Diagnosed type 1 four days ago, couple questions.....

[Tfqleeds]

I had acute symptoms of type one in July that came on pretty quickly: extreme thirst, 2.5 stone weight loss, blurry vision, weak and tired etc. The specialist is treating as type one due to this and my very high blood sugar readings.

Started insulin injections yesterday, 3 x fast acting and 1 x slow release. My blood sugar readings so far are ranging between 10.5- 19.6 depending on when I'm eating.

Question one, when will the insulin kick in and bring these down?

Question two, I've never had a hypo and feel really well. Having done lots of reading and looking at the posts on here type one sounds grim, why do I not feel unwell?

 

[Spockraptor]

Q1 it takes a few days for the insulin to start to bring your levels down. Don't worry they will come down.

Q2 hypos only happen when you have too much insulin and you haven't eaten enough carbs to balance it, or the day after a heavy drinking session but I would Google this separately to understand that.

I never felt unwell when I was diagnosed last year and can be 20+ and still feel fine. Your diabetic nurse should have given you ketostix to check for ketones in your urine if your above 14/15. If they are high phone the hospital as you could get I'll quite quickly.

Good luck you will get your head around it

 

[Lee Riley]

Go on a course to teach you to carb count.

This is what they should be doing since day one.

I taught myself and basically it makes Diabetes control cake, as long as you measure your carbs and inject appropriately.

For example, I have 2 units of insulin per 10g of carbs. If the carbs are largely simple sugar based, (of which sugars) then I'll do a blood test sooner rather than later or of I'm going out or doing something strenuous then I'll take plenty to eat and take my blood monitoring kit with me.

Carb counting and injecting whenever you eat, allows you to eat wherever you like, and closely mimics that of a working pancreas and liver partnership.

When you see a Diabetic nurse ask her to help you get on the course to teach carb counting. I can't remember what it was called, Daphne or something that sounded like that.

Oh and btw... Insulin for Type 1s should get to work within 20m to an hour, not a couple of days... if it took days hyperglycemia would kill tons of people. Assuming your glucose levels aren't the result of poorly calculated doses, your glucose levels should come down completely in a matter of a couple hours. There is a weak lingering effect of insulin for up to four hours, so bear that in mind if you're going out our having a bath, or driving, etc.

 

[pinewood]

I hope that your medical team are not just assuming/guessing it's type 1 and have done a c-peptide test to try to be certain?

It took me about a week after diagnosis until my blood glucose levels were back in the normal range. It can be dangerous to drop your levels too quickly, so follow the advice of your doctor and try not to rush it even though it's frustrating.

As others have said, it's not unusual to not feel unwell. I felt fine on diagnosis and still feel fine if my levels run high.

You haven't had a hypo because your levels are still running high. Once you get your blood glucose back down to the normal range you'll likely experience your first hypo as a result of a miscalculation to an insulin dose or because your pancreas unexpectedly decides to wake up and kick out some insulin. Given how high your levels have been running you will likely initially start feeling hypo symptoms at a higher level than normal. The most important thing at the moment is to keep regularly testing and to keep a good record of your readings, doses and food. The sooner you understand how your body responds to food/exercise/insulin the sooner you can get everything under control.

 

[Spockraptor]

Also to add, don't forget the honeymoon period which you may go through which makes it difficult to get those doses right in the earlier days. This period can last week's, months or in rare cases a couple of years. Worth bearing in mind.

 

[dylt1]

Welcome to the club - Diagnosed two months ago.

Question one, when will the insulin kick in and bring these down?

Insulin will work about 15 minutes after injecting but if you've only just been diagnosed, the nurse will have put you on a low dosage to begin with as you do not want to shock your system with too much insulin straight away (it can mess with your brain and eyes) therefore you might not see a great change in BG levels. I would recommend cutting down the carbs a lot in your first month as you are on low doses of insulin. I'm two months in and have gotten to grips with how much insulin to take with how many carbs are in a meal so I am quite flexible with what I eat.

