New Type 1

[jameshallam]

Hi all,

This site was recommended to me when i was diagnosed at the end of October, I've been reading some of the posts for a while and found them quite interesting/informative. Decided to sign up today and post my 2 cents worth!

I was shocked initially - never been ill in my life at all before and suddenly got this strange thing called Diabetes! After a week or so I had learnt to count carbs (1 unit per 10g carbs) and my levels were normally stable between 4-8 I was pretty happy.

Then the honeymoon period kicked in and I seemed to be having a hypo every day, not so good! I started injecting half amounts of insulin (1 unit per 20g carbs) and again everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Then, everything changed again about a 2 weeks ago - starting going quite high so i thought the honeymoon period must be over already. Lets go back to the normal 1 unit to 10g carbs.

At the moment I seem to need 1 to 20g at breakfast and then 1 to 10g for other meals. But it keeps changing and because of this my blood sugar is ranging between 3-13, again not so good.

My question is does this settle down over time? Will I find 'my ratio'?

As for living with T1, when I manage to control my BG I'm quite pleased with myself - just get annoyed when my readings start to slip either way...

Cheers,
James

(Type 1 Diagnosed Oct 2009 | Carb Counting | Novarapid/Lantus)

 

[Solitaire71]

Hello there James, welcome to the site I am new myself too

Firstly, it sounds like you have handled this much better than most people, so don't be too upset with your blood sugars as of now. I don't know much about carbohydrate counting at all, so I can't discuss the ratios with you. However, different meals offer different kinds of carbohydrates, that digest at different times. For example, your breakfast meal may take longer or less time to digest than your other meals, which would explain the different in units needed. It depends on what kinds of things you eat

Also, yes, you should certainly be pleased when you have good bg's. But don't always get annoyed when your readings go either way, because there are so many factors that can influence your bg - stress, fear, excitement, general mood sometimes, etc. In my humble opinion, the bg of any diabetic is in constant flux - it is either heading up, or heading down, because either your insulin is working, or you've had carbohydrate, and at some point you'll need more of either or both in order to sustain your sugar. I used to get annoyed at high sugars, and still do sometimes, but it is much better when you understand why they are happening. There is a book calling "Type 1 diabetes: how to become an expect on your own diabetes" by Dr Ragnar Hanas, and I think you could benefit from it greatly, and you will understand so much more, I'm learning all the time and I've had the condition for years

I hope you can find more answers that what I've offered here

 

[hanadr]

James, I'm a T2, but married [38years]. to a lifelong T1, so I have a little secondhand experience.
Your situation will very likely settle down
In the meantime, you might find it useful to read Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.[ask your library for it, it's quite expensive] Bernstein covers pretty much every aspect of T1.
Also it might be worth looking in to GI/GL. Different foods digest at different speeds and if you use slow ones, It might help. No promises, I say "MIGHT"
You are defu=initely approaching this much better than most newbies
Hana

 

[howie]

hey james,

i'm 6 months in to T1, like you i was use to being healthy etc. what a blow.

it's pretty hard work so far and the comps are scary but there's loads of advice and support on here, keep using it.

howie