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Newbie and feeling a bit overwhelmed

K

Kazzabon

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Hi

Been a type 1 for around 25 years and the first to admit I have 'cuffed it' for a lot of those years. My consultant has been trying to persuade me to try the pump for the past 2 years as my HBA 1 never dip below 9. After a couple of years of feeling knackered and dipping in and out of the 'blues' I thought it time I grew up.

I have just come out of my week in hospital and my introduction/attachement to the pump (Animas 2020). All went well in hospital, my basal rates were set, my bolus around the same as I was taking pre-pump and I found a comfy place to wear it - All in all, I was feeling pretty confident - then I came home................. Bloods doing all sorts, having to changed the kit at midnight due to unexplained high, fiddling with my basals - well you can imagine what I'm feeling, pump-wise :(

I live on my own, in the middle of the backend of nowhere in France and although I can follow a lot of instruction in French I am feeling a bit over whelmed. I'm not expecting a miracle and the aim is to improve my bloods over a period of time as I hypo at around 5mmol due to my body being used to living with a higher count - so I'm aiming for a broad spectrum of 6 - 9.

Sorry for the long post - but any encouragement will be gratefully read!!!
 
Hi Kazzabon and welcome to the forum :) There are lots of pumpers on this forum who will be along soon to share their experience with you and answer any questions you may have. In the meantime here is some basic information for you to read, written by the Forum Monitors, which you might find useful even though you have been diabetic for 25 years. You might find this information a bit different from what you have been told up to now - give it a try :)

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.


As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.
Click to expand...
 
Welcome from another habitant of la france profonde. I also have a pump and love being able to adjust my insulin according to what I'm doing.
The course I had in hospital wasn't brilliant, and it was for me difficult to understand everything that was said, though it has the advantage of starting in a 'safe' environment.
For me the best source of information was an American book: John Walsh Pumping Insulin which I bought online from the UK. My consultant will talk with me on the phone, but I hate trying to talk in French on the phone so I avoid that where possible (the nurse is also available but tha'ts even more difficult as she has a strong local accent and speaks very rapidly, I can manage, to understand her face to face now, but that's taken 6 years :oops: )

I think a lot of the problems I had at the start are due to lack of confidence. It used to take ages to fill a reservoir and put in a new set (the very first time , at the hospital, I was shaking like a leaf when I tried and not surprisingly it wasn't very succesful) but 3 years down the line it is routine and I very rarely get canula badly placed or bubbles in the reservoir.
It does get easier, though I'm still learning how to tweak things even better.
 
Thanks Guys - just being able to off-load is a great help. I ordered the Pumping Book last week before my hook up in hospital as every thing I've read about it is good.

I do usually try to watch my carb intake, especially for the evening meal, so when I am back on track and have stopped over thinking everything will return to that. I 'm going to try not to keep fiddling with my basals and give things a chance to settle down (including my head) although I will keep the reduction of 0.1 of the one from midday to 10pm as I am more active at home than in hospital, obviously.

Again, thanks.
 
hi

the pump is alot of work but honestly when u get it right its fantastic we wouldnt be without ours after a month and a half of being on it, we had some sleepless nights and alot of jiggling but have finally got some sort of normality and have everything crossed for our next hba1c being under 10 as we havent managed that before.

perserveer alter things one at a time and u will get there, dylan had some lows today because we havent quite figured out the playing football matches right but hes back where he should be a few hours later so worry over, he also had a treat yesterday of a caramel egg he was 6 before he ate it and an hour and a half later we tested 6 again fabulous :D

anna marie
 
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