Be honest, how -are- you doing?

[Type1tracey]

Hi all, I've just stumbled across your group no coincidence . I've been type 1 since the age of 10. I'll be 40 this year and the effects of long term diabetes is only starting to hit. Me now. I also have end stage renal failure as a result of my diabetes and about a month ago I had 3 toes amputated, with no signs leading up to the amputation. After 30 years I'm still in shock!!!

 

[Fairygodmother]

Oops. They are quite funky gadgets though, aren’t they? I got one last week - taking a while to get used to counting double the clicks!

It’s my first one for basal. I’ve used a plain red one for bolus for ages and it’s invaluable so I really should have known better! The basal one’s a glorious shiny aqua colour, it gives me pleasure to gaze upon it even if I mess up a dosage!

 

[slip]

The basal one’s a glorious shiny aqua colour, it gives me pleasure to gaze upon it even if I mess up a dosage!

I don't know if this is sad or if I should be envious...........pen envy, now there's a thing!

 

[natashajade1]

the last couple of weeks have been hectic for me! i've always had pretty good control with my blood sugars but since having my last baby 9 months ago things have been very difficult! but this week seems to be the worst so far.. bloods wont stabilise, first i'm high then i'm low then i'm high and low again... its never ending and its exhausting. i cant stop eating when blood sugars are low, need to loose weight but don't know where to start.... wow i could go on lol.
i'm not usually this negative about my diabetes i'm a go with the flow kind of girl haha

 

[LooperCat]

It’s my first one for basal. I’ve used a plain red one for bolus for ages and it’s invaluable so I really should have known better! The basal one’s a glorious shiny aqua colour, it gives me pleasure to gaze upon it even if I mess up a dosage!

I’ve got a pair of the aqua ones for my Novorapid. They’re so pretty...

 

[Fairygodmother]

I don't know if this is sad or if I should be envious...........pen envy, now there's a thing!

Just looking for the silver (or shiny aqua blue) lining! Can recommend a half unit pen though.

 

[Fairygodmother]

I’ve got a pair of the aqua ones for my Novorapid. They’re so pretty...

They are!

 

[Nicola M]

Being honest is not one of my strongest points, I tend to like to hide how I am feeling and how my diabetes is really doing. I'm not doing good at the moment and I just can't bring myself to sort it out, god knows why but I'm struggling and don't really know how to pick myself back up out the hole I've dug myself into!

 

[therower]

How am I doing?
At this moment.....very good. Past few years .......good.
Lows? Yes, it comes with the territory of good control I find.
Highs? Yes, usually from heavy workouts and adrenaline dumps.
Do I eat 4 jelly babies when I go low? occasionally. Do I eat 4 families if jelly babies, a few bits of fruit, some biscuits and a sandwich or two? Oh yes. Do I then go sky high? Yep, but I have learnt to have a bolus when I go overboard with a hypo binge, experience has it's benefits.
Over the years diabetes has dragged me down some very dark abysses BUT I've dragged it, kicking and screaming to the top of some very high mountains. Again experience pays dividends, I've installed lights, ladders and safety nets in the abysses nowadays.
Honestly I'm doing fine and my diabetes is doing what it's told ( most of the time )

 

[therower]

Being honest is not one of my strongest points, I tend to like to hide how I am feeling and how my diabetes is really doing. I'm not doing good at the moment and I just can't bring myself to sort it out, god knows why but I'm struggling and don't really know how to pick myself back up out the hole I've dug myself into!

You've not dug the hole. Your diabetes has dug the hole. You need to find a way of getting the spade in your hands, hit your diabetes around the head and then fill the hole in with your diabetes at the bottom.
One thing I know for sure is that diabetes wants you to hide it away and keep it in the dark.
Stay strong and take little steps and before long you'll be along way away from where you are now.

 

[therower]

Mistake's happen.........that's why we have a rubber on the end of pencil's

I have an echo pen, it's just what I needed and it's great

This made me giggle ( childish, warped humour )
On similar lines, would a condom on my novo pen stop me going high and low?

 

[Neoncat]

I have been trying to do a basal test for the past couple of days but something keeps happening to stop it! First a hypo, then a high I had to correct, then a set change for the pump, then something at work. I am trying to do the right thing here body, help me out a little!

 

[There is no Spoon]

don't really know how to pick myself back up out the hole I've dug myself into!

Hi Nicola,
Every now and then regardless of race colour or creed life will come along and knock you flat on your back.
You have no control over this, the only thing you can control is how long it takes you to make the decision to get back up dust yourself down and carry on.

