5 months diagnosed T1 and 7 months pregnant

[Lilybean]

Hi everyone,

I was taken very ill when i was 8 weeks pregnant and diagnosed with Type 1. Shock, yes indeed and a worrying time about baby. fortunately, I'm now 28 weeks pregnant and baby is doing well and i was coping ok in terms of getting on with it for baby's sake but emotionally i do struggle sometimes trying to take it all in and deal with the massive life change diabetes presents. it's getting harder to control now that my pregnancy is reaching the third trimester and my insulin requirements are going up rapidly which, i understand is expected, just difficult to guess the amounts i need to give. I'm hungry with the pregnancy which presents difficulties in knowing how much i can eat etc etc. i am on the waiting list for the D.A.F.N.E course but at the moment it's all guess work. if there is anyone else out there who has gone through this scenario then i'd love to hear from you.

i have friends and family who are a huge support and care about me but they don't understand and that's the bit i find hard. i just want to talk to like people so i feel normal and not a burden. i have days of feeling strong and determined to get on with it and days of feeling very low and tearful. it's all probably pregnancy hormones as well. i've had a bad day today with my blood sugar levels quite high then very low. i have little hypo awareness at the moment because up until now i have had really good control and have kept, most of the time, within my target range of 3.5 and 5.5. (luck more than judgement i think). my blood sugar level was 10.2 this morning and i felt quite unwell with it. i didn't eat anything mid morning as i usually do as i felt a bit sick and didn't want to push my blood sugar level up even more but by 12, which is when i normally have lunch, i was 2.7 but didn't feel a thing.

i've got to admit i am struggling to accept my new life so any tips on getting through the anger and resentment would be a great help.

Lisa

 

[lilibet]

Hi Lisa

I can remember the shock well. To be pregnant when you find out must have been double hellish! Have they said that you are T1 or is it gestational diabetes (the kind you get when pregnant but which diminishes). You seem to be coping really well and you sound like me in that days you do ok you are just getting on it with it, then bad days when you have high bg or low bg you just remember 'ah. bloody hell, Im diabetic'.

Cant really give you much advise re the hormonal stuff but I do know that in different trimesters there are different needs for insulin- as you are already aware. The prob is of course setting a basal correctly when you are hormonal. So, you rant away and ask lots of questions as Im sure someone out there will know
Until then, take care, chin up - tomorrow will be better, and if not, then the day after that!

L

 

[Lilybean]

thank you so much. i've read lots of posts and have taken great comfort from all of them. i feel so normal when i'm here. it's lovely, really lovely.

they've confirmed it's type 1 - so a keeper. they think it may have started with my first pregnancy (my son is now 3 years old). i was tested but nothing really came of it but it was a difficult birth at just over 42 weeks pregnant and my son weighed in at 9lb 11. what a whopper! he's gorgeous and thankfully all was well. they think the diabetes has been bubbling away since and after poor health since my son was born and a bad ear infection just as i fell pregnant this time just finished my pancreas off.

learning all the time and trying my best to stay level headed and strong as that is the sort of person i am but i do find it hard and i have very low days. i know this site is going to help me alot and i'm so glad i joined. i hope that in time i will be able to help others as they will and are helping me here.

x

 

[Louise5967]

Hi there,

I read you're post and thought I could reassure you a tad-diagnosis of T1 is tough learing everything new but really tough having to face a pregnancy as well. I have been T1 for 36 years and have had ups and downs over that time period- Last year I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 38 weeks via caesarian weight 7lb 7oz-had a really tough pregnancy with Bs going low then very high and became badly insulin resistant at the end having to take metformin and was on wacking doses of insulin -it is tough and your body is doing its own thing-I would encourage you to use the Diabetes team for support-you will hopefully have constant monitering and scans and when your baby is born it is so worth it and I have to say the tough times do become a blur-I really wish you well.

 

[Lilybean]

Thank you louise, and congratulations on your little girl. I'm glad all went well for you

i can relate to the insulin resistent stage as i'm entering that now and it's hard to judge how much insulin to give. i was a bit afraid to increase the doses enough for some reason but now i've done it and i seem to have a bit more control which helps to make me feel better about the whole thing.

i will continue to listen and learn from you all and thank you all for your support. it is so valuable.

the diabetes team really DO look after me and i see them every 3 weeks which is reassuring and they're always on the end of the phone. trouble is with me, i don't like to be a burden on anyone so tend to just get on with it and that's when i struggle emotionally because i should seek help sooner than i do.

i've got my 30 week scan in two weeks and will let you all know how that goes. i'm booked in to be induced on 20th July so no long now.

xx

 

[hanadr]

Hi lisa
I can't add any help, but would just like to wish you and your baby well. And comment that gestational diabetes in a pregnancy does often come back as T1

