Need support

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everybody, I'm a T1D diagnosed a month ago, blood sugars are still high so I'm on a fixed dose of insulin injections daily. Well recently I've been struggling with sticking to my healthy diet, I've also been busy the past 2 weeks so I've monitored my blood sugar very less which is very irresponsible and I plan to correct that.
I have no T1s around and that makes me feel quite isolated and right now it's just horrible.
If yall could share your experiences with how you bounce back from your struggles please do share! I'm really scared right now.
Sorry for the very long text, have a lot on my mind rn :(
 

Marie 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,394
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Pump
There will be day off and on where you "goof", but overall getting the hang of it is pretty easy and then it just becomes a normal way of life.

What you need to do is learn how to dose for what you eat. Really most important. Because then you dose to what you ate, so if you splurged or didn't eat right you can dose appropriately. We type 1's are not the same as a type 2, almost all type 1's are not insulin resistant, we just don't make insulin. They start you out with a easy dosing regimen to get you used to it. Plus at the beginning you are in what we call a honeymoon phase, which means you are still making some insulin until you don't completely any more. So the dosing is a little trickier.

And while eating healthy is important, if we want the cookie off and on we usually can have a cookie, if we want pasta, we can usually have pasta, we just have to dose for it. I say usually because splurging to me means a controlled blood sugar before I would splurge. So contact your doctor/dietician etc to learn how to dose it will change how you deal with this disease enormously!

But one thing will always be important, checking your blood sugars. Some days you can get away with not checking that much and some days require more attention. This also becomes critical if you dose for what you eat. Higher blood sugars, higher doses, lower blood sugars, lower doses. Unfortunately this isn't a disease we can escape from, it's with us 24/7.

A lot of us don't have type 1's around us, that's what make sites like this very valuable! And the good news is you can change how you're doing as soon as the next test and the next dose! Also getting a CGM makes life even easier. (constant glucose monitor)
 
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Pinkorchid

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,927
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi everybody, I'm a T1D diagnosed a month ago, blood sugars are still high so I'm on a fixed dose of insulin injections daily. Well recently I've been struggling with sticking to my healthy diet, I've also been busy the past 2 weeks so I've monitored my blood sugar very less which is very irresponsible and I plan to correct that.
I have no T1s around and that makes me feel quite isolated and right now it's just horrible.
If yall could share your experiences with how you bounce back from your struggles please do share! I'm really scared right now.
Sorry for the very long text, have a lot on my mind rn :(
Hi welcome to the group there are a lot of T1's here who will be along to help you
 
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Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome!

It is a huge shock to get diagnosed with T1, and it takes a heck of a lot of adjustment, so just take it one day at a time and start building those habits that will eventually become natural to you.

I will tag in @Juicyj @Diakat and @urbanracer who have all had different experiences adjusting to their diagnoses, and Urbanracer was on fixed insulin doses for years.
 

Diakat

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
5,591
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
The smell of cigars
Hi @farheen123
It’s hard at first but it does improve over time. It will really help to lower your sugars when your team let you change doses and carb count.
How are you feeling?
 
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urbanracer

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
5,186
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Hi everybody, I'm a T1D diagnosed a month ago, blood sugars are still high so I'm on a fixed dose of insulin injections daily. Well recently I've been struggling with sticking to my healthy diet, I've also been busy the past 2 weeks so I've monitored my blood sugar very less which is very irresponsible and I plan to correct that.
I have no T1s around and that makes me feel quite isolated and right now it's just horrible.
If yall could share your experiences with how you bounce back from your struggles please do share! I'm really scared right now.
Sorry for the very long text, have a lot on my mind rn :(

I know it's easy to say, but stop worrying. It doesn't do your blood glucose levels any favours.

I think many people just get worn out by diabetes management. I have periods when I do the bare minimum which for me, means testing before driving and little else.

For myself, these periods end with a sudden 'Ok, you can't carry on like this' moment. I will then climb back into the saddle as the saying goes.

Not sure what your 'healthy diet' consists of but I need the odd treat here. Your current insulin regime makes treats difficult and whilst some people stay on mixed insulin long term, it is common for most T1's to switch to Multiple Daily Injections (MDI) once you've been doing it for a while.

