3months since diagnosis

[Hitch48]

Hi everyone
My name is Debbie and I’m 48.
I’m Feeling so confused still… I was diagnosed after being admitted to hospital for a appendicitis. Total shock as I didn’t know, thought It was the menopause!!
My hbA1 was 96 and I was started on insulin Humulin 1 straight away as my blood glucose was around 28.
Since then my nurse says I’m a type 2 and my insulin intake has gone from 10 units to 42 units across 2 injections. Still struggling to get within range during the day, can be anything from 8-18.
How do they know what type you are?
Didn’t think type 2 took insulin.
She tells me not to adjust my diet, but I’ve had to make changes but maybe not enough.
Any advice would be appreciated…

 

[Ronancastled]

How do they know what type you are?
Didn’t think type 2 took insulin.
She tells me not to adjust my diet, but I’ve had to make changes but maybe not enough.
Any advice would be appreciated…

They normally perform tests to determine insulin production, they also test for antibodies to rule out Type 1.
Many T2s take insulin, especially early days if they are showing high glucose levels.
Her dietary advice is malpractice at best, research low carb & begin this diet.
Get a meter & eat to your meter.

 

[Lobsang Tsultim]

I think it's not uncommon for those newly on insulin to be told not to change their diet so they can concentrate on getting the insulin dosages right. If you're changing your diet simultaneously, it would be like running an experiment with several changing variables: the causes of the results would be hard to single out.

Long-term, I do recommend switching to a low-carb diet, as many of us Type 2s have had good results with it.

 

[Hitch48]

They normally perform tests to determine insulin production, they also test for antibodies to rule out Type 1.
Many T2s take insulin, especially early days if they are showing high glucose levels.
Her dietary advice is malpractice at best, research low carb & begin this diet.
Get a meter & eat to your meter.

Ive had no blood test done to determine type 2 just the HbA1 as I’ve been asking how do they know. I do have a meter so I’ll look into it more thank you

 

[EllisB]

Hi Debbie,

To objectively distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes you need to know how much insulin is being produced by the patients pancreas and/or whether there is an autoimmune response. The former is detected by measuring a protein that is a waste product from insulin production. That is known as a C-peptide test. Another blood test looks for antibodies associated with autoimmune damage to the beta cells in the pancreas.

For now, your treatment would not be any different. The initial goal is to get you BG down to acceptable levels. That is being done by the use of insulin.
Once stable, your medical team can start to look more closely at what is going on and possibly move to oral meds and diet control if that is possible.
You can make a start by using the meter to understand how different carbs affect your BG by comparing you BG with a food diary. Be very careful if you do decide to reduce your carbs. Doing so could over-shoot and make you go hypoglycaemic.

Ellis