24 Year Old, Type 1 as of 4/02/2016

[ElkBond]

Wow yours is definitely more level, i had two days of clean lines and since the weekend I have been all over the place! Hopefully speaking to specialist tomorrow.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

I really don't think your numbers are that wild. It doesn't look like you've had even a mild hypo and you only had three instances where your blood sugar spiked briefly to 9+. Considering you've just been diagnosed, I'd say your levels are pretty darn good.

 

[JennyNash]

Hello All,

I was enjoying my morning at work when the results of my blood tests came back following a routine GP visit after some random weight loss. Needless to say when I heard the results the world came down a bit like inception.

I spent the weekend in hospital starting out with a blood sugar of around 30 and had to wait for my ketones to come down before I could be discharged

Once I was out I had a mopey day or two at home but once I started to accept it and carry on I have not been overly bothered by it - in fact the only thing I hate is the finger pricking! I suffer from needle phobia also but the constant jabbing is starting to wear the phobia out. The needle goes in almost first time now (there has been a lot of hesitation from time to time).

I am now thinking of purchasing a Dexcom glucose monitor unit, if anyone who has one can give me some advice or has some stories about a CGM please let me know! I have done a lot of research into it and I firmly believe it will help me carry on my life as close to it used to be as possible.

People said the diet change will be the hardest, but there's next to no change for myself. I am a tea and coffee person, both without sugar and I hardly drink alcohol. My food is always cooked from scratch and I rarely eat junk food.

I am already back to work, had a week off. Only one minor hypo which is to be expected while we are still messing around with my doses. How many other problems can be solved with a small bag of jelly babies?! If only life was always this simple!!

So there we have it, just sharing my experience, would be nice to hear from other people who have found out they have type 1 out of the blue and how their are dealing with it all.

EB.

I was diagnosed on the 5th Feb with type 1. My glucose levels were 20+ and ketones 6+? I also had lost weight and felt rubbish for a few months! I work in a gp surgery and still went undiagnosed for so long.
I spent 5 days in hospital trying to get my levels ok before I could come home. It's a scary thing to have to deal with all of a sudden. The main thing I worry for atm is hypos had a few but nothing major, I think?!

Good luck to you! I'm sure we will become 'experts' in no time

 

[ElkBond]

@TorqPenderloin my personal aim is to keep it in the mid 5's for as long as possible, I think its the perfectionist in me but thanks for those word about the numbers being good, I will stop stressing myself about it. Have you any tips for keeping them in the nice numbers? how long do you find it takes for your blood to rise following a quick acting snack. I have on two occasions panicked and eaten more than I needed to to cure a low blood sugar.

I am yet to speak to the nurse about my doses but 17 seems better, I woke up with 4.6 this morning (6.7 yesterday) but I suppose it takes a few days for Lantus to settle. Although last night around the time I was due for my Lantus, my levels started rising and even after injecting Lantus it went up to 11 (I think its on the graph) so I gave myself a correction dose and waited for it to stop rising.

@JennyNash It is mad isn't it, I thought it could have been anything else but type 1. Hope you are dealing with it well. I think working in an GP Practice maybe masked it a bit as the GPs were there when you needed them or something to that effect.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Didnt know they existed!

Yes, they do exist and just a 1/2 unit difference can make that difference between normal / low / high.

Your dsn at hospital or gp will be able to prescribe them.
Also if people are on levemir and novorapid they are the same pens used- so nest to ask GP/Pharmacist to give different colour pens. I use red for basal and a blue pen for bolus.

They definitely make 1/2 unit pens for lantus... Just ask your health person to prescribe. And also one for back up.. You should always have a spare...for quick and slow insulin if they use different branded pens...

Hope this helps..

 

[JennyNash]

@TorqPenderloin my personal aim is to keep it in the mid 5's for as long as possible, I think its the perfectionist in me but thanks for those word about the numbers being good, I will stop stressing myself about it. Have you any tips for keeping them in the nice numbers? how long do you find it takes for your blood to rise following a quick acting snack. I have on two occasions panicked and eaten more than I needed to to cure a low blood sugar.

I am yet to speak to the nurse about my doses but 17 seems better, I woke up with 4.6 this morning (6.7 yesterday) but I suppose it takes a few days for Lantus to settle. Although last night around the time I was due for my Lantus, my levels started rising and even after injecting Lantus it went up to 11 (I think its on the graph) so I gave myself a correction dose and waited for it to stop rising.

@JennyNash It is mad isn't it, I thought it could have been anything else but type 1. Hope you are dealing with it well. I think working in an GP Practice maybe masked it a bit as the GPs were there when you needed them or something to that effect.

Yes it was the last thing I thought was wrong with me, no doubt the gps I work with thought the same too!
If Id wake up with 4.2 Id panic and drink something sweet to take it up a little, definitely know that's the wrong thing to do-just so scared of hypos!
I'm dealing with it ok, it is hard having to adjust to little things even just like snacking on fruit when I want or that cheeky bag of crisps. I'm sure soon enough having to have an injection every time we eat will become natural lol!

Good luck

 

[ElkBond]

@JennyNash I am the opposite, the hypos don't scare me as much as the high sugar! I know I get plenty of warnings with a cgm and when i see it rise past 8 i start walking around to get it down asap while stressing.

 

[JennyNash]

From what I've heard stressing out will make it rise too!
With me I'd rather be above 8 just so I can sleep at night, I'm still trying to figure out how many units I should give etc as I'm sure you are too.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

@TorqPenderloin my personal aim is to keep it in the mid 5's for as long as possible, I think its the perfectionist in me but thanks for those word about the numbers being good, I will stop stressing myself about it. Have you any tips for keeping them in the nice numbers? how long do you find it takes for your blood to rise following a quick acting snack. I have on two occasions panicked and eaten more than I needed to to cure a low blood sugar.

Well, it's nice that my pancreas still makes some insulin. Obviously, that really helps and my fasting levels are dead level with only 6-8 units of levemir to put it in perspective.

Honestly, I rarely get spikes from food because I don't eat many carbs (<50g/day), but when I do, my Dexcom will show the spike usually somewhere between 15-45 minutes (although sometimes it can take even longer than that) after my first bite.

My biggest issues are dawn phenomenon and the short-term spikes I get when I first start running.

Lifting weights really seems to help and I have a bodybuilder type built (by most people's standards) which also really seems to help with regulating my blood sugar (and storing glycogen).

I've mentioned it before but I treat my blood sugar kind of like a pendulum. If it starts to gain momentum (sharp drop or rise) it's going to take more effort to correct it. This is where the trend arrows on your Dexcom really help. If I correct a hypo and see my trend arrow flatten out, I'll stop even if my levels haven't risen yet. 90% of the time that helps to avoid over correcting

Side note: your G5 system has a hypo prevention algorithm installed in it which means it will sometimes intentionally report false hypos in order to avoid real ones. Unfortunately, that has caused some issues for me as I often keep my fasting levels around 4.0-4.5

 

[ElkBond]

My pancreas has just started up again (honeymoon period) and it has been messing with my readings. My morning bg was high (9s this morning) and through the day between meals i struggle with it ticking down to low glucose - the g5 has stopped every one turning into a hypo.

I had one on Monday because I got a bit cocky and thought i would wait until it was a bit lower (well thats the overall aim!) and then i felt a bit shaky and looked and bam down to the bottom 3s.