Question two, I've never had a hypo and feel really well. Having done lots of reading and looking at the posts on here type one sounds grim, why do I not feel unwell?

You will not get a hypo until your blood sugars get down to normal levels and you either miscalculate a insulin dose, do too much exercise with not enough glucose in your blood or you have a banging all dayer and forget to have a carby meal before bed etc (It's all a learning curve and you will get to understand your body and hypos as time goes on).

 

[Tfqleeds]

Guys thank you very much for the words of wisdom, really helpful.

 

[Charles Robin]

Hi Tfq and welcome. I would like to make a suggestion if I may . I was diagnosed at 3 (now 28) so probably am not best served to talk through the ins and outs of coming to the club new. However, I would like to point you to YouTube videos by Dr Troy Stapleton. He is an Australian doctor, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2012. He gives very engaging and informative talks about how he excellently manages his condition.

 

[Tfqleeds]

Hi, thanks I will take a look today.

For anybody else reading this thread out of interest, the diabetes nurse phoned me today and talked through my BG diary. She has told me to increase the Humulog Fast acting from 4 to 6 units. This is the fifth day of injecting.

 

[Juicyj]

Hi and welcome - glad to hear you're keen to know more.

I was diagnosed just over 3 years ago, what really helped me was to read up and gain as much information as possible, it's quite a read but a very good guide - Dr Richard Bernstein, also Think like a pancreas, both are available on Amazon. It's good to become an 'expert' and the NHS will offer a couple of courses over the next year to help you gain a more insightful understanding to help you manage your condition. Having type 1 shouldn't stop you doing anything you have done previously, however it does help to exercise and reduce carbs as mentioned by other posters, I find anything that reduces the insulin I take but helps me keep good control is ideal - my range is 5.5 to 7.5mmol/l - your DSN in time will help you set your own target.

My top tip is get a application for your phone - I use Diaconnect, it's perfect for me as tracks my insulin, carbs eaten, blood glucose readings, exercise and I can email it direct to my DSN when I need advice.

Use this forum to ask questions as you will have them in time, but if you're hungry for information then read up as they sooner you understand the sooner you can start to get a good handle on managing your type 1.

 

[Natalie1974]

A word of warning...they are likely to be increasing your insulin as you still have quite high numbers. Others have suggested reducing your carbs to get these numbers down...but if they are increasing your insulin doses...be very careful not to reduce carbs too much as this will almost definitely result in a hypo

 

[phoenix]

Bringing down initial high levels is a gradual thing, not overnight. You could in theory give lots of insulin and enough would reduce it immediately but as they don't know your individual sensitivity to insulin they could give too much , not good
(Lee above takes slightly more than twice the amount of insulin for 10g of carbs as I do for example)I think that's why it's better to do it over a few days.

I went onto insulin in hospital and from memory, I think that by about day 4-5 my levels were in 7s-9s but looking at my log book it was still around that level when I left at 10 days. During the next month or so my levels fell considerably and I also had to reduce my insulin from the amount I started on.

I think it's important to count carbs at the beginning and to keep a food/insulin and blood glucose diary. Personally,I also also think it's helpful to keep carbohydrate consistent at the start. (ie if you have 35 grams for breakfast have the same amount every day, If you have 60 for lunch or whatever do the same each day) This means you have one less variable to consider. It helps you to work out more confidently what so many units of fast insulin will do in your body with the types of meals you eat. I'm not in the UK, (hence the hospitalisation) and this is what I was told to do .
The dietitian and the consultant taught me to count the carbs in each meal but I was prescribed a set amount of them. I thought it was for life and horribly restrictive (what on earth would I do at Christmas???) I'm now convinced when I see so many people left floundering that It really helped me at the start. Now I can take varying the amounts for special meals, travelling etc in my stride (have to admit though I still keep to fairly consistent amounts for every day , creature of habit!)