New type1 lots of hypers & hypos

Nickinoodles_

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I'm newly diagnosed- had diabetic ketoacidosis I'm one of the exceptions as I'm older than the usual newly diagnosed type 1. I've lost 3/4 of my hair - will this continue?? Plus I keep getting hypers & hypos / I'm on Levimer for night 16 & novorapid - between 8-12 doses per day - don't know the terminology yet. How long does it take to stabilise everything & are my doses normal or high? Is the aim to eat less sugar & carbs & eventually reduce insulin doses? Sorry lots of questions there
 
D

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Welcome to the team - I too was diagnosed with T1 as an adult. In fact, it is a well kept secret that over 50% of type 1s are diagnosed as adults.

Thankfully, I have not experienced hair loss so cannot comment on this.

As you are on Levemir and Novorapid, you are on a what is know as basal-bolus.

The Levemir is your basal - this mops up the glucose which is constantly dripped from your liver throughout the day. There may be a bit of trial and error to get this to the optimum level.

The Novorapid is your bolus - this is used to manage the carbohydrates (which break down to sugar) in your food. Unless you eat the same meal every time every day, the amount of carbs in each meal will vary. You may have read about carb counting. This allows you to adjust your mealtime dose of insulin to match the carb-content of your meal. If you are not doing this, there is a risk you are sometimes having too little insulin (resulting in hypers) and sometime having too much insulin (resulting in hypos).

If you are in the UK, it may be useful to find out about a local DAFNE course which will give you some pointers about this. The quality of the courses vary around the country but the general opinion is you will get most out of the course when you are first diagnosed.

It is not possible to comment whether your doses are unusually high as they depend so much on what you are eating as well as other things. Unfortunately, whilst food is the main driver for insulin demands, there are others such as stress, illness, drugs, exercise, ... These are harder to count than carbohydrates but over time (unfortunately via trial and error) you will learn how your body reacts.

It is common for people with type 2 diabetes, to limit their carbs. Some people with type 1 may also do this but it is not as common. It is a personal preference. But I have never read about a strategy to reduce carbs in order to reduce insulin doses.
 
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Nickinoodles_

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Thanks so much for that at least it helps with understanding the jargon. So the carb counting is not that I need to eat less but to gauge the bolus. I think when people are "giving me advice" they are confusing type 1 & 2 & telling me no sugar & no carbs
 

TheBigNewt

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,167
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I was 32. 16 of Levemir sounds like a reasonable starting dose. I take 25 of Lantus. 8-12 of Novorapid isn't outrageous either. I usually take 5-10/meal. One thing that will help stabilize thing is if you could eat the EXACT SAME 3 MEALS every day for a short time. That way your grams of carbs won't vary, your calories will be the same. Then you can guage how many units of "bolus" to take with each meal. The 3 meals don't have to be the same, just make the breakfast the same each day, etc. I have a cheese omlet for breakfast, about 500 calories, and 5 units takes care of it every time. My lunch is cottage cheese, a portion of fruit, can of V-8 juice, and an entrée (leftovers from dinner usually), maybe a few tomatoes. About 6-8 units does that depending on the entrée.
 
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tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,934
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
Hi @Nickinoodles_ , welcome to the club. I'm not going to try and answer your questions, as @helensaramay has done a good job of that already. What i'm going to suggest is that you go and take a look at http://www.bertieonline.org.uk as it is a really useful course that should help you understand the insulin regime that you've been put on and how to work with it.

In addition, there's loads of links here that will hopefully give you something to read to help you: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/useful-tools-and-links-for-t1ds.88209/
 

DunePlodder

Well-Known Member
Messages
861
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
@TheBigNewt I was 39 when I was diagnosed.
I'm a bit puzzled by what you say about your breakfast. A cheese omelette may well be 500 calories, I don't know, but it is all protein. Obviously some of this will eventually break down to glucose but for someone new to Type 1 like Nickinoodles_ it is the carbohydrate content they should be looking for.
Perhaps I've misunderstood what you were saying?
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. Your doses are very similar to mine but we all vary. Hair loss is unusual. I would keep to a low'ish carb diet as it helps reduce blood sugar swings and weight gain as well as the amount of Bolus needed. As things settle you need to balance your Basal. Ask your DN or come back here for guidance. At balance, your Basal should keep your blood sugar fairly stable during a few hours fasting as it balances your liver's background glucose output. When the Basal is balanced, the Bolus ratio is adjusted to keep you blood sugar in range after 2 hours
 

phdiabetic

Well-Known Member
Messages
880
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I'm newly diagnosed- had diabetic ketoacidosis I'm one of the exceptions as I'm older than the usual newly diagnosed type 1. I've lost 3/4 of my hair - will this continue?? Plus I keep getting hypers & hypos / I'm on Levimer for night 16 & novorapid - between 8-12 doses per day - don't know the terminology yet. How long does it take to stabilise everything & are my doses normal or high? Is the aim to eat less sugar & carbs & eventually reduce insulin doses? Sorry lots of questions there

I had some hair loss when I was diagnosed, fortunately I had very thick hair in the first place so it wasn't really noticeable. I also had a vitamin B12 deficiency, and severe vitamin D deficiency (diagnosed a while later), so it might have been those things causing/adding to hair loss due to diabetes. If you have had symptoms such as tiredness, muscle pain, headaches (vitamin D) or tiredness, tingling fingers (B12) then maybe go and get a blood test done. When I was first diagnosed type 1, my mum noticed my hair loss (I was way too confused about everything else to notice that), and she said that the hair loss did stop once I began insulin, but it would take a long time to grow back (which took even longer due to the vitamin issues). After months, I found some new hairs growing in my fringe, so it does get better, at least partially.

Your doses are normal, expect these to change a lot due to your honeymoon period. I've had diabetes for 2 years and I still need to change my doses all the time. Everyone's different, so I can't really say how long your honeymoon will be, but it's usually a few months to a year long.

Many people eat a low carb diet, but this isn't necessary for good control. The aim is just to get relatively normal blood sugars without having too many hypos. You should discuss target ranges with your doctor as these vary individually. It is not a good idea to eat large amounts of carbs at once, or to eat sugar when you are not having a hypo, since this will likely upset your blood sugars, but it is certainly possible to eat moderate amounts of carbs e.g. 30-60g per meal and still maintain normal levels.