Newly Diagnosed ‘n

Tee_Rockz

Member
Messages
16
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Good Morning to all apart of this chat ! I’m a 20 yr old female recently diagnosed with type 1, my first reading was at an all time high of over 600 (yikes) I’ve never felt differently either than the increase of urinating and eating .. it’s been a week now and I’m at 400 the most and below ... so far the lowest I’ve went is 159 ... can anyone help on how to bring my levels below 120 quickly ? (I know dieting and portioning is a big factor) I’d appreciate any advice ! Thanks family !
 

urbanracer

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
5,187
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Good Morning to all apart of this chat ! I’m a 20 yr old female recently diagnosed with type 1, my first reading was at an all time high of over 600 (yikes) I’ve never felt differently either than the increase of urinating and eating .. it’s been a week now and I’m at 400 the most and below ... so far the lowest I’ve went is 159 ... can anyone help on how to bring my levels below 120 quickly ? (I know dieting and portioning is a big factor) I’d appreciate any advice ! Thanks family !

Welcome to the forums.

General advice is don't rush it. There is some evidence to suggest that lowering your levels too quickly can damage your long term health - especially eyesight.

Nice an easy does it, every time!

I notice that you are using non UK glucose numbers - where are you and what sort of advice are you getting from your medical team?
 

Antje77

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
19,472
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello @Tee_Rockz , and welcome to the forum!
It's a lot to take in at first, but you don't want to drop too far too quickly.
It takes time and trial and error to find the right insulin dose for you. If you overdo the insulin you'll go too low, if you overdo by a lot you may go too low too quickly to react, especially as you haven't experienced a hypo yet.

At a week in 159 is a very nice number to see!

Are you on 2 insulins? If so, have you made a start with adjusting the amount of bolus/mealtime insulin to the amount of carbs you eat?
That will be the way to go when you and your HCP have found your rough doses.

What you can do now is check every package of everything you eat and check the amount of carbs per 100 grams and try to work out how many carbs will be in a meal or a snack. For unpackaged foods you can use google, and a lot of people like the Cals & Carbs app and book.
You'll likely start to see patterns between your bg, the amount of carbs you ate and the amount of insulin you took. The more information you have to take with you to your next appointment, the better they can help you work out the right doses for you.

People on this forum mostly use mmol/l as the unit for blood glucose, as that's what's used in the UK. You use mg/dl, which is perfectly fine, but you may want to keep a chart or converter on hand when reading on the forum and the rest of the internet.
Hba1c, the 3 monthly value is measured in different units as well. I like this chart to quickly look things up when reading, as it has both hba1c and bg.

Good luck, and please take your time! It's a marathon, not a sprint!

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mentat

Well-Known Member
Messages
419
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
You need to follow the advice of your diabetes team. A great book to get is called "Think Like a Pancreas".

Your team will probably help you work out a target range, which is a range that you try not to go below and try not to go above. This should begin reasonably high and slowly come down as your body adjusts and you gain confidence.

There are 3 things as a starting point to T1D:
  • Carbs increase blood sugar (more carbs = bigger increase)
  • Insulin lowers blood sugar (more insulin = bigger decrease)
  • Insulin injections and meals have a timing factor. They don't work immediately. Matching the timing of insulin and food is challenging. If you want to bring your sugar down you need to be aware that the insulin will keep acting for hours and may send you low later on. You will get a better feel for it over time.