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Nearly finished myself off..

Gembow

Newbie
Messages
4
I’m new to diabetes type one. I had pre diabetes back in March and now I’m officially diabetic My sister was also diabetic, sadly she died 2 years ago in her sleep.
BeCause of this coronavirus I haven’t had much help with learning how to look after myself. I was given my insulin and the consultant quickly ran through that I needed to start on a slow insulin release pen first at night using 10 units. He used a orange pen as an example how to remove air etc.
Anyhow I decided to start my insulin last night due to high reading in the morning of 8. I used the novorapid 10 units while I was 7.4 just as I went to bed as this was the orange pen. I woke up after an hour drenched in sweat, disorientated and bloods at 1.6. I managed to get back up after a worrying hour.
So it turns out I gave myself the rapid orange pen bY mistake and should have had the grey one my mum after loosing my sister is on my case and I wondered how long it took others to get proper diabetic training after diagnosis?
 
It seems very irresponsible not to give you suitable training or at least information. Perhaps a Type 1 will be able to direct you to a good online source.
 
Hi @Gembow , and welcome to the forum.
What a horrible and scary experience that must have been, very glad you managed to get your blood glucose back up, well done!

I don't think what happened has much to do with diabetic training but much more to your consultant making sure you know which insulin to use!
Can you call your consultant tomorrow and tell them what happened? Hopefully it will make them realise newly diagnosed type 1's need a bit more guidance than you received.
 
Most of us have taken the wrong insulin on at least a few occasions in our lives. I keep the basal one (once a day, last thing at night) upstairs in a drawer at the side of the bed. My bolus mealtime insulin always lives downstairs, so I can grab it during the day. This prevents mistakes 99% of the time.

I was diagnosed aged 10 and taught everything I needed to know while I was still in hospital. You have been particularly unlucky with the lack of basic info you were given. It would usually be a Diabetes Specialist Nurse who explains all the details about exactly what to do in any particular circumstances. You need fast-acting glucose/sugar to use to get your BS level up in an emergency such as you just experienced. You did well to correct the hypo the way you did. Everything is more difficult when you are struggling with low BS levels - including thinking straight. You clearly should have been given more basic advice.

I would suggest you label your pens if it helps. Make sure you always keep some fast-acting glucose type stuff handy, so it can be reached easily from your bed. The last thing you need is to have to stagger downstairs in the middle of the night if you are hypo. I become unsteady on my feet if my level drops below normal, but a broken leg or twisted ankle is to be avoided ! Having to move around to find a source of sugar will just drive your glucose level even lower and delay your being able to do anything about it. I find a sugary drink acts faster than anything else to get you out of danger.

Do you have an email address or phone number to contact a DSN at the hospital where you were diagnosed ? You may need to get hold of them more frequently for advice at the start. 8 mml is not a disastrously high figure for first thing in the morning. Was this the figure at which you were told you should stsrt insulin ?
 
Hi. This is easily done. I keep my Basal pen beside my bed for morning and evening use. My Bolus resides down stairs most of the time for mealtime use. Yes, know the colours and always double check.
 
Hi @Gembow and welcome!
You've certainly had a rocky introduction to insulin, in fact you didn't really receive any proper introduction and that's deplorable.
There's plently of good advice already posted above, but I'd suggest you start keeping a food, insulin and blood glucose log as it can provide a pretty good insight into how well you are managing and any changes you ought to think about making.
I'll append a link to source where you can download log sheets.
Hang on in there - it's early days for you and no one gets it right all of the time.

https://integrateddiabetes.com/diabetic-logsheets/
 

Thank you
I work at the hospital so will pop by and tell him. I’m a bit embarrassed, perhaps I should have read the label, the name gives it away, rapid
 

Thank you. I wish I had taken this all more seriously and thought about it. It’s common sense now to have things next to me in my drawer and I wasn’t prepared at all. I sent my husband down the get me something sweet and he brought up a bag sugar. It did waste time when I sent him down again to get me something easier to eat lol... the. 111 said to get the honey and eat some tablespoons .

I don’t have a number for my consultant altho I work in the department next door at my local hospital. So should pop by. My bloods are usually 7-9 in the morning but generally 8, does this seem ok? The rest of the day I’m 6-10 with no insulin.

Sorry you all just get asked so often these simple questions.
 
Gembow said:
Thank you
I work at the hospital so will pop by and tell him. I’m a bit embarrassed, perhaps I should have read the label, the name gives it away, rapid
Click to expand...
Of course you should have read the label. But no consultant should expect a shocked and bewildered person who has just been told they have a life altering condition and now go stab yourself with sharp objects daily to take in everything. The trick for the consultant is to remember how much is going on in a patients head in such a moment and how little will be processed.
So they should double check the most important bits, especially the ones to do with safety!

Then again, we've all made those kind of mistakes, both the kind of mistake your consultant made and the one you made. It's part of life, and usually things are fine in the end.

Gembow said:
My bloods are usually 7-9 in the morning but generally 8, does this seem ok? The rest of the day I’m 6-10 with no insulin.
Click to expand...
We can't advise on dosing. Those numbers are higher than a non-diabetic would see but not so high they are an emergency. If they were my numbers I would like to see if I could get them a little lower (albeit not in such a spectacular way as you did!)
I think the way you've handled the hypo with your husband is perfect, by the way!
 
Hi @Gembow. Welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry you had such a horrible experience. Scary for both you and your husband. I keep jelly babies at my bedside to treat low blood sugar, but if I'd given the wrong insulin would have used glucose powder dissolved in water, as I find a liquid is absorbed faster, especially if I've eaten a meal fairly recently. This might not be the case for everyone though, it's a question of finding out what works best for you.

