Hi, I have been newly diagnosed diabetic. At first I was told that I was type 2, now I am told I am type 1 and have to go on fast insulin as well as slow. I think it more likely that I am 1.5 LADA since I already have another autoimmune condition. I have been told to inject before meals with 2 or 3 units, or maybe none, but am not really sure exactly what to do. Of course I have to do all this in French as I live in France and I have it all very distressing. Any help appreciated. Thank you.
Newly LADA
- Thread starter KCov
- Start Date
Marie 2
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- Type of diabetes
- LADA
- Treatment type
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Hi @KCov Welcome to the forum!
1.5, is just not really used anymore. There really is just type 1 or type 2. LADA is a type 1 and it just distinguishes it as being gotten later versus earlier in life, just like a few other descriptions. 50% of type 1's are diagnosed after the age of 30.
LADA/type 1 is slower occurring usually than when you get type 1 at a younger age. So you make insulin still for years until it slowly peters out. We call that the honeymoon period and the time it lasts varies per person. So you need to expect control will really vary because one day you might make more insulin naturally versus the next day. So you have to keep that in mind in dosing.
But it depends on your doctor what protocol he follows. A long acting "basal" insulin is a set dose each day to compensate for the blood glucose your liver will make on it's own. A fast acting "bolus" insulin is what you take to make up for the food you eat. As time goes on your insulin levels will increase.
So the take some and maybe not take some will depend on what your blood sugars are doing. Hopefully they will give you some guidance on how much and when to use it. Some of it will depend on how many carbs you are eating too.
One of the most important things to learn is to start carb counting. this is something you will have to learn and it will give you more insight to how you are responding to what you eat. You also need a blood glucose meter. That way you can tell if you are starting out at higher numbers or not. A lot of this will be trial and error on how much insulin you need. But how much you take will depend on how high your blood sugars are or what you are eating. It takes a lot more insulin to handle a plate of spaghetti versus a piece of cheese on a cracker. Right now if your body is still making some you might not even need any insulin for eating a piece of cheese on a cracker.
But start a log of what your sugars are when you first get up (fasting), then before you eat, 2 hours after you eat, and before you go to bed. Testing and then the more information is better.
Also keep a log of the food you eat and the carb count in it. Then if you are taking insulin at all make sure to make notes of how much you are taking. This will help you determine what your needs of insulin will be.
We eventually have insulin to carb ratio, correction amounts etc. But it has to be figured out and as you are in the honeymoon phase you need to be safer about dosing as you are still likely to be making some insulin.
It will get easier and become old hat. It's just a steep learning curve at the beginning.
I hope this helps and be sure to ask any questions you have. There are a bunch of people here that will always help. We just can't give exact dosing advice because we aren't allowed although people can share their experience of what they do.
1.5, is just not really used anymore. There really is just type 1 or type 2. LADA is a type 1 and it just distinguishes it as being gotten later versus earlier in life, just like a few other descriptions. 50% of type 1's are diagnosed after the age of 30.
LADA/type 1 is slower occurring usually than when you get type 1 at a younger age. So you make insulin still for years until it slowly peters out. We call that the honeymoon period and the time it lasts varies per person. So you need to expect control will really vary because one day you might make more insulin naturally versus the next day. So you have to keep that in mind in dosing.
But it depends on your doctor what protocol he follows. A long acting "basal" insulin is a set dose each day to compensate for the blood glucose your liver will make on it's own. A fast acting "bolus" insulin is what you take to make up for the food you eat. As time goes on your insulin levels will increase.
So the take some and maybe not take some will depend on what your blood sugars are doing. Hopefully they will give you some guidance on how much and when to use it. Some of it will depend on how many carbs you are eating too.
One of the most important things to learn is to start carb counting. this is something you will have to learn and it will give you more insight to how you are responding to what you eat. You also need a blood glucose meter. That way you can tell if you are starting out at higher numbers or not. A lot of this will be trial and error on how much insulin you need. But how much you take will depend on how high your blood sugars are or what you are eating. It takes a lot more insulin to handle a plate of spaghetti versus a piece of cheese on a cracker. Right now if your body is still making some you might not even need any insulin for eating a piece of cheese on a cracker.
