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Hi from a newly T1

J

jmdd

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi to everyone,
I am 42 and in March I had test for glucose tolerance that pointed out I could develop T2. Only 36 hours ago I was diagnosed as T1 (too old for this type but not the oldest one :) ). From that day and a half, I can say that only remember "properly" from this morning (I am writing at (9:30pm). The rest of the time I spent it sleeping, making not a lot of sense and, or seeing the time running fast.

What did it happened to me before arriving to the hospital?
During the previous 3/4weeks I started loosing weight 5 kilos. My mouth was getting drier and drier, but as a hay fever suffer who was not sneezing I thought (I mislead myself) this was a new symptom. I started to worry about this dry mouth when I decide to go to the chemist 5 days ago and advised me to go to the doctor because it could be diabetes. By then I was getting up 5 or 6 times during the night just to drink water and to urinate. On Thursday afternoon (4 days ago), I noticed clearly that my concentration at work was fading and people were asking me if I was OK.I arranged an appointment with my GP for Monday. During the night I managed to get up to the toilet 8/9 times, on the top I was suffering pain on the joints and hips. On Friday, after many people at work were asking if I was OK and advising to go home, I left after a light half lunch in the canteen, thinking I did not have the strength to cook anything at home, and I took the car home.
The nights seemed to be the worst for me as the pain in the joints was increasing, as well as the poor rest and the visits to the toilet. Now I was managing to avoid the joints pain with 500 mg paracetamol every 5 hours, but soon it was every 3 hours and Saturday night I started with 1000 mg because then I had headache. I decided to sleep in different parts of the house, to stand still looking the morning coming. Yesterday at 4am I vomited. In the morning I decided to follow the advise of my partner and we went to urgency.

So that was me. Glorious, sunny Sunday morning. I had 70 mmol/l (my partner told me, and now that I see my still high late measure, it is difficult to believe) and Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Suddenly, when appropriate veins where found, dripping started, hourly tests, and some insulin every certain time. At the end I managed to eat some dinner and finally toasts. That was my Sunday on the "bed". I do not how many doctors introduced themselves and how many nurses I seen, but I was impressed by the professionalism in which I was treated.

Other day, new life
Last night, around 4am I felt a lot lot better, for the first time, I wanted to be in other position: sitting. I was in that position, in the dark, for near an hour (for me it was a great pleasure). In the morning, every thing still slow, but fast on the clock.

In the morning I went to the appointment with the Diabetes nurses. I had prepared a few questions (5), but soon, with the information they were giving me I did plenty more. To be honest, I do not think I remember all, I am not so fool to believe so. But, soon I had these little 2 devices to check glucose/ketone levels and to inject insulin. The nurse dedicated to the diet was talking about carbs and taking more numbers from my normal diet to give some advise so, bye bye coffee with one and half spoon.

So, at the end, I left hospital around 3pm. My glucose 12.8. Ketone 1.4. I took the bus and went to my GP to order the prescriptions and then home. I slept a little more and started reading (preparing for my first check and injection on my own. This was easy specially because in the morning I was told how much insulin to take. Reading 12.6, Ketone 0.4. So little by little, it will come to the levels every one is talking. Now in this step by step, I have to learn to control the real meaning of insulin and carbs in my normal day.

This paragraphs had more misspellings than my judgement thought. The speed of writing it has been near half... but, now I know the reason, in the same way that all the symptoms had lead to my T1

Regards
Juan
 
Hello Juan, Welcome to our world. :D In these mysterious pages you will find all sorts of help, support and answers to your million questions. It won't be all simple as there are many different things that can affect your blood sugar as well as just what you eat an how much insulin you have, but if you need help all you have to do is ask. Your diabetes nurse should be on the end of a phone if you have questions and if it's the middle of the night and you need some answers, there's likely to be someone here if you just put a post up that says 'HELP' or some thing like it, in the title. You shouldn't have to wait too long for an answer.

Best of luck and keep smiling. Doesn't it feel wonderful to be treated and feel better again? You have reminded me of that feeling: for me it was 36 years ago, but I'd forgotten how great I felt after the first day or so on insulin. It was amazing. :)
 
Hi Juan and welcome to the forum :) I'm glad that you are now feeling so much better than before as you went through a very unpleasant time before getting the treatment you needed. It is more unusual to become T1 at your age but there are others here with similar stories. You have done a very important thing finding and joining this forum and it will help you to manage your diabetes by learning from everyone else.

Here is some basic information that our friends Ken and Sue, former monitors, wrote to help new members to get started on the road to good control. I am sure you will have plenty of questions so just ask as many as you like as there will always be someone who has gone though what you are going through now who can help.

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...
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :D I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. I have had DKA and it is a horrid, horrid thing. I'm glad your blood sugars are coming down now :D
 
Hi,

I think most Type 1's can see similarities in your diagnosis story with theirs.

I certainly can!

Unfortunately i didn't really take notice of my symptoms and had them for around 3 months. I didn't even go to the doctors when i almost passed out. I was hospitalized for 4 days and put on drips and i weighed less than 8 stone.