I like to think the ancient Greeks had it right , the Gods on Mount Olympus get bored and to amuse themselves they pick on us mortals just for a laugh.

 

[beckysalvage]

Thank you for starting this thread @daemoncor - it's really helpful for me - and others - to see that actually, other people do get up into the 20s after a hypo, and that the straight lines we see from CGM are not the norm.

At the moment diabetes is feeling like a nightmare for me. My control isn't terrible, and is better than it has been in the past, since switching to Tresiba, but I feel like diabetes is about to take all my dreams away from me. I'm currently an MSc student, doing my research project, and applying for PhDs for next year, but seriously questioning whether I should be, because every time I go into the lab, my stupid pancreas decides to find a new and interesting way to ruin the day. It's unpredictable and frustrating, and I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. For instance, if my dexcom beeps that I'm going high, great, but I'm not necessarily able to do anything about it at that time, because if I only have two minutes until I need to do something, it's going to take more than that for me to take my lab coat off, remove gloves, wash hands, go out of the room, walk down to the area where the bags etc are kept, do an actual test, inject, go back again, lab coat, gloves and so on. A pump would obviously be a game changer for me, because I could literally just take one glove off and deal with it, or set a lower basal rate, if I'm doing something like cell culture, which we do in a very very hot room, which tends to make me run lower. It being all over the place every day is exhausting, and it makes me look and feel incompetent, so I'm seriously wondering if I can actually pursue a career in research, or if I need a back up plan.

Sorry for the rant!

Thanks for your stories everyone

Hi @EllsKBells
Just wanted to let you know that you can totally get through a PhD with diabetes. If I can do it, so can you! I completed my PhD in 2015 and then moved to another country for a research position (I am currently living in Costa Rica, my next job is in Canada and I am originally from the UK)! And my PhD was about active volcanoes so I spent a lot of time in the field, climbing volcanoes and installing equipment to monitor them in many different climates (my blood sugars also run low with high temperatures so installing equipment in the Caribbean was quite an experience!) with people who were not necessarily focused on needing to eat. Yes, having T1 is an added pain for a PhD.... its unpredictable and something else you have to think about. But a PhD is a challenge no matter what, and my thinking is that T1 shouldn't stop anyone from doing something they love! If you want to talk more about specific worries of a PhD and diabetes then PM me, I am more than happy to answer questions/rant with you

 

[SueJB]

I’ve got a pair of the aqua ones for my Novorapid. They’re so pretty...

are these half unit pens? can you pick the colour? a blue one!!

 

[LooperCat]

are these half unit pens? can you pick the colour? a blue one!!

Yes, they are a vivid turquoise or a deep red.

 

[ExtremelyW0rried]

Not great. I've had to give up eating. It's the only way to vaguely keep my blood sugars predictable. I'm down to three slices of toast a day (maximum) - one for each meal - and often I don't have the lunch one so only have two. I've lost two stone in the last six months and now have a bmi of under 17.
I can either eat and have erratic blood sugars or I can stave and have reasonable blood sugars. Not great either way but at least I hopefully won't go blind or lose a foot this way.

 

[SueJB]

Good post!.
Most of the time I forget I've got diabetes, you know when you're out and about. It's only when I fancy a nibble and there's nothing I can eat. I'm generally very positive except when I'm not ............such as when I test my BG and madam is playing up and I can't work out why. To be honest, it's still all new and I'll still trying to be creative. Ask me again in a year

 

[Juicyj]

@ExtremelyW0rried Eating 3 slices of toast each day isn't sustainable, as a mum you need to keep your strength up, you are still eating carbs so why not replace this for a lower carb but healthier alternative, say a courgette and cheese omelette, more filling and lower carb so less likely to raise your bg levels, you will still need to bolus for eggs, there lots of other alternatives too.

 

[ExtremelyW0rried]

@ExtremelyW0rried Eating 3 slices of toast each day isn't sustainable, as a mum you need to keep your strength up, you are still eating carbs so why not replace this for a lower carb but healthier alternative, say a courgette and cheese omelette, more filling and lower carb so less likely to raise your bg levels, you will still need to bolus for eggs, there lots of other alternatives too.

I'm using lower carb bread so it works out that even if I eat three slices it's less than 50g carb a day and only two slices is sbout 30g a day.
I just know where I am with it. If I eat only that generally my sugars are between 5 and 8 all the time. Anything else seems to complicate matters. I am hardly a DAFNE success story! I used to be able to go out for meals etc but I cannot anymore. We had to go to s family meal at the weekend but I couldn't eat anything, had to watch everyone else eat their delicious looking food which was depressing.