But start a log of what your sugars are when you first get up (fasting), then before you eat, 2 hours after you eat, and before you go to bed. Testing and then the more information is better.
Also keep a log of the food you eat and the carb count in it. Then if you are taking insulin at all make sure to make notes of how much you are taking. This will help you determine what your needs of insulin will be.
We eventually have insulin to carb ratio, correction amounts etc. But it has to be figured out and as you are in the honeymoon phase you need to be safer about dosing as you are still likely to be making some insulin.
It will get easier and become old hat. It's just a steep learning curve at the beginning.
I hope this helps and be sure to ask any questions you have. There are a bunch of people here that will always help. We just can't give exact dosing advice because we aren't allowed although people can share their experience of what they do.
Toujeo is the slow insulin I have, 6 units a day,
i have toujeo every day 6 units and have apidra solostar insulin for before meals. The names may be different in France and they use mg/dl to measure blood sugar. I have been prescribed a freestyle patch but can’t use it until August, so have to prick test 6 times a day. They told me the blood sugar should be between 80 and 120 in the morning and before meals and no higher than 180 an hour and a half after meals. Mine is usually fine in the morning but every time I eat it goes up to 300-350. I have not yet started on the fast insulin, i was told to finish the glibanclamide pills first.
I am recording my blood sugar and I had an appointment with a dietician. I kept a food diary for a week and showed it to her and she just said that I do not need to change anything in my diet. What no-one has told me is how much carbs to have. How much is too much? How much is not enough? I know that if I leave out the carbs completely, I have a hypo. I would like to know about carb counting but if the dietician did not give me the info, how can I do it.
Hi. With carb-counting you typically start by using 1 unit of Bolus insulin for each 10gm of carb. If in doubt start with a bit less insulin and make sure you use the meter to avoid a hypo. You can then change the 10:1 ratio as you gain experience. In my opinion dietician aren't always that useful. You need to be sensible with the carbs to avoid weight gain. It's up to you but I would suggest keeping to something like 150gm/day or less of carbs. You can have fats and proteins quite freely and of course veg and non-tropical fruit
Marie 2
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,399
- Type of diabetes
- LADA
- Treatment type
- Pump
There are several aps, but you can look up foods under Calorie King. Plus learn to read the labels of everything that has a label. Carb counting is critical in learning how much insulin you will need.
There is not a too many carbs, it is learning how much insulin you need for those carbs. And your needs are likely to go up as time goes on. Not taking any insulin and eating higher carbs could be an issue right now.
if you are dropping too low by not eating enough carbs, your basal is taking care of some of the carbs you eat. That's not what we usually do, but at the beginning it is figuring out what works. But it is the bolus insulin that is supposed to be used for the food we eat, not basal.
You need to learn about DKA, which is always a serious threat for a type 1, but especially if your numbers stay high for lengths of time. Being on a long lasting insulin helps but not always enough, you might need your fast acting insulin started.
The spike is a matter of timing of insulin taken with meals or some as a prebolus before meals.
There is not a too many carbs, it is learning how much insulin you need for those carbs. And your needs are likely to go up as time goes on. Not taking any insulin and eating higher carbs could be an issue right now.
if you are dropping too low by not eating enough carbs, your basal is taking care of some of the carbs you eat. That's not what we usually do, but at the beginning it is figuring out what works. But it is the bolus insulin that is supposed to be used for the food we eat, not basal.
You need to learn about DKA, which is always a serious threat for a type 1, but especially if your numbers stay high for lengths of time. Being on a long lasting insulin helps but not always enough, you might need your fast acting insulin started.
The spike is a matter of timing of insulin taken with meals or some as a prebolus before meals.
Last edited:
Sgathach
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 75
- Type of diabetes
- LADA
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi Kcov,
Hope you are doing well already and getting used to it. I was diagnosed in february and for about 2 or 3 months I didn't have fast/bolus insulin.
I just managed my levels with super low carb and exercise, after every meal I'd walk and I was training every evening and that helped a lot.