In my family if your poorly and can get out of bed you go to work! so i put the symptoms off as a cold, and the weight loss down to playing football, in the december before i was diagnosed in january, i was still playing 90minute games of football! i had no idea why i didn't collapse into a coma after those!

As type 1 diabetes needs immediate insulin replacement it's amazing how good you feel when you start to get insulin again, i was still very very poorly in hospital but felt like i could run a marathon :lol:

I was diagnosed on a monday, my mum made me go to a doctors appointment after work @ 5pm. Was in hospital and diagnosed three hours later. I had a nurse and 4 medical students quizzing me as they said it was rare for an adult to be admitted with type 1 diabetes after so long with symptoms and still be awake! especially as i live in a small town, they thought i was gold dust i suppose!

I was released from hospital on the friday after i could show i could test me own blood glucose and administer my injection too, sent home with a bag of goodies and told to get a prescription sorted and a medical exemption form.

I did a bit of shopping on the saturday for what i needed, then i went back to work on monday as normal feeling so much more alive really! :lol:

My biological father had type 1 diabetes so i'm pretty sure i inherited it, although he was an absent father and died when i was 13 due to complications of diabetes so even though there was family history i don't ever remember anything diabetes related with my dad. My mum was married to him for 7 years but as he was so bad at looking after his diabetes the best she knew was when to call an ambulance really, and of course diabetes treatment has change alot sicne they split up so it was a learning curve for everyone.

Glad your getting to grips with it all, you've come across a great site to learn, ask questions and just generally talk to other people with diabetes as it's common to not really know anyone close who has diabetes too.

:)
 
hi juan

welcome to the site. as others have already said finding and joining this forum is one of the most positive things you can do when coming to terms with T1 diabetes. the information and advice is invaluable in my view because it comes from people's actual own experiences as opposed to what some doctor or nurse has read in a book.

i was in a very similar situation to you. i was diagnosed T1 when i was 40. i had the same symptoms - constant thirst and urinating, constantly tired and very short concentration span. i put off going to the doctor too, putting the symptoms down to being a smoker (thirst) and a father of 2 young boys (tiredness).

after i was diagnosed i found out that there was T1 in my grandmother's brothers and sisters which i never knew about. she is the youngest of 13 and sadly the only one still alive now. so i assumed that it was T1 but had just come on later in life than 'normal'.

however, at my last appointment with the consultant she said she thinks it might in fact be T2 but had gone undiagnosed for a long time.

i have had conflicting advice from my GP and DSN / consultant but the advice i have got from people on this site has been very helpful. as other people have said we are all individual and you have to find what works for you but learning from other people's personal experiences really helps you.

congratulations on the good start getting your bs levels down, keep up the good work.

and remember you are NOT alone. it is NOT all doom and gloom - there are people that post on here who have lived with T1 for over 40 years and are still going strong. you do have to look after yourself but if you do there's nothing to say that you WILL develop complications associated with diabetes.

good luck and don;t be afraid to ask questions here - you'll get honest answers from people who know what they're talking about!

Wig
 
Hiya, jmdd. welcome to us all here, some great pointers for you in wiggs post there , please let us know how you go on too. Anna.x :)
 
thanks, at times the avatar feels so appropriate for me as a diabetic in that i feel with the conflicting advice i get from my GP and the DSN / consultant i am running around in circles (or squares) trying to keep the condition under control!
 
Re: Hi from a newly T1... 1 week on

Thanks to everyone who has supported or shared his/her experience, specially to Ebony and Wig.

Now that times has passed (it seems I was on hospital more than a year ago!), I feel a lot better thanks to the insulin. It is incredible how now I can see that the symptoms were there long before than I thought. I look back near 2 months ago and I can see how that lost of weight was already taking part, or how my unpredictable behaviour was there! I am not sure if I am rationalising too much and justifying everything based on today's circumstances.

Life since my post has been determined by a constant checking of my glucose levels. At the moment, I am not able yet to work the carbs. So my DNS and dietitian recommended the insulin dose. In this week I had increased my insulin twice as a result of being glucose above 15 till Thursday. Since then, it has been a little hectic, normally high, around 12. Every morning I woke up with a big headache, or/and with cramps on my legs, a little thirsty. But, I got used to and accepted as "something normal" for the time being.

The most important acknowledge is that I am scared about the hypos, specially if I am thinking to take the car. This has been my major worry before deciding to go back to work. Only yesterday, I found myself having readings about 4 after helping out and just a hour before I had to take the car. So I took a little more carbs and OK.

Experience is a weird teacher. In one hand I want to remember how I was in the last two months, in the other, I am looking into the future with a kind of urgency which surprises me. This week is gone for good, now it is time to learn from it, to investigate little by little (read more, ask more, share more), to test, and to improve my level of life.
 
Hi, jmdd. Great to hear you're keeping well despite few hindering symptoms, you're doing brilliant and developing a good positive confident forward looking attitude to controlling your diabetes. As you say experience is indeed a weird teacher , it shows/steers us in the right direction after our blips in the journey with the condition and symptoms we experience as individuals living with it. You are in a stronger place now and can only go onwards n upwards. To read,seek,ask,share more is positive, productive for you and us all here too. Thank you for coming back and sharing this with us all. Please keep in touch. Anna.x :)
 
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