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1 week in 25 with type 1

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MichaelM93

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Hi guys, so found out last Tuesday that I had type 1 diabetes. Was a big shock as I hadn't been feeling unwell or anything. Obviously the first week has been a lot to take in. My blood sugar levels have been high since my diagnosis (around 11-14 in the morning and throughout the day sometimes reaching the 20's depending what I eat).

I haven't been dieting or anything, still eating what I want and injecting Novarapid following the 1 for 10g carbs rule. Although my sugars are high iv been feeling perfectly fine no symptoms at all. I'm wondering if I'm not injecting enough quick acting insulin to cover the carbs I'm eating? Or it's just because I'm so new to it and I probably had type 1 for about a month before I knew anything. Did anyone have this kind of experience at the start?

Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
It took me a good few months to get consistently in range. I think I was diabetic for many months before I was eventually diagnosed. Be kind to yourself. It's a lot to take in all at once. You will have to discuss your insulin doses with your DSN, nobody here can advise you on that.
 
Hello @MichaelM93 Welcome to the forum.

Not sure what to say really but I would certainly make an effort to get your Blood Sugars down, I think the reason your not feeling unwell is simply because: not being a T1 for long, running high numbers.

In an Ideal world us T1 try to keep with in 4-10 mmol mark, I know that at the figures you are currently at I would certainly not feel well.

1-10 ratio is where most of us start and generally the more you get to know about the condition plus how you feel that ratio may alter but these are early days.

I would look up "Bert online" as this give a little more in-site into counting carbs and may help you make some decisions.

Can't say more than that as I have been a T1 for more than twice your age :)

Take care and keep asking questions.
 
Thanks for the responses really appreciate it. My best guess is that I need to be injecting more insulin around meal times but it's only been a week so I guess it's just a bit of experimenting to find what works for me. My diet hasn't really changed since finding out last week although I'm not snacking nearly as much. Still eating pretty high carb meals but trying my best to control my portions. Really don't want to stop eating what I'm used to but I'm aware I need to make better choices. Just gonna take some getting used to I suppose.

Again thanks for the help guys
 
Just to note the medics like to brig you down slowly at the start.
You’ll soon pick up tips on the forum.
 
I'm type 1 and I don't feel well if I go over 8. Careful with the insulin. If you take more insulin than you need for the carbs you have eaten, your sugars will drop too low, you'll have a hypo and then you will need to eat some more carbs to top up. It pays to learn carb counting and after awhile you remember the numbers and it's easier. When I was diagnosed last year I cut my carbs way down, as a consequence I need relatively small amounts of insulin and my blood sugars stay in my comfort zone.
 
It'll take some experience to know what ratio of insulin you need, plus if you have been recently diagnosed that could maybe still vary. And there are other things that can cause variables, like a high fat meal. ( It takes longer for the carbs to hit your system) Exercise will make you drop faster.

You don't have to low carb if you don't want to, it's just easier for some diabetics to do so and control their BG's. I don't and I have an A1C of 6.4. I've held at that for years and I eat what I want. (I am a vegan so I eat pretty healthy) It's a matter of portion size and counting carbs and dosing the appropriate insulin. But for me say, if I eat a potato, I don't have another high carb food with it. Also if your BG's are already high you don't want to add high carb food to that. When I know I'm going to have a higher carb meal, I especially try to make sure I prebolus.

Before I was diagnosed a type 1 and started insulin I could hit 450 (25mmol) and not feel bad at all. Now if I hit 250 (14mmol) I can usually sort of tell, because I just don't go that high much anymore.
 
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MichaelM93 said:
My blood sugar levels have been high since my diagnosis (around 11-14 in the morning and throughout the day sometimes reaching the 20's depending what I eat).
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As @Diakat says, they like to bring your blood sugar down slowly at the start. One reason for this is that it's better for your eyesight for the initial change to be gradual. The other reason, as @jat said, is that they don't want to overdo the insulin and have you go hypo. In the short term, this can make you become irrational and potentially even put you in a coma, so it's likely that your team will gradually increase your dosages until you are at normal levels. You'll probably then experience some mild hypos, and learn that you need to always keep some quick acting carbs with you (I recommend glucotabs).

Good luck.
 
MichaelM93 said:
Hi guys, so found out last Tuesday that I had type 1 diabetes. Was a big shock as I hadn't been feeling unwell or anything. Obviously the first week has been a lot to take in. My blood sugar levels have been high since my diagnosis (around 11-14 in the morning and throughout the day sometimes reaching the 20's depending what I eat).

Did anyone have this kind of experience at the start?

Any advice would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...

Hello, that was definitely my experience with insulin for the first month. I found it a bit frustrating, but without messing with the doses I was on, or the food I was eating, it slowly started coming down in the 3rd week or so. I also had a weekly appointment at the hospital and the doses were adjusted then if a clear pattern was emerging.

I was on fixed doses until the medical team were happy with both my levels and my ability to do the maths for carb counting. I did keep very careful notes of both food and doses during that time, and for a while after. Now I only do the food diary if things are going wrong.
 