As @Brunneria indicated, I was left on mixed insulin for over 3 years which seems a little unusual compared to the experiences of others. It makes it difficult to skip meals which is a pain if you have a busy lifestyle.

It does get easier though, so hang in there.
 

kitedoc

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,783
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
black jelly beans
Hi @farheen123,
I was diagnosed over 52 years ago when there were no finger-prick blood testing machines, only urine testing, no fancy insulins or pens to inject them with. Yes, it was scary.

By contrast theses days you have glucometers and even other fancier devices to show what your blood sugar is doing.
That is a great boon compared to my start.

What i would have given to have that gift 52 years ago, to enlighten me and take away that insecurity.
Perhaps every time you need to test, whether say, before a meal or 2 or 3 hours after or some other time you have been asked to test, think of it as a gift, one that stings but gives valuable feedback.

Sometimes when testing my blood after 1980 (when the first truly portable home monitoring glucometers became available, first in the world in Sydney, Australia) - a high reading would get me down. It did not help that the message from doctors back then was that high blood sugars are bad and they were my fault! It took quite some tome to get over that impression..
But even if you feel discouraged by your readings, there is always a good one there somewhere, and so I learnt to count my victories and try to learn from them.

Some doctors can be real control freaks and be stick in the mud about insulin doses. So i learned to make adjustments myself. Not the recommended thing to do and back then there were no diabetes nurses one could discuss dose changes with.

Nowadays credentialed nurses and educators exist and can provide an avenue to start the process of being able to alter insulin doses to best suit diet, exercise and so. That gives some freedom, self-determination, the easing of a burden.

Over 52 years there are other changes to diabetes management, not only with technology but with the study of diet.
There have been umpteen different versions of diabetes diets in the past 50 years, whether directly designed for diabetics or adapted from other areas.

My personal experience was that none worked very well in keeping BSLs under best control until one approach i learned about recently.


You have mentioned you have been prescribed a 'healthy diet' but not what type of the many diets and educational approaches to diet for TIDs out there.

I see that @Marie 2 has suggested a dietary approach which includes healthy diet as well as less healthy things on occasion if one wants to 'splurge'.with the assistance of your health team to enable this.-( if I have interpreted her words correctly).

As an alternative, given your described struggles with your healthy diet and testing of bsls, pleaee consider reading the book or ebook 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution'.
This approach may not be the popular if you wish to splurge at some stage, but there is data that shows that it gives the best BSL readings overall. It is the approach i would have wished for 52 years ago. But that is just me.

It meets the criteria for healthy diet but does need to be done with your health team involved as the much lower carbs in the diet requires adjustment of insulin doses to prevent hypos. Great bsls, very few hypos but need for bsl checking is the hope.

Grouos on the net called True Grit Type One, and Dr Bernstein's Advocates are supporters of this approach if you are interested.
By all means ask here or them more about it if you are interested. And no, we do not need 150 g of carb per day for our brains to function. Ask any doubting dietitian how the Inuit and Laplander tributes have survived for many, many generation on a zero carbohydrate food intake.

Most of us TIDs were quite sick before we were diagnosed, and it takes time for the blurred vision, any weight loss etc to settle. Achieving normal bsls consistently is a big confidence boost and great feeling of security.

Of course there is much to learn and only time can do this but please continue to read, ask questions - and use the horizontal menu on the Home page here under Living With Diabetes, at the various diet options, what are acceptable bsls etc.

You can also use the search box upper right of Home Page or Forum page to look up other things, like the 'honeymoon phase',.which @Marie 2 mentioned, and cgm etc.

And if you need to know more about why normal as possible BSLs are emphasised or need a reason or incentive to keep testing then search maybe DCCT ( Diabetes Control and Complications Trial)

Best Wishes and ask away. :):):)

Nothing is .........Hang in there..............diet?............diabetes is all
Impossible"..................."...................... ............ ........about.balance


image.jpeg "....image.jpeg ..image.jpeg ..image.jpeg
 
Last edited:

DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi everybody, I'm a T1D diagnosed a month ago, blood sugars are still high so I'm on a fixed dose of insulin injections daily. Well recently I've been struggling with sticking to my healthy diet, I've also been busy the past 2 weeks so I've monitored my blood sugar very less which is very irresponsible and I plan to correct that.
I have no T1s around and that makes me feel quite isolated and right now it's just horrible.
If yall could share your experiences with how you bounce back from your struggles please do share! I'm really scared right now.
Sorry for the very long text, have a lot on my mind rn :(

Farheen - You've had a lot of information to take onboard in the last month or so, and a lot of inforation herer, now in this thread, so I bet your head is spinning rght now.

