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Felt like it was only me

J

Jessweetie

Newbie
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1
I don't know any other people with diabetes. Not type 1 anyway. It's completely different & after reading some of the posts on here, not only do I feel relived but also a bit shocked at some moaning about how they cannot cope. I'm 22 years old with a beautiful son & daughter, I was diagnosed at the age of 10 & i too rebelled through my teens but I always relied on myself I had no body to look after me & it was from the age of ten in a hospital bed, asked to inject an orange with inslin I relised I would have to do this for the rest of my life.

Now don't get me wrong, I have good days & bad, I'm on novorapid & lantus (i don't carb count I just know in my head through trial & error what to give myself, mad lol)
But nothing got me thinking about things a lot deeper than when I was pregnant with my two children, Harley 4, my son and my pride & joy, & Lacey 8 months, my princess... I googled everything down to the t including the first decovery of insulin & history of the condition itself. I look back in shame at the times I would skip jabs and go without eating until it was convenient. I would eat **** & inject so much insulin I was forever correcting hypos with more sugary snacks, I'm 5 6 & was 15 stone, (I'm now 11) I was ill!

I'm now excercising but finding it difficult to maintain control aswell as trying not to jump around in body combat classes on a full stomach! Any tips about how you exercise or eat in a whole day really, would be much appreciated. Saying that if anyone is like me & wants to chat message me because I would love to hear your experiences & share stories.

I'm glad to have found this site. Just tested my sugar level it's 4.7 hour and a half after dinner of chicken salad & wholemeal pitta bread lol so now going to raid the kitchen.

Love Jess x
 
Hi Jess and welcome to the forum :) If you didn't know anyone with type 1 before you have come to the right place now. Plenty of people to share experiences with and to get help from when you need it. Later on some type 1s will come along and discuss exercise and daily menus with you. In the meantime, although I know you are not newly diagnosed, here is some information written by our friends Ken and Sue, former monitors, for new members and I am sure you will find something that helps you in here.

Here is the advice that Ken and I, as Forum Monitors, usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

For more information on CARBOHYDRATE see here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20306

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.


As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!

For TIPS FOR STRIPS see here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19002#p173253

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2011 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking and before meals).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l...(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals........................no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals......................... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do at least 30 minutes moderate exercise a day, it can be split into 10 min sessions to start with. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Finally a few QUESTIONS TO ASK AT DIABETES CLINIC.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17091



Sue/Ken.
Click to expand...
 
Welcome to the forum Jess!

We have all been there at some point and there is little point dwelling on past mistakes, you have two good reasons to keep your diabetes control and live a long and healthy life.........that being your beautiful children! :D

When my children were born it made me realise that I wanted to see them grow-up and be successful, have children of their own so one day I can be the proud grandad, we all need encouragement and inspiration some times to help us achieve our goal and this forum has more than enough members who are willing to support one-another along this journey with diabetes.

Nigel
 
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