Hiya, sorry to hear you have been diagnosed, but things will be OK. I just wanted to add to what others have said about bringing down the levels slowly (my a1c is still too high but has dropped from 103 on diagnosis to 59). When my levels started to drop after being put on insulin, my eyesight went a bit funny and my eyes hurt/were dry which is apparently normal, I also got pins and needles in my legs for about 4 days which then went. I also had a lot of false hypos - for example at one point as soon as I was in single figures I would feel hypo and even now I start to feel ill when I get to 5 and sometimes even a 6! I think this is because my levels were so high before diagnosis (18 plus).

Anyways hope you get on OK and there is lots of support on here :)
 
Really good advice thanks you.

It sounds like a lot of people changed their diet after being diagnosed or at least cut down on carbs a lot but really the last thing I want to do is deprive myself of the food I enjoy eating because of a life changing disease which was out of my control. Iv accepted that I need to get myself into a routine of injecting insulin ect but i want a better understanding of how the insulin breaks down the food. For example one day at the weekend I had an oven pizza in the afternoon, before eating my BG was at 12 or something. I ate the pizza then about 4 hours later checked my bloods before my evening meal and they had gone to 18. I had injected enough to cover the 90g of carbs in the pizza so was a bit confused. I'm guessing there's a "technique" to help break this kind of food down?

Thanks!
 
What I would suggest first off is to cut down on carbs for a short while, simple because it can help.

There is a lot to learn, for example the pizza above has lots of fats in it, so it might say 50grams of carbs so you count carbs and inject 5 units to cover it (this is just an example) you may find that after a couple of hours your bloods are running low then 4 or 5 hours later your bloods have risen.

This is because the fats slow the absorption of the carbs hence the rise much later on. Breakfast cereal is another example of this where the carb absorption is slow. Where as bacon, eggs, sausages has virtually no carbs in it (toast and beans do)

You don't have to deprive yourself of food, you just need to learn what foods will do and how they will effect your sugars.

We all have to do this and it is always a learning process. If you can I would push to see if your Medical Team will get you a FreeStyle Libre as this can help spot trends and it is interesting to see how your blood sugars can change over the course of a day due to what you eat, what you do or what life throws up.

As far as I am concerned nothing is off the menu, pie, cake, chocolate, chips anything BUT as much as I like this stuff it is all in moderation, in fact I am probably the only one here that promotes cake :)

BUT like I said early it is learning process so you need to tread carefully, you will hit the Hypers and Hypos at some point which, lets just say can make life interesting.

Take care :)
 
Okay pizza is a trick all by itself, it's a long standing problem to figure out what you need when. The problem, maybe you had some protein on it, but it is very high carb mixed with high fat. The high fat makes those high carbs absorb slower. So pizza is always a trick to figure it out! It's in it's own food group!

My pizza is vegan and different so I just don't have a problem figuring it out, no cheese just veggies on it. My adjustment to being a diabetic is to stop at 3-4 pieces, About 45-60 carbs. I generally like to keep my meals under 45 carbs.

You will get your BG's lower, at a start of 12 , 90 carbs is a pretty high carb load and I don't think you want a meal that is so high carb until you figure out your doses and your sugars come down more. You don't want DKA.
 
MichaelM93 said:
Really good advice thanks you.

It sounds like a lot of people changed their diet after being diagnosed or at least cut down on carbs a lot but really the last thing I want to do is deprive myself of the food I enjoy eating because of a life changing disease which was out of my control. Iv accepted that I need to get myself into a routine of injecting insulin ect but i want a better understanding of how the insulin breaks down the food. For example one day at the weekend I had an oven pizza in the afternoon, before eating my BG was at 12 or something. I ate the pizza then about 4 hours later checked my bloods before my evening meal and they had gone to 18. I had injected enough to cover the 90g of carbs in the pizza so was a bit confused. I'm guessing there's a "technique" to help break this kind of food down?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I still haven’t eaten pizza or pasta since my diagnosis in November 2018. I figured that as I’m going to Rome in July I would wait until then :). However sometimes I find that even if I inject the correct ratio my bloods go AWOL for example at the weekend I had the same dinner of homemade chicken fried rice with veggies on both Saturday and Sunday. There was not a lot of rice and so each portion was weighed out at 40g carbs.

On both days I injected 5 units (my ratio is 1:10) as I wanted to edge on the side of caution incase I had calculated the carbs too low. One day I maintained my levels and the other day my bloods went to 20..... no reason why as I ate the same.

I’m sure others who have had experienced diabetes for much longer will be able to give more information!
 
Thanks guys,

Yeah the pizza was just an example it's not the only high fat high carb meal iv had in the last week. I thought I'd reach out on here to get an idea of what other people do to deal with these kind of meals. So far the medical team have told me I can eat what I want and the 1:10 ration rule that's literally it so I'm only going of their advice. They also don't seem to concerned about my sugar levels atm obviously because it's so early on. BG levels in the morning are normally exactly where they expect them to be atm it's just the spikes throughout the day I need to get a hold of. Iv already started to cut my portions right down so injecting enough to cover 50 or lower carbs is very low for me compared to what I used to eat so its just getting used to eating better meals I guess.
 
