• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice please!?

S

sjones

Newbie
Messages
4
Hi,

My husband was diagnosed last week as Type 1, he took the news quite hard and is starting to get into a routine checking his blood sugar levels. He hasn't started on his booster insulin injections yet he has tablets and a background insulin at the moment (I think the hospital are letting him get used to it all slowly). We are booked in for a meeting with a dietition in a couple of weeks and I think I understand the basics of how this whole thing works.
I am really trying to be supportive and help to make this lifestyle change as easy as possible for him. He is 36 and I am 27, until I got pregnant in June we both had a busy social life which included quite a lot of drinking! Obviously I have stopped drinking and have been eating healthily anyway but I understand that too many carbs aren't good for him....I would welcome any advice on how to help support him and any good food ideas anyone can offer me. I can't believe how much sugar is in low fat foods!!

Many thanks

Sarah x
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Hi Sarah and welcome to the forum :) I'm sorry about your husband's diagnosis. All is very confusing at the beginning but carry on reading here and you will learn a lot about helping him to look after himself. Here is some information we give to new members which includes advice on the food it is best for him to eat. I hope it is helpful to you both. Ask as many questions as you like as there is usually someone to 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.
Click to expand...
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Hi,

Thank you for this information! I am sure I will have lots of questions over the coming weeks!

Sarah x
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Has the hospital confirmed he's T1 or are you just assuming this because of he's been put on insulin?

You don't say what tablets he's on, whether they are an oral diabetic medication, or one of the preventive meds that the docs like to give the diabetics, Blood Pressure, Statin

T1's start off on both types of insulin, Background (long acting injected once a day) and quick acting which I think you've refered to has a 'boaster' oral diabetic tablets actually do zilch for the T1 diabetic...

But assuming he's T1 diabetic. (you do need to establish this with his team)

Being told you are diabeticc is like having the rug pulled from under you, it's life changing big, So you do go through the 5 stages of grieve morning the loss of your past life, fearing what the future now holds for you.. The first weeks or months, yes a lot of motivation to do injections take your BG etc.. Then one day it hits unlike the times with other medical treatments there's be an end date, where your condition is resolved and you go back to your normal live and expectations that what you are doing now you will be doing for the rest of you life, then it becomes scary and hard as you learn to except it all into a what you percieve to be normallity..

Carbs do play a major role in control has you use insulin to countereact them, sadly it's not as simple as saying for every 10g you inject xx amount of insulin, there are other factors to the dose equation such as exercise before or after, stress levels, infections etc then on top of that you've got the matching of the profile (action) of the insulin to that of the type of carbs you are eating... Simple carbs such as refined sugar hit the system quick, complex carbs such as pasta, grains hit he system slow.. Fat content can slow adorption down...

How many carbs is too high for the diabetic, well it depends on the needs of the diabetic, if you are active, slim etc then you would have a larger amount than somebody who lived a very non-active life.. The dietiian can give you guidence on what daily amounts you might be looking at, by taking your husband normal eating habits into consideration with his activity levels and whether he needs to lose weight etc.. But it is a guidence starting point to get you going..

As to special diabetic diets, me I personally don't believe their is one I eat foods just the same as anybody else few exceptions, such as the rare occasion I have a fizzy drink it's diet version, I wouldn't have candy floss unless I was hypo of cause.. I don't regulary eat chocolate unless I know I'm going to be doing something, such as gardening etc when I know that I can burn off the effects..
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Thanh you for the info.

Yes they have unofficially confirmed it, there are a couple of blood results that they are waiting for to confirm 100% but the glicazide tablets they first tried him on only reduced his ketones and not his blood sugar. Since taking the background insulin his blood sugar has reduced to the low teens and they are gradually increasing the amount he takes daily. The reason they have left him on the tablets along side the insulin is that he refused to have four injections a day when we were in the hospital last week. He has come to terms with it now and accepts that he will have to have these injections. The consultant suggested this a way of 'easing' him into it and getting used to the injections.

We have a balanced diet, our evening meal is usually some kind of meat with veg / salad and potatoes or pasta. I am trying to understand if I should be changing this or not? I can understand that carbs in chips, pasta, bread etc mean that he will need more insulin but I am unsure as to weather increasing the amount of insulin to counteract these carbohydrates is bad for you as it seems that he should be reducing carbs....is this the case?
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

sjones said:
Thanh you for the info.

We have a balanced diet, our evening meal is usually some kind of meat with veg / salad and potatoes or pasta. I am trying to understand if I should be changing this or not? I can understand that carbs in chips, pasta, bread etc mean that he will need more insulin but I am unsure as to weather increasing the amount of insulin to counteract these carbohydrates is bad for you as it seems that he should be reducing carbs....is this the case?
Click to expand...

No, I wouldn't change it, I think it sounds fine.
If he's using insulin, the main thing to be concerned about is matching the insulin to the carbs eaten, so his blood sugar doesn't go too high. That means he could eat a double chip butty with treacle pie and it's fine, but he'd need a huge dose of insulin to manage it.
All you are doing is mimicking what a 'normal' person's insulin is doing. Their bodies would produce a huge amount of insulin for a double chip butty with treacle pie, and we have to inject the equivalent. It's not bad or good, it's a personal choice.
This is very different from Type 2 diabetes. Most (but not all) the discussion about low carbing tends to be amongst the Type 2s. Some Type 1s do find that a low carb diet makes it easier to maintain low, smooth blood sugars, but lots of us eat what we like and just match it with insulin.

If he's finding it hard work adjusting to the diagnosis then I wouldn't try and change your diet at the same time anyway... I'd keep as many things as possible 'just as usual'. But others may disagree.
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Thank you so much...that makes perfect sense and will hopefully make things easier for me as the household cook with two teenage step sons to also keep happy!!!

I am sure I will be on here with more questions in the near future...
 
Re: My husband has just been diagnosed Type 1 - advice pleas

Hi Sarah ,
I,m sort of in the same boat only a few more months down the line . My BF was misdiagnosed T2 approx 6 yrs ago then in March this year he collapsed with a BM of 30 and turned out he was T1 all along. We are at the stage now that he is in total denial , started off not bad at first with injecting, checking levels etc but then we have hit a massive brick wall . just to warn you that this may happen and you need alot of patience and understanding and also time out for yourself . I wish you both the best of luck and anytime you want to chat feel free to inbox me xx Jennie
 
Back
Top