 

[octoberbabe]

Hi Lisa.
I'm new here and never posted. I am 20 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child. My second has Cerebral Palsy but manages fine, due to this I have been having consultant care since early pregnancy. I started to feel 'funny' at work, shaky, hungry,panicky, so would often eat a quick sugar fix (primary school teacher, so not much time to leave class to eat regulary) and feel fine, but then feel the same again shortly after. I mentioned this to my consultant and i had a GTT at 13 weeks. The results came back high, but my HBALC was 4. At present I am being treated for gestational. My mum has been type 1 for 30 years, but never really managed it too well, which obviously made my experiences of diabetes abit extreme. I am not on any medication at present, as i am managing through diet. However on restricted carbs I lost a stone and a half in weight in just over a week and had massive ketones daily. I now control it with slow release foods and have carbs with every meal just not too many and this has controlled it at present. If anything i am trying to avoid the lows and ketones. Docs aren't too sure what is going to happen with me yet as not experienced this before, and so therefore constantly testing blood, wee, and eating. I am aware that my bg will go up from 20 weeks if i am text book case of gestational, and may need insulin or metaformin then. I am and was very frightened at the prospect of having diabetes, and have found managing work the major difficulty for affecting my bgs. I am due my 20 week scan on friday and hoping everything ok, and really just holding on trying to keep baby in, as definately feel it wants to come early. If you want to stay in contact during your preg that is fine, even just to have a moan. I have found that some people just think diabetes is easy to manage and that you are being a bit neurotic because you are pregnant, until they research further.

 

[Trinkwasser]

Hi Lisa.
I'm new here and never posted. I am 20 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child. My second has Cerebral Palsy but manages fine, due to this I have been having consultant care since early pregnancy. I started to feel 'funny' at work, shaky, hungry,panicky, so would often eat a quick sugar fix (primary school teacher, so not much time to leave class to eat regulary) and feel fine, but then feel the same again shortly after. I mentioned this to my consultant and i had a GTT at 13 weeks. The results came back high, but my HBALC was 4.

Characteristic of Reactive Hypoglycemia. which may precede Type 2 by many years.

Try doing this

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2009/ ... -test.html

only start half an hour after eating and go out to about four hours, you will probably find your BG spikes rapidly from carbs, then your insulin starts up late and fails to stop in time, driving you low later.

Best way to deal with it is to limit the quantity of carbs at any one meal to prevent the spikes which should shut down the ensuing drops, and graze - eat small quantities more often to even out the swings. Then expect the hormones to disrupt things anyway!

My A1c was only 5.2 while my BG was swinging around between 11.5 and 3.5, curiously now my BG seldom goes over 7 or under 4 my A1c went UP to 5.6

 

[Lilybean]

hi octoberbabe, what a worrying time and it sounds like you have enough on your plate already. well done you for controlling it. you sound like you are doing quite well. it's such a shock as well as unpleasant when you don't feel very well and then there is the concern over your unborn baby.

diabetes is a nasty disease and really i've found the diabetes awareness of people generally to be shockingly low, myself included. i am sure your 20 week scan will go well and your baby will be fine but please do post and let me (us all) know. keep doing what you are doing and you will be fine.

i had a bad week last week with very little control over my blood sugar levels. they were high after breakfast leaving me feeling unpleasant and the whole day's bs levels were disrupted because of it. i had changed my breakfast cereal from branflakes to mini wheats. i changed because the branflakes made my pee smell horrid and as i have a prolapsed pelvic floor i had a tendancy to smell horrid! funny but not if you know what i mean.... anyway, i've gone back on to the branflakes, stinky or not, and my bs control has been much better this week, so i'm sticking with it. so food has a definite impact on how the control goes and i'd be very interested to know what you eat as a low carb. i am a big eater and always have been although i am not overweight, under if anything, and i find that the only way to fill me up is with carbs but i've learned that too much carb is not good of us either as we need more insulin and i also discovered that insulin is also known as a fat hormone. without insulin our bodies cannot make fat so the more insulin you put in the fatter you will be. it's getting the balance right and i'm not sure if i'm overdoing the carbs or not. i know everyone is different.

your last sentence summed up exactly how i feel when i talk to friends and family about what's going on and it makes me uncomfortable and that i shouldn't feel the way i do but here, i feel normal and it's lovely really to know that i am not alone.

i am feeling more positive this week and rather than thinking of all the horrible complications of diabetes i am determined to find a way to live with it which allows flexibility and control. it's my body and i want to look after it. i do eat much healthier than i did pre diagnosis so that can only be a good thing!

hope to hear from you soon with some carb tips.

keep well and look forward to hearing about your 20 week scan.

xxx