MichaelM93 said:
Really good advice thanks you.

It sounds like a lot of people changed their diet after being diagnosed or at least cut down on carbs a lot but really the last thing I want to do is deprive myself of the food I enjoy eating because of a life changing disease which was out of my control. Iv accepted that I need to get myself into a routine of injecting insulin ect but i want a better understanding of how the insulin breaks down the food. For example one day at the weekend I had an oven pizza in the afternoon, before eating my BG was at 12 or something. I ate the pizza then about 4 hours later checked my bloods before my evening meal and they had gone to 18. I had injected enough to cover the 90g of carbs in the pizza so was a bit confused. I'm guessing there's a "technique" to help break this kind of food down?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi Michael, what I would say is it doesn't matter whether getting this disease was out of your control or not, the fact is you have it and you have to deal with it (as I know you are doing). It's like anything else, cancer for example, there is no point trying to carry on exactly as before (in a why shouldn't I, I didn't do anything wrong way) because you are not as you were before. My stance is that if there is something that can be done to manage a disease, then do it.
Personally, instead of carrying on eating what I did before (which wasn't sweets or cakes, but beans on wholemeal toast kind of things), I started from scratch and ate meals that I knew had say, 20 carbs in them. I tested and tested the effects of these, then tested again when moving to meals with 30 carbs in, and then 40. This way, I found it easier to determine how many units I needed per 10 carbs and how to adjust doseage dependent on the type of meal). I found that when I did try a 100 plus carb meal and injected 10 units to cover it, I went hypo VERY fast. For me my absolute safe maximum unit of insulin is about 5 units, no matter what I eat.
Again, over the first few months I tested the effects of my exercise on glucose levels and how that generally affects things, there are so many things that affect your management that it really is trial and error.
I really do understand your natural instinct to say 'Well, I will carry on as before food wise and use insulin to combat it' and there is nothing wrong with that principle but I think it only works when you are a well established diabetic if you like, and even then things go wrong. Once you have had time enough to know how YOUR body works in relation to this you can decide on a strategy whether that is adapting what you like to eat and finding a balance between food & insulin or eating what you want and perhaps being unable to balance things or something inbetween. My point really is that I think you may find that slowing down, keeping things very simple to begin with and then working UP to what you can safely eat rather than down, is perhaps a better approach. x
 
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MichaelM93 said:
So far the medical team have told me I can eat what I want and the 1:10 ration rule that's literally it so I'm only going of their advice.
Click to expand...

Everyone has a different insulin to carb ratio. They just start you at 1:10 because they have to start somewhere. Once you've normalised your blood sugars you'll be able to calculate your exact ratio : it may even vary at different times of day, and can be affected by exercise, illness and stress. So don't worry if you're not getting it right now, it's all a learning process. (And it'll probably still be a learning process in a couple of decades, but you should find that you get it right enough of the time so that you can get on with your life and do all the things you want to do.)

T1 for 49 years here, health still fine, and I must agree that pizza is one of the most diabetically difficult foods to manage....:)
 
KK123 said:
Hi Michael, what I would say is it doesn't matter whether getting this disease was out of your control or not, the fact is you have it and you have to deal with it (as I know you are doing). It's like anything else, cancer for example, there is no point trying to carry on exactly as before (in a why shouldn't I, I didn't do anything wrong way) because you are not as you were before. My stance is that if there is something that can be done to manage a disease, then do it.
Personally, instead of carrying on eating what I did before (which wasn't sweets or cakes, but beans on wholemeal toast kind of things), I started from scratch and ate meals that I knew had say, 20 carbs in them. I tested and tested the effects of these, then tested again when moving to meals with 30 carbs in, and then 40. This way, I found it easier to determine how many units I needed per 10 carbs and how to adjust doseage dependent on the type of meal). I found that when I did try a 100 plus carb meal and injected 10 units to cover it, I went hypo VERY fast. For me my absolute safe maximum unit of insulin is about 5 units, no matter what I eat.
Again, over the first few months I tested the effects of my exercise on glucose levels and how that generally affects things, there are so many things that affect your management that it really is trial and error.
I really do understand your natural instinct to say 'Well, I will carry on as before food wise and use insulin to combat it' and there is nothing wrong with that principle but I think it only works when you are a well established diabetic if you like, and even then things go wrong. Once you have had time enough to know how YOUR body works in relation to this you can decide on a strategy whether that is adapting what you like to eat and finding a balance between food & insulin or eating what you want and perhaps being unable to balance things or something inbetween. My point really is that I think you may find that slowing down, keeping things very simple to begin with and then working UP to what you can safely eat rather than down, is perhaps a better approach. x
Click to expand...

Yeah I appreciate that although as you can imagine dealing with the change in lifestyle has been the hardest part for me. And sometimes it's not just that easy to accept some people need time, but I do understand what your saying.

Thanks for the reply
 
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