I used an app aled Mysugr to log my levels and I'd check about 10 or 12 times a day. I know that's a lot but I wanted to know what my level was before food, 40-60min after and then 2h after, as well as before training and after training (sometimes during training to check if I needed sports drink to continue). I tried to stay below 200 and I'd start training around 150 and often ended at 100.
The testing really helped me to figure out what foods I reacted to.
Now I have fiasp insulin and it is much easier - I can allow rest days and don't have to exercise to lower my levels.
I also got a dexcom here which helps so much.
The other super important thing that helped me was research. I read a ton of books and blogs to learn about T1d.
Some examples are
- bright spots and landmines
- think like a pancreas
- my diabetes science experiment
- the athlete's guide to diabetes handbook
I also did a few experiments to see how I reacted to different food and exercise.
For example a tiny bit of sweet potato is spiking me super high quickly, but a handful of wholegrain pasta lasts me through training.
40min of cycling drops my level super super quickly and I need to drink chocolate milk before I cycle to get home without hypo, but 3h of Taekwondo training is fine and drops me gently.
These kind of things you will figure out step by step.
It is harder in a foreign country (i pretty much had a breakdown at the doctor's office because they didn't explain much at first until I found a different doctor who could speak English).
The last thing I can recommend is joining communities online and offline.
Online you have this forum, which is amazing and super helpful. Then there are facebook groups, often there are groups for t1d people with your interest or hobbies, I'm in one for t1d athletes evem though I'm not exactly competing.
Offline also helps, I joined the t1d society here ans actually met some people. I'm still learning the language and try my best but some people do speak English and have been super welcoming.
Definitely worth looking what is in your area.
When I started I took a note of all resources I found, I noted them here
https://kyeorugitiger.wordpress.com/resources/
A lot are online and free, so I hope they may help you.
You got this, step by step every day and feel free to pm me if you want a diabuddy about living abroad with t1d ^.^
Hope you are doing well already and getting used to it. I was diagnosed in february and for about 2 or 3 months I didn't have fast/bolus insulin.
I just managed my levels with super low carb and exercise, after every meal I'd walk and I was training every evening and that helped a lot.
I used an app aled Mysugr to log my levels and I'd check about 10 or 12 times a day. I know that's a lot but I wanted to know what my level was before food, 40-60min after and then 2h after, as well as before training and after training (sometimes during training to check if I needed sports drink to continue). I tried to stay below 200 and I'd start training around 150 and often ended at 100.
The testing really helped me to figure out what foods I reacted to.
Now I have fiasp insulin and it is much easier - I can allow rest days and don't have to exercise to lower my levels.
I also got a dexcom here which helps so much.
The other super important thing that helped me was research. I read a ton of books and blogs to learn about T1d.
Some examples are
- bright spots and landmines
- think like a pancreas
- my diabetes science experiment
- the athlete's guide to diabetes handbook
I also did a few experiments to see how I reacted to different food and exercise.
For example a tiny bit of sweet potato is spiking me super high quickly, but a handful of wholegrain pasta lasts me through training.
40min of cycling drops my level super super quickly and I need to drink chocolate milk before I cycle to get home without hypo, but 3h of Taekwondo training is fine and drops me gently.
These kind of things you will figure out step by step.
It is harder in a foreign country (i pretty much had a breakdown at the doctor's office because they didn't explain much at first until I found a different doctor who could speak English).
The last thing I can recommend is joining communities online and offline.
Online you have this forum, which is amazing and super helpful. Then there are facebook groups, often there are groups for t1d people with your interest or hobbies, I'm in one for t1d athletes evem though I'm not exactly competing.
Offline also helps, I joined the t1d society here ans actually met some people. I'm still learning the language and try my best but some people do speak English and have been super welcoming.
Definitely worth looking what is in your area.
When I started I took a note of all resources I found, I noted them here
https://kyeorugitiger.wordpress.com/resources/
A lot are online and free, so I hope they may help you.
You got this, step by step every day and feel free to pm me if you want a diabuddy about living abroad with t1d ^.^
Read Dr. Richard Bernstein's "Diabetes Solution." You will receive an excellent education on the subject of diabetes- - from diet to insulin. It's the best advice I've come across. Good luck to you.
