T1 and wanting to get pregnant

Langlands85

Member
Messages
11
Hi were wanting to start trying for a family and ive been seing a dr at the preconception clinic at the hospital. As my HBA1C is quite high, they have recommended we dont start yet. Ive been going for around 6 months and feel like im geting nowhere-i have no suppourt and really need more info in regards to what my bms should be like and for how long etc before we can try. My next appointment isnt until october and they have no appointments before this.

Ive had t1 for 18 years.....anyone got any advice?
 

jopar

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,222
Hi and welcome to the forum..

Idealy a good tight control as possible, when you trying for a baby you've got to view the HbA1c in two ways as the figure on it's own but also how it's been achieved on a day to day based... So a tight control HbA1c of 7% could be a safer level, than a HbA1c of 6.5% that has been achieved with erritic daily control of swinging highs and lows.. So the aim is tight control as low as possible..

How do you control your diabetes at the moment, and using your present method how well is it controlling your diabetes.. Knowing how you doing things, we may be able to provide further information and understanding to improve this..

If you are struggling to find tune your control with injections, it might be worth discussing and exploering the insulin pump with your team..
 

Langlands85

Member
Messages
11
Hi, thanks for your quick reply,i am on Lantus and novorapid, i take 2 injections of lantus now after getting constant highs and novorapid after every meal. My HBA1C is arounf 8.5% and i constantly struggle with maintaining my bms. I really want to get them lower but i feel like i am either low or hight, no middle ground. Ive talked about the insulin pump before but i thought it s for diabetics with very low bms.

Its never really interefered wiht my life too much but i feel like its got to be right when trying for a family. I cant understand my highs i excercise aroun 3-4 times a week and dont drink alot.
 

jopar

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,222
Do you carb count at all, adjusting quick insulin dose according to the amount of carbs?

A good suggestion, is to put some real input into data collection... boring and can be time consuming, not no real other method..

Keep a dairy..

The more information you put in it the better the picture, so BG, insulin dose, amount and type of carbs, exercise you've done etc..

Then you will get a better idea what effects your control and where and what you may need to adjust to improve..

And to ensure that your basal/background is correct you really need to do some fasting tests..

Two books I reccomend Think Like A Pancreas and Using Insulin, I have the latter, but both are very good books, easy to use and understand. (and nope you don't have to read it cover to cover, just pick the chapter/section you need to refer to)

Insulin pumps can be used by any insulin using diabetic, it's only the NHS and the NICE guidelines that depict who may or may not be funded..

I've got an insulin pump, as I am very senitive to insulin, so use very small amounts, and their is noway that you can get a 0.1 unit from a pen/syringe combined with a pronouced DP, So control wasn't easy, as very easy to overshoot, and I was injecting 6-10 times a day...
 

sugar2

Well-Known Member
Messages
833
Hi,

I have beenin your position...and had to really conentrate on my diabetes to get myself in control. You say that it doesn't interefer with you life....and I know what you mean, but at this stage, you have to make it your number one priority. If you don't carb count start now, and test, as often as you need. It is hard work, and can get frustrating when you think you have done all teh right things, but you still get a high bm.

I now have 2, very healthy children...which is the best reqard I could ever wish for for "being good" and the experience has also left me much more in control of my diabetes.

Best of luck!
 

josie38

Well-Known Member
Messages
281
Hi,

I agree.....you have to have really tight control over your sugars.....if you have good control now you will continue to have good control through your pregnancy.

But saying that when i got pregnant it was a complete accident but i managed to get it under control and my HBA1C was 5% all the way through first and second. This cuts down on the chances of big babies (mine were 6lb 13oz and 6lb 7oz).

The best thing you can do is count your carbs and maybe see a dietician to get some help with diet.

Sorry couldn't be a bit more helpful but BEST OF LUCK :) :) :) :)


Josie
 

fevold

Newbie
Messages
2
I have been reading your messages and I must agree, keep your blood sugar numbers PERFECT before you try to start your family. I have been a pump user for 7 years and diabetic 30 years. I started on a Medtronic Mini med pump and loved it, I had fabulous control with it. 2 1/2 yrs ago I had to change pumps for financial reasons. I chose an Accu Chek Spirit. I will never regret anything more. I didn't monitor my sugar closley(only did 3-4 tests a day) and used the same basal, bolus and correction numbers as on my Mini med pump. When I found out I was pregnant, I was excited, but nervous(my blood sugars were already noticibly higher). I was soon hospitalised and after about a month of trying to control sugars we were told about the problems of pregnancy with high blood sugar, club feet and hydrocephalaus(water on the brain) were what we were dealing with. We dealt with that making plans for treatment after birth, I was still in the hosp.. A month after that, I was told my daughter was not growing as much as she should and that her amniotic fluid was low(also more complications of high blood sugar). Now I was on IV fluids along with everything else. Three weeks later, my daughters heartbeat stopped and she was stillborn.
Eight months later my Drs decided I would be able to try again, My numbers weren't perfect, but they were mostly consistant. I got pregnant again and immediately my blood sugars rose.
I was hospitalised again. The Drs decided that since my sugars were so erratic, eating the same foods and having the same insulin with different results. I changed to a Mini med pump and immediately my sugars went in the other direction. I was rehospitalised to bring the numbers up, but it was too late. This pregnancy ended in miscarraige. My numbers have been perfect since i changed pumps. So I learned you do get what you pay for.
Be very careful and you can avoid the heartache I''ve gone through.
Good luck and prayers.
Laura
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
Welcome to the forum fevold:)
I'm so sorry for what you went through and am sure others will benefit from your advice. I wish you better luck in whatever the future holds for you :)
 

the_anticarb

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Fevold - so sorry to hear that
Langlands - try not to worry too much, I got pregnant accidentally earlier this year with hba1c of 9.6 spent the first few months worrying the baby wouldn't make it but he's still around and so far no sign of problems. I have had to learn very quickly to match my insulin to my carbs, also by testing after meals and correcting any highs with a correction dose I can bring down any highs quickly, before any damage is done.

I'm not out of the woods yet as another 16 weeks to go, and I'm desperate not to have the baby grow too big, but hba1c has been 5.5 since I got it all under control and despite my insulin needs increasing a lot (and at different times of the day too so i need three times as much in the morning as the evening) it all seems to be progressing ok.

My mum had three of us in the 1970s, no problems, and they didn't even have home testing or hba1c tests then.

Good luck!
 

IrishBird

Member
Messages
13
Hey girls,

Were hoping to get pregnant this time next year, we already have a 3 year old little boy, He was bron before i got diagnosed.

Anyway, ive an app with my specialist next month so going to talk to hima bout it. They have said before my levels have to be level for six months before we start trying and i have to get a prescription for folic aicid as we need 3 times the over the counter measure of folic aicid!
 

yipster29

Well-Known Member
Messages
200
Hi all

Read with interest as I have 1 gorgeous boy who I had before I was diagnosed.

I would like another but it has worried me now I have diabetes the effects it may have.

I'm T1 but my control is good, last HBa1C 6.5%

Trouble is, even though I wasn't diabetic at the time and got no signs of gestational my son was 10lb 10 and had to be born by emergency cesarean, I worry I'd be asking for trouble having another and should maybe be thankful of my lot....

Cath