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Jrsmith

Newbie
Messages
4
I’ve been diagnosed with type one diabetes since I was 4. It’s really hard to manage I’m on MDI. My long acting is Tresiba and my short acting is Fiasp. It’s affected my mental health majorly, I already had a lot of issues with it but it’s made it so much worse, I’ve had DKA quite a few times, multiple seizures due to hypoglycaemia. It’s really draining for me, I can never seem to get a healthy balance from it, either my sugars are HI, or they are too low, I either panic when they start to drop and have too much sugar causing them too go high. Or when they are high i try n take 4-6 units but it barely brings it down so I try eight but then that’s too much and it causes them too go low? I can never seem to get a healthy in between. I deal with both high and low glucose everyday. And sometimes I feel like the diabetic team don’t really suffice to help me? Not in a rude way too them but I feel like I need more support than what I’m getting. I’ve found myself downloading this app hoping to be able to communicate with other people with T1 diabetes who can maybe help and give advice? Even if it’s someone who hasn’t got well control of it themselves because then hopefully we can understand each other more and maybe try and help each other out, I’ve never really met anybody else with T1 so no one can really understand it on the level that I do? Im not saying no one can, I’m saying no one I’ve met can. They have a basic idea but its hard to talk about it and vent my stresses about my physical health to people who don’t truly understand it? I know the nurses know but I want communication with someone’s who has actually been through it and someone who’s type 1 diabetic.
 

EllieM

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
9,207
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
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forum bugs
Hello again @Jrsmith . You've actually hit the quietest time of the forum as most of our UK members are asleep, so please be patient. We do have lots of T1 members but I don't think they will be online till morning or later (in UK time zone).

Personally, I have always found hypos to be the bane of my diabetic life, it's so easy to overtreat them and then have a rebound high.

We aren't allowed to recommend specific doses here but we can say something about insulin regimes. As a fellow MDIer, I find the most important thing is to get my basal right. When it is right (and my basal needs change so it often isn't) I go to bed at one level and I wake up at the same.
 

Fenn

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,405
Type of diabetes
Type 1.5
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, welcome.

Well I think you are in the right place, amazing people here that are very helpful, personally I have terrible control, my libre looks like a mountain range mostly, sounds like you’ve had a terrible time with it, I’m sure there will be some useful advise that you can use, Ellie who you’ve already met has forgotten more about diabetes than I will ever know, please keep posting, asking questions and if you need it, ranting, you are amongst friends.
 

derivadow

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi @Jrsmith that all sounds really tough :( but you're not alone, I reckon your experience isn't so unusual. Personally, I go though periods where my control is good and then it all explodes and my BG is all over the place and with it the associated guilt and stress - in part because T1D is just stressful (obvs) and in part because I find high BG makes my anxious.

I've found finding the things that help my mental health at least as challenging as finding the right insulin levels but fwiw some of the things that normally help with me:

- re running fasting tests to make sure my basal insulin is correct - this helps metabolically but also my mental health because it is a positive thing I'm doing to make a difference, something I can do and control.

- talking to other T1 diabetics

- using technology to help me not stress me e.g. set alarms on my Libre at the points where I will take action and avoiding having my BG on glanceable screens

- testing and the trusting my hypo/ hyper treatment i.e. doing what I know should work and then being patient and avoid rage bolusing or eating all the sugar in the house :)

- exercise (helps with my mental health + insulin sensitivity + short term BG)

- a bit like the fasting test, experimenting to find the activation curve for insulin in my body (e.g. I use Fiasp and find it lasts a little less time than advertised + is way less effective when I'm high i.e. I need more when I'm high than in range but that also means any IOB after correcting for a Hyper hits me hard and risks taking me low)
 
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