I'm a new Type 1 diabetic

[Ponda]

My guess is that I'm a LADA diabetic, although I don't have my antibody test results yet. So hello all ! I'm new on here. I'm 60 years old, 55 kg, active. I eat mostly vegetarian, mostly organic. Last weekend, I was diagnosed Diabetic Ketoacidosis (Hgb A1C 106, 4 + ketones in my urine). Off to the A&E on Monday. It took the doctors and nurses about 18 hours before they got my DKA enough under control that I could be weaned off the insulin, dextrose, saline, and potassium. My brain still feels a bit like scrambled eggs, and my blood sugars are up and down. My guess is that I have been partially producing insulin for a while, over the summer at least, but I didn't recognise it as a Type 2 diabetes. I am the picture of health, diabetes was the last thing on my mind. And, the pandemic spooked me out of going to the surgery as I developed symptoms which could be written off as something else (eg, age, stress, etc). I have about 35 years of Critical Care nursing behind me, but it's a lot different living with diabetes, than caring for a diabetic patient. I'm just starting to look around on Diabetes.co.uk to try to learn how to count carbohydrates., to help get my blood sugar under control, and I appreciate any links or suggestions you have to help me. Thank you!

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @Ponda ,

Welcome to the forum.
Personally I wouldn't wish to care for any other diabetic other than myself, so hats off to you!
Take it in bite sized chunks. It's early days for you.
I'd probably start checking the basal before looking at what's happening with the food & bolus side of things?

Think of it like cutting a square peice of timber? If the leading edge is off, how can you expect a 90 degree angle..

Hope this helps.
https://www.mysugr.com/en/blog/basal-rate-testing/

 

[Lynnzhealth]

My guess is that I'm a LADA diabetic, although I don't have my antibody test results yet. So hello all ! I'm new on here. I'm 60 years old, 55 kg, active. I eat mostly vegetarian, mostly organic. Last weekend, I was diagnosed Diabetic Ketoacidosis (Hgb A1C 106, 4 + ketones in my urine). Off to the A&E on Monday. It took the doctors and nurses about 18 hours before they got my DKA enough under control that I could be weaned off the insulin, dextrose, saline, and potassium. My brain still feels a bit like scrambled eggs, and my blood sugars are up and down. My guess is that I have been partially producing insulin for a while, over the summer at least, but I didn't recognise it as a Type 2 diabetes. I am the picture of health, diabetes was the last thing on my mind. And, the pandemic spooked me out of going to the surgery as I developed symptoms which could be written off as something else (eg, age, stress, etc). I have about 35 years of Critical Care nursing behind me, but it's a lot different living with diabetes, than caring for a diabetic patient. I'm just starting to look around on Diabetes.co.uk to try to learn how to count carbohydrates., to help get my blood sugar under control, and I appreciate any links or suggestions you have to help me. Thank you!

Good morning. You and I have similar stories. Pretty scary, isn't it? I was 69 when diagnosed with T2, went low carb for two years and everything was going great. Then I had a really bad DKA episode in May 2019 and ended up in the hospital for 4 days. Like you, it was a complete shock to me and to the specialists since T2s don't normally do this. I drove myself to the ER and blew their minds. I didn't know. Foggy brain, the whole bit. They did more extensive blood work and I was diagnosed T1. My blood work results for the previous two years was excellent which was what had them scratching their heads. One specialist told me I was the first 'older' person he's ever seen do this. Since me, he told me he's had 3 or 4. It's been up and down since then and I do get very frustrated. The other specialist told me to keep doing what I was doing because it seemed to work with my blood test results. I want my BG to be in range and my A1C in the range of a normal person, below 6. My DE doesn't seem to mind if I go higher and doesn't think an A1C of around 7 is bad. It's above the target range so I do think it's not safe. I don't want complications. I have been reading posts, articles, Dr. Richard Bernstein's book, The Diabetes Solution and following others on here. I take my dog for long walks every day, weather permitting. I met a lady on here just this week who went through the same as we did. Hopefully we will all come up with something to help us with this journey. Take care and stay safe.

 

[Ponda]

Good morning. You and I have similar stories. Pretty scary, isn't it? I was 69 when diagnosed with T2, went low carb for two years and everything was going great. Then I had a really bad DKA episode in May 2019 and ended up in the hospital for 4 days. Like you, it was a complete shock to me and to the specialists since T2s don't normally do this. I drove myself to the ER and blew their minds. I didn't know. Foggy brain, the whole bit. They did more extensive blood work and I was diagnosed T1. My blood work results for the previous two years was excellent which was what had them scratching their heads. One specialist told me I was the first 'older' person he's ever seen do this. Since me, he told me he's had 3 or 4. It's been up and down since then and I do get very frustrated. The other specialist told me to keep doing what I was doing because it seemed to work with my blood test results. I want my BG to be in range and my A1C in the range of a normal person, below 6. My DE doesn't seem to mind if I go higher and doesn't think an A1C of around 7 is bad. It's above the target range so I do think it's not safe. I don't want complications. I have been reading posts, articles, Dr. Richard Bernstein's book, The Diabetes Solution and following others on here. I take my dog for long walks every day, weather permitting. I met a lady on here just this week who went through the same as we did. Hopefully we will all come up with something to help us with this journey. Take care and stay safe.

I agree! I also want my BG and my A1C to be in range of a normal person. We'll keep studying, studying. Thank you.

 

[Jaylee]

Jaylee. Thank you for the link. I've just looked at it. I have a CGM, so I think that's doing most of the work to get a Basal rate, right? I will add on taking spot checks on my blood glucose too, to see how closely they match up. If they don't, I'll follow the instructions to do a Basal rate.

Hi,

Yep, a sensor or CGM set up will spot trends & cover "blind spots." Especially during the night. (Who really needs to be woken unnecessarily.)

I use the Libre, which can for me read a little low? & throw a few discrepancies. However there are apps that can be calibrated to give a more accurate picture.