Hi lynn
I was dx T1, same age as you. Just take your time, its a steep learning curve - with many blips along the way which will frustrate you (now and forever) but if you start as you mean to go on you stand the best chance of keeping well, now and in future
It would help if we knew what insulin etc you are on as advice will vary slightly as to how to go about things (ie are you on two injections per day, or the more modern regime of 4 or 5 per day). I wont bamboozle you with jargon until you let us know
Re food and diet though -Managing your carbohydrates is a very good way forward (and IMHO a necessity) for diabetics. The old wives tales of sugar being the 'enemy' are true in part. So, yes a teaspoonfull of sugar or full sugar fizzy drink will raise your blood glucose (BG) very quickly and therefore to be avoided for obvious reasons. You can in theory take it but it will work quicker than any insulin you could ever inject (werent our bodies good at doing all that stuff, and we didnt even known it!!
) so for me its not worth it
A bit of white bread wont raise it as
quickly, but it will still raise it, and higher too. As will pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes etc -anything starchy or sweet. In essence everything turns to glucose once its eaten (even proteins such as meat, chicken, cheese) its just a matter of how much, how quickly and how your body responds to this an the medication for the combination of this. The best way is to use your BG monitor to find this out.
This sound easy in theory and leads to the fallacy that as diabetes is so prevalent (and soon you will begin to hear many many 'I know a diabetic who' stories, I would bet my house on it!) that actually its not that big a deal, and well you look ok and you just inject dont you and thats that. Aye Right!! :evil:
Things to be aware of though
- If you start to cut carbs, please please please keep a close eye on your bg. If you keep taking the same meds, you will get lower bg. So, usually a change in diet is accompanied by change in meds (in your case insulin). Again this will either be one ofyour two injections (if thats what you are on) or the meal time injections if you are on the other kind of regime
-Blurry eyesight is a sign of sorting your bg out - its not permanent and will go away
-Hypos- Im sure you have been told about these but 4mmol is deemed the lowest to go before hypo 'territory'. The longer you are diabetic the more you will know what to eat, how much and when to stop yourself going too high again after a hypo remedy. For now, please make sure you eat fast acting sugar (fizzy juice, lucozade tablets, actual sugar etc etc). Things like chocolate dont work fast enough (until you learn your own body and then can be confident at treating them with Cadburys mini eggs, like I presently do!!)
-Honeymoon period - phrase you might hear. Basically after diagnosis your ailing pancreas gets a break, and starts to work again a wee bit. However you are still diabetic but may need less medication and have to cut doses. This doesnt always happen but is very common so dont worry about this- im sure your medical team will keep you up to date
So, for someone who didnt want to overwhelm, its a hell of a long post.......
Most importantly - I promise, you WILL get there. Life will be different, but its not over. You will live to eat another chocolate and have another hangover. You will go on holiday, got out with friends, and manage to cope with Easter and Christmas. The words 'wish' and 'cure' will be part of your vocabulary for a while, and may always be but I promise, it gets easier
So, hang in there