It's fine to keep asking questions, it's a steep learning curve to start with, which we've all been through. It will get easier over time, but you never stop learning with diabetes.
 
First as a type 1, always, always have a hypo treatment easily within reach. I keep a bag of jelly babies and juice by the bed, and in my purse and in a handy grab spot in the kitchen.

This is one of the most important things to always do!!!! Mistakes happen one way or another, we are not perfect!

When I was on shots, I was paranoid about mixing the two different insulins. So my long lasting was in a vial in the refrigerator and a quick pen was in my drawer in the kitchen at home and one in my purse so I never forgot it for out and about and going to work. I never mixed them up, it made it easy. But you could put a bunch of tape etc on your long lasting one to easily know which one you have grabbed, you are not the first to do that!
 
Glad you are OK @Gembow and there is no such thing as a simple question on here.

As newly diagnosed I would have been more than happy with the kind of numbers you have been getting.

diabetes.co.uk says For people with type 1 diabetes, blood sugar level targets are as follows:
  • Before meals : 4 to 7 mmol/L
  • After meals : under 9 mmol/L
Being just over those "targets" is not going to do you a great deal of harm and is certainly better than what you went through.

The amount of insulin you inject is totally individual to you. A chap on a recent course was injecting 1-2 units of the Orange stuff for each meal whereas I use between 10-25 depending on the amount of carbs.

The best way I found was, as suggested above, is to keep a log and test your BG as often as possible. Most of us live a fairly repetitive lifestyle enabling you to look back and make small adjustments to doses over a period of time to try to reach those targets.

Good luck and do your best to stay away from them lows.
 
No help but I keep my bolus insuin in a Frio pouch and my basal lives in the fridge so I need to make the conscious effort to have it, I use needle clippers and for my basal don't refit the coloured top so if I'm confused at bed time I can check my days used needles for confirmation.

The problem with that system is if you forget to leave your basal needle cover off it doesn't work
 
I too was told late onset type 1 this year and started on insulin in March. But I had a lovely specialist diabetes nurse who talked me through the pens and showed me exactly how to use them, putting on needle, click 2 units and release to clear for air bubbles, the dial to the dose you need etc. Site to inject and which pen to use for meals (rapid acting) and the background insulin which I take before bed. I used to keep them both together in the kitchen, but after being on here I followed advice from others and keep my background long acting pen next to my bed, on my bedside table. Then I see it and it reminds me to inject before bed...still get into bed really comfy and doh remember need to inject! The nurse explained to me I always need to take my background insulin regardless of what eaten , sickness etc. But the rapid insulin with meals is only if eating carbs and would vary depending on what you’re eating. It’s really hard if you’ve not had enough input and been rushed out the door! It is a life long life changing thing. I got home and cried for 2 days about having to go on insulin! But I’ve always emailed my specialist nurse (poor lady!) with questions and doses and she’s always given fab advice and reassured me. Otherwise it can confusing at times and having someone tell you really helps.
Hopefully you can contact a diabetes nurse team and get more guidance. Your numbers are good, but your nurse will set target for you.
I’m sorry to hear of such a scary hypo experiment so soon in! Yikes! It’s my real anxiety thing hypos... Every day with diabetes is a new day xxx
 
Hi Gembow,

This must have been a really strange time to be diagnosed. It's tough enough without COVID-19, so I'm sorry you've missed out on the support. However, the good news is that there is a huge amount of information out there if you're willing to look for it. Your healthcare team (when you can see them) will most likely tell you to eat plenty of carbohydrate and match your insulin dose. However, not everyone believes that this is a healthy way to eat for a diabetic – the more carbohydrate you have, the more insulin you'll need. And the more you inject, the harder it is to predict the effect.

Low carbohydrate diets, while not supported by the establishment, are increasingly popular for managing both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Anyone who's seen my other posts will feel like I'm a broken record, because I'm going to point you towards a video by Dr Troy Stapleton. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2012 and now strongly supports low carbohydrate diets. The absolute authority on the matter is Dr Richard Bernstein, who is now in his 80s and has been managing his type 1 diabetes with a low carbohydrate diet since his 30s. He's extremely hardcore though, and very matter-of-fact about complications.
All the best!
 
I agree with others but it always amazes me how people are suddenly told usually out of the blue 'You have a life threatening disease from which you might die within a week without insulin or from an overdose or underdose if you get it wrong, here you go, bye'. So many are left absolutely bewildered, trying to get their head around a life changing diagnosis, with NO idea of how it all works. How any of us survive in the first few weeks is beyond me.
 
It's scary that that happens. Thrown in COVID and it's seriously scary. But there is this forum, finding this hopefully will help!

Curious though... Is it thought Of as it as disease not Condition? Sorry for hijacking!
 
Andydragon said:
It's scary that that happens. Thrown in COVID and it's seriously scary. But there is this forum, finding this hopefully will help!

Curious though... Is it thought Of as it as disease not Condition? Sorry for hijacking!
Click to expand...

Hi there, well I know the word 'disease' isn't a pretty one but yes, it's known as a disease. x
 
Have you done the Daphne course? It's really useful to help understand carb ratios and working to your own body and insulin resistance. Also I have accidentally swapped my slow acting with fast, but I have pens which retain how much insulin I have given so I don't forget or if I accidentally inject the wrong insulin I know how much was taken/how long ago, maybe look into that, it has helped me.

I was diagnosed at 6 but wasn't 'trained' till about 21.
 
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