.
 
Yes, started carb counting after a few days as it was clear the initial set dose I was on to lower my levels was too high for the amount of carbs I ate. Dietician talked more about the impact of different carbs and where to draw a line rather than have X amount of carbohydrate per day, so it was more around things like what to do re eating In between meals on occasion, how to manage when eating out, apps and books to use. She didn't dictate as she said I was way ahead of where they'd expect me to be a few days on.
I have been reading up on low carb, at the moment acoording to my diary I eat, on average 80-120g a day, this is probably higher than normal as I'm having to eat 3 times a day which I didn't used to.
I'm constantly hungry but understand this is normal at the beginning. So I would say that puts me as a moderate carber <- not actually a word but hey ho!
How much lower per day should I aim? I don't need to lose weight but I'm very keen not to put any on!
My ratio is currently 1unit to 10g which I think is too high for me but I'm still trying to get my background stable at the moment so I'm rounding the Humalog down as I don't have a half unit pen.
Thanks for the replies, I've learnt such a lot in these three weeks, but still have a way to go. Cheers.
 
Hi Claire
If you haven't already had your appointment, ask if you might be LADA / T1 in the honeymoon period.
If you are, this means that you are still producing some insulin yourself, so you won't need to inject quite so much.
Have a read on the LADA forum pages if you think you might be LADA.

if you are hungry, try eating more fat. Coconut oil, butter, double cream, fatty cuts of meat. Fat fills you up and sustains your energy longer. Most of us find find we don't put on weight eating lots of fat, it's the calories that increases weight.
 
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