Newbie

[CC1]

Hi everyone so yesterday was diagnosed with T1 despite being T2 since Oct last year. Total shock as feel the best I have in years. very scared for the future. On base insulin at the mo, and wow even less than 24 hours my blood glucose has come down! Does it really work this quick. Hoping to go for a walk later but bit scared. Lost 4 stone in past year. Regular gym goer. Any advice on exercise and carbs would be good (been low carb for best part of a year).

 

[Fairygodmother]

Hi@CC1, and welcome to the T1 Club. You’ve had a rough ride. Even though the insulin’s made you feel so much better if it were me I’d go a little easier with the exercise for a while as I got used to the way my body reacted to it. You may also need to build up a bit of muscle again after all that weight loss! Classic T1 onset symptom.
When you go for a walk, and in fact all the time, make sure you’ve some fast acting car with you just in case your blood sugars drop to hypoglycaemia and you need to raise them. I use jelly babies but some people prefer glucotabs as they’re not so tempted to eat the lot and move from hypo to hyper.
I suspect the medical team will want to see how your blood sugars react to the insulin doses you’ve been given before they calculate the best doses and insulin to suit you. We all have different requirements. You don’t say what insulin and what dose you’ve been given but nevertheless it’s great it’s making you feel better! It’s great too that you’ve come to this forum.
If you want to help them get your doses right then one way is to keep full notes of your blood sugars before you eat, the grams of carbs you eat at each meal and your blood sugar readings 2 hours and 4 hours after you’ve eaten. It’s worth it even if you feel your life’s been temporarily taken over by data. You’ll need a set of scales that weighs in grams and has a function that adjusts to zero while your bowl or plate is still on the scales. That way you can add each type of carb and calculate the grams for the whole amount (in your head or on paper). I use Carbs and Cals, which you can get as a book or an app, to see what the carbs are in common foods. For others I search the net. Information on food packets is also great for this.
It should all become second nature after a while, and you’ll probably also get used to the physical and mental signals that let you know how your blood sugars are behaving.
You seem to have a lovely can do attitude . I hope you find that once this initial period of adjustment and learning’s been moved through T1 won’t hold you back from doing the things that make life good.

 

[CC1]

Aw thank you so much for your kind words. Yeah been a bit of a rollercoaster but basically they don't think I ever was T2. I've learnt so much about carbs over the past year and I've been sticking to under 100g a day but I understand I have to up it a little with my meals. I'm just so disappointed as it's one step forward 3 steps back. I want to keep the weight off I've lost as I've been working so hard at the gym and exercise over the past 10 months. I've got a lot to learn and how to work it all out. I'm going into the mealtime insulin from next week at the mo im on one shot in a morning and one at night. Thank you for the reassurance. Scary stuff this xx

 

[LooperCat]

Hi and welcome to the club none of us wanted to join! As Helen says, we have the freedom to eat as little or as much carbohydrate as we want, we just need to match our insulin to it. Personally I eat very little carb because I could never match my insulin to it; @Knikki has my share and is quite the professional cake fiend. Different strokes and all that.

 

[CC1]

Thank you everyone I'm just a little scared for the future as everytime I Google it it just comes up with how serious it is and that scares me. Feeling emotional today over it but I'm determined to not let it rule me I need to rule it. Need to get myself to the gym as it's been 4 days since I last went and it will help me mentally. Thank you again everyone I will be asking lots of questions xx

 

[EllieM]

Thank you everyone I'm just a little scared for the future as everytime I Google it it just comes up with how serious it is and that scares me. Feeling emotional today over it but I'm determined to not let it rule me I need to rule it. Need to get myself to the gym as it's been 4 days since I last went and it will help me mentally. Thank you again everyone I will be asking lots of questions xx

Look, dietary wise, you have much more choice as a T1 than a T2. You just (and it's a big just) have to balance your insulin against your carbs.

There are many of us on here who've been T1 for half a decade or more (OK I've got 1 year to go) and are still healthy and active, so it's far from a death sentence.

The downsides : you'll need to do blood tests (or get a libre if your doctors will prescribe it an if it works for you, two big ifs).
Balancing sugars as a T1 is a pain, they seem to go up randomly sometimes.

Hypos: honestly, they are the worst part of T1 for me but they are manageable (think of an asthmatic having to puff an inhaler). Yes, always take glucose (or equivalent) with you wherever you go, but there are way worse conditions to have.

At 57 I'm starting to see some of my contemporaries get random age related diseases (cancer, bad arthritis, etc). T1 is way better. Yes, it's a pain and inconvenient, but I can control it by my insulin, exercise and dietary choices.

And the gym is a great choice. I've always been the last person to be chosen at school athletics events and naturally sedentary/lazy. When I was 50, in response to severe back ache (hereditary non diabetic issue) I started to go the gym. I just wish I had started earlier, as it has made a massive improvement to my health and welfare, even though I have to blood test like mad to avoid hypos while I'm active.

Good luck. T1 is a pain/inconvenience, but it's not the end of the world. More importantly, there are few life goals which it rules out. (OK, mission to Mars is out).

 

[CC1]

Hi Ellie thank you soo much for your reply you have made me feel a whole lot better I guess mentally I need to get my head in a place where I can come to terms with it. I'm 45 and Ive seen 3 of my close pals battle with the big C so yes there are much more bigger issues out there. I love the gym and the days I don't go I walk so the 4 stone loss in the last year will hopefully help me get started on this. Thank you again x

 

[Marie 2]

With all the tech and knowledge T1's can expect a normal or close to normal life expectancy now. But exercise with insulin is more of a trick at learning, it's good for all of us so it's worth learning. But just make sure you take Glucose tabs or your favorite fast sugar hypo treatment with you. Just that little bit of extra workout can throw you a curve.

 

[CC1]

With all the tech and knowledge T1's can expect a normal or close to normal life expectancy now. But exercise with insulin is more of a trick at learning, it's good for all of us so it's worth learning. But just make sure you take Glucose tabs or your favorite fast sugar hypo treatment with you. Just that little bit of extra workout can throw you a curve.

Thanks Marie I went to the gym on Saturday took a carton of orange juice with me and took it slow to see how my body reacts. Was a little more tired after my workout but that was all x