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Hello :)

L

LauraCath

Member
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21
Hi everyone. I'm Laura, 21 and I've had type 1 diabetes for about a month now. This is my first time joining the community :)


The honeymoon's not over yet ;)
 
Hi Laura and welcome to the forum :)

Here is some information which I think will be useful to you which we give to new members. Ask all the questions you like as there is always someone who will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
I was on 9,9 and 11 units of fast acting and 14 of basal, but now this silly honeymoon period has kicked in which has changed my doses to around 2 or 3 of fast acting and 10 basal. It's pretty annoying at the moment, my body is obviously randomly producing insulin so I can't really tell how what I et affects me yet, etc so I've been advised not to start carb counting or anything until after the honeymoon. Laura :)


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Hi Laura, I'm 22 and have had type 1 for a couple of years, I was slow onset with a honeymoon of 2years, even now I'm only on 8units of levemir and 1unit per 15g carb of novorapid, so still small amounts, I was off insulin for 2 years, only recently gone back on it. X

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Hey Laura and Hellbunny!

It can be frustrating when you randomly produce insulin, I too have a habit of doing that! I'm currently on 22 Levemir at night, and dose adjusted Apidra according to carb content of meal, 1 unit per 10g carbs! The calulations work out fine, until I bung in some of my own insulin! :)

It all figures out in the end though!

:)

Bob
 
Sounds familiar to me :(. At diagnosis 1.5 years ago started on 18 lantus and roughly 18 nova rapid. All sorts of problems later switched to levemir. Problems continued till currently no base but needing 40 ish units nova rapid to cover food.

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Thanks for all your replies, everyone :) I'm finding it extremely frustrating at the moment, and really hoping to have a short honeymoon period ;) It's good to know that other people are going through/have gone through the same thing as me though. That's the great thing about this forum :) So you sometimes still produce random insulin even after the honeymoon is over? That's frustrating :( It's all so new and hard at the moment


The honeymoon's not over yet ;)
 
Hi bob, main problems with lantus was very severe and frequent hypos even on small dose which needed alot of carbs to recover from, muscle spasms and headaches. When on levemir although not currently had no spasms, headaches and if low only needed small amount of qa sugar to rectify.

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Frustrating thing is on my last consultant visit was told to put base in if only 6 units. problem is without base I'm droping from 7.5 at night to 6.4 in the morning as I was today. Did a fast til lunch and held steady. Sometimes the professionals just don't listen to the patient.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app
 
Laura - stick with it, you have the tools to deal with it, and eventually you can make it a background irritation! Nothing happens quickly though, time and trial will work out! The beauty of a forum like this is that, although things work differently for each individual, collectively there is an amazing amount of experience about what to do/try! :)

Brett - interesting, I was getting massive bowel cramps, reduced the metformin but they still occurred randomly, switched from Lantus to Levemir they seem to have stopped! (touch wood (forehead))! :)

:)

Bob
 
I work with a guy who has been type 1 all his life, he munches biscuits and snacks whilst at work, but never seems to go above a 5, gets excited on the odd occasion he does! To him, it's background irritation!

I, on the other hand, producing readings from 33+ to 1.6, ( getting better now though ), am still a work in progress!

:)

Bob
 
Wow, seriously? Well I already know (unfortunately) that I'm not like the guy you work with. My readings at the moment seem to range from 4-10 normally which I think isn't too bad as its only been a month. The lowest I've been so far is 3.2. I seem to be super sensitive to hypos at the moment - I can always always tell even if its a reading like 3.8. I get all shaky and wobbly. I don't know if this is just temporary as my body is so used to the highs before I was diagnosed? For some reason, I've had 3 hypos today also. Diabetes is kicking my butt at the moment ;)


Newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic.
 
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