One point I would like to make is strict isolation is that whilst you are in th early days of your diabetes, and are on fixed doses of insulin, you should be very careful about making significant changes to your diet or lifestyle, without the close support of your diabetes team.

Different foods can tend to need different amounts of insulin to keep the blood sugars in a good range. In time, you will learn these things and be able to build in more flexibility into what you eat and drink.

Please be very careful, and ensure you always have your hypo treatment to hand.

Good luck with it all.
 
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Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. I assume you are on the Basal/Bolus (aka MDI) regime which uses 2 insulins? Do ask your team to explain carb-counting to you which is where you adjust the Bolus (meal-time) dose to match the carbs you are about to eat. For some strange reason the NHS tends to leave this advice to a course often many months later. My nurse explained it to me in 15 minutes when she started me on insulin.
 
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JAT1

Well-Known Member
Messages
563
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everybody, I'm a T1D diagnosed a month ago, blood sugars are still high so I'm on a fixed dose of insulin injections daily. Well recently I've been struggling with sticking to my healthy diet, I've also been busy the past 2 weeks so I've monitored my blood sugar very less which is very irresponsible and I plan to correct that.
I have no T1s around and that makes me feel quite isolated and right now it's just horrible.
If yall could share your experiences with how you bounce back from your struggles please do share! I'm really scared right now.
Sorry for the very long text, have a lot on my mind rn :(
When I have the need to eat compulsively, I have cheese. It doesn't affect my blood sugar, or, if it does, it's so gradual that my meter and me hardly notice. If being scared makes you follow the straight and narrow, then it's good, otherwise grow beyond fear as Type 1 is something we can learn to manage and it has become a habit for me now that I have been diagnosed for a year.
 

Juicyj

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
9,018
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Hypos, rude people, ignorance and grey days.
Hello and welcome @farheen123 :)

Take it one day at a time, your body has been through a great upheaval so take it easy on yourself is vital, knowledge will improve in time but don't be afraid to ask questions we have all been there. Personally I found knowledge was vital so learning as much as I could to be better prepared has helped me, a good book to get you started is 'think like a pancreas' written by a type 1.

Lots of folk here to chat too as well so shout if we can help.
 

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
There will be day off and on where you "goof", but overall getting the hang of it is pretty easy and then it just becomes a normal way of life.

What you need to do is learn how to dose for what you eat. Really most important. Because then you dose to what you ate, so if you splurged or didn't eat right you can dose appropriately. We type 1's are not the same as a type 2, almost all type 1's are not insulin resistant, we just don't make insulin. They start you out with a easy dosing regimen to get you used to it. Plus at the beginning you are in what we call a honeymoon phase, which means you are still making some insulin until you don't completely any more. So the dosing is a little trickier.

And while eating healthy is important, if we want the cookie off and on we usually can have a cookie, if we want pasta, we can usually have pasta, we just have to dose for it. I say usually because splurging to me means a controlled blood sugar before I would splurge. So contact your doctor/dietician etc to learn how to dose it will change how you deal with this disease enormously!

But one thing will always be important, checking your blood sugars. Some days you can get away with not checking that much and some days require more attention. This also becomes critical if you dose for what you eat. Higher blood sugars, higher doses, lower blood sugars, lower doses. Unfortunately this isn't a disease we can escape from, it's with us 24/7.

A lot of us don't have type 1's around us, that's what make sites like this very valuable! And the good news is you can change how you're doing as soon as the next test and the next dose! Also getting a CGM makes life even easier. (constant glucose monitor)
Ah that makes sense, I guess my ups and downs right now have a lot of effect on me since I'm learning new things everyday.
For now my doc has me on a fixed Insulin dose for a about a month more since my sugars have been high for a long time. Hopefully, I will be learning the dosing soon enough to have a little bit of liberty to eat a bit of sweet haha.
Ah where I live, I dont think we get constant glucose monitors since it's a developing country but hopefully one day. Thank you for your response! Really does help!
 
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farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi and welcome!

It is a huge shock to get diagnosed with T1, and it takes a heck of a lot of adjustment, so just take it one day at a time and start building those habits that will eventually become natural to you.

I will tag in @Juicyj @Diakat and @urbanracer who have all had different experiences adjusting to their diagnoses, and Urbanracer was on fixed insulin doses for years.
Ah yes that's what I plan to do now! Slow and steady. Thank you!!
 

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi @farheen123
It’s hard at first but it does improve over time. It will really help to lower your sugars when your team let you change doses and carb count.
How are you feeling?
Yeah, I guess fear mixed with impatience really does get the best of me some times. Hopefully my blood sugar level comes down from the initial high range soon and becomes consistent.
I actually feel pretty good, I've started focusing more on exercise(walking) like my team told me to and I've been taking care. I think its because of walking my blood sugar has been a bit low at times so as someone who's been working so hard to get those levels down it's nice, hopefully it's all okay! Thank you :)
 
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farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I know it's easy to say, but stop worrying. It doesn't do your blood glucose levels any favours.

I think many people just get worn out by diabetes management. I have periods when I do the bare minimum which for me, means testing before driving and little else.

For myself, these periods end with a sudden 'Ok, you can't carry on like this' moment. I will then climb back into the saddle as the saying goes.

Not sure what your 'healthy diet' consists of but I need the odd treat here. Your current insulin regime makes treats difficult and whilst some people stay on mixed insulin long term, it is common for most T1's to switch to Multiple Daily Injections (MDI) once you've been doing it for a while.

As @Brunneria indicated, I was left on mixed insulin for over 3 years which seems a little unusual compared to the experiences of others. It makes it difficult to skip meals which is a pain if you have a busy lifestyle.

It does get easier though, so hang in there.
I have stopped worrying as much thankfully and have gotten back on track so I guess that gives me peace of mind.
I am, this is a really good comforting ans supporting community, thank you!!
 
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farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi @farheen123,
I was diagnosed over 52 years ago when there were no finger-prick blood testing machines, only urine testing, no fancy insulins or pens to inject them with. Yes, it was scary.

By contrast theses days you have glucometers and even other fancier devices to show what your blood sugar is doing.
That is a great boon compared to my start.

What i would have given to have that gift 52 years ago, to enlighten me and take away that insecurity.
Perhaps every time you need to test, whether say, before a meal or 2 or 3 hours after or some other time you have been asked to test, think of it as a gift, one that stings but gives valuable feedback.

Sometimes when testing my blood after 1980 (when the first truly portable home monitoring glucometers became available, first in the world in Sydney, Australia) - a high reading would get me down. It did not help that the message from doctors back then was that high blood sugars are bad and they were my fault! It took quite some tome to get over that impression..
But even if you feel discouraged by your readings, there is always a good one there somewhere, and so I learnt to count my victories and try to learn from them.

Some doctors can be real control freaks and be stick in the mud about insulin doses. So i learned to make adjustments myself. Not the recommended thing to do and back then there were no diabetes nurses one could discuss dose changes with.

Nowadays credentialed nurses and educators exist and can provide an avenue to start the process of being able to alter insulin doses to best suit diet, exercise and so. That gives some freedom, self-determination, the easing of a burden.

Over 52 years there are other changes to diabetes management, not only with technology but with the study of diet.
There have been umpteen different versions of diabetes diets in the past 50 years, whether directly designed for diabetics or adapted from other areas.

My personal experience was that none worked very well in keeping BSLs under best control until one approach i learned about recently.


You have mentioned you have been prescribed a 'healthy diet' but not what type of the many diets and educational approaches to diet for TIDs out there.

I see that @Marie 2 has suggested a dietary approach which includes healthy diet as well as less healthy things on occasion if one wants to 'splurge'.with the assistance of your health team to enable this.-( if I have interpreted her words correctly).

As an alternative, given your described struggles with your healthy diet and testing of bsls, pleaee consider reading the book or ebook 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution'.
This approach may not be the popular if you wish to splurge at some stage, but there is data that shows that it gives the best BSL readings overall. It is the approach i would have wished for 52 years ago. But that is just me.

It meets the criteria for healthy diet but does need to be done with your health team involved as the much lower carbs in the diet requires adjustment of insulin doses to prevent hypos. Great bsls, very few hypos but need for bsl checking is the hope.

Grouos on the net called True Grit Type One, and Dr Bernstein's Advocates are supporters of this approach if you are interested.
By all means ask here or them more about it if you are interested. And no, we do not need 150 g of carb per day for our brains to function. Ask any doubting dietitian how the Inuit and Laplander tributes have survived for many, many generation on a zero carbohydrate food intake.

Most of us TIDs were quite sick before we were diagnosed, and it takes time for the blurred vision, any weight loss etc to settle. Achieving normal bsls consistently is a big confidence boost and great feeling of security.

Of course there is much to learn and only time can do this but please continue to read, ask questions - and use the horizontal menu on the Home page here under Living With Diabetes, at the various diet options, what are acceptable bsls etc.

You can also use the search box upper right of Home Page or Forum page to look up other things, like the 'honeymoon phase',.which @Marie 2 mentioned, and cgm etc.

And if you need to know more about why normal as possible BSLs are emphasised or need a reason or incentive to keep testing then search maybe DCCT ( Diabetes Control and Complications Trial)

Best Wishes and ask away. :):):)

Nothing is .........Hang in there..............diet?............diabetes is all
Impossible"..................."...................... ............ ........about.balance


View attachment 34150 "....View attachment 34151 ..View attachment 34153 ..View attachment 34154
Ah I cant imagine how difficult it must've been before and the amount of hardwork and patience you would've had to endure to maintain a good lifestyle. I'm definitely grateful to be able to have these resources!!
My healthy diet is basically home made food, low carb fruits and veggies, no sugar.
Thank you so so much for the suggestions, I will definitely be learning a lot more and thank you for the kind words!! Means a lot!
 

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Farheen - You've had a lot of information to take onboard in the last month or so, and a lot of inforation herer, now in this thread, so I bet your head is spinning rght now.

One point I would like to make is strict isolation is that whilst you are in th early days of your diabetes, and are on fixed doses of insulin, you should be very careful about making significant changes to your diet or lifestyle, without the close support of your diabetes team.

Different foods can tend to need different amounts of insulin to keep the blood sugars in a good range. In time, you will learn these things and be able to build in more flexibility into what you eat and drink.

Please be very careful, and ensure you always have your hypo treatment to hand.

Good luck with it all.
It is a lot of information definitely, but slowly I'm learning.
Oh yes I definitely keep all those things in mind! Mg fluctuation in eating wasnt that out of control though, I'm fear risks so I dont take any. I definitely stay in touch with my team.
Also I've made this little hypo kit I carry with me everywhere at this point haha! I've gotten so used to it it would feel weird to be without it, thank you!!
 

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. I assume you are on the Basal/Bolus (aka MDI) regime which uses 2 insulins? Do ask your team to explain carb-counting to you which is where you adjust the Bolus (meal-time) dose to match the carbs you are about to eat. For some strange reason the NHS tends to leave this advice to a course often many months later. My nurse explained it to me in 15 minutes when she started me on insulin.
Ah I'm not sure since I dont completely understand it yet, but I think so.
Oh I dont live in the UK (im sorry if thats frowned upon here since I just joined without much understanding ) so no NHS. But yes I've heard about carb counting and learning how to dose, hopefully I'll be learning that soon! Thank you!
 

farheen123

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
When I have the need to eat compulsively, I have cheese. It doesn't affect my blood sugar, or, if it does, it's so gradual that my meter and me hardly notice. If being scared makes you follow the straight and narrow, then it's good, otherwise grow beyond fear as Type 1 is something we can learn to manage and it has become a habit for me now that I have been diagnosed for a year.
Oh yes fear does drive me! Thank you for the kind words!