Hello @Caoimhe123 Welcome to the forum
There's a lot to take in on diagnosis so try and take things easy, taking a set amount of insulin offers no flexibility if you change the amount of carbs you eat, it is a good starting point simply to get used to testing and injecting and learning more about how your body uses insulin, however your blood glucose levels will rise if you eat more carbohydrates than usual. In time switching to multiple injections and matching insulin to carbs eaten will help you control your blood glucose levels better. Your injection sites are new so there should be any issues with absorption, try to follow the pinch an inch rule when injecting so you are injecting into a layer of fat.
When you are diagnosed you will become pretty hungry your body has been starved so is replenishing its stores, this will ease off though. I tend to snack on olives, cheese, pork scratchings, protein when hungry.
A good book to start on is 'think like a pancreas' knowledge is power with managing type 1, and ask away if you are unsure of anything
Thanks @Juicyj for the reply really appreciate it!
Im keen to start the carb counting and to learn to match my insulin, it's just not done that way to begin with in the hospital I was inI have to wait until my levels become more stable and I see what raises my levels.
This may be a stupid question but can you gain weight more easily with diabetes? My dietician told me to be aware of my snacking so I don't balloon out. I've never really watched my weight or have had to, im currently a healthy weight I just don't want to have to tackle weight loss combined with this in the future.
I'm actually currently on the search for that book, all the shops ive been to don't have it.
But today my levels have risen higher after breakfast and dinner even though the meals and insulin hasnt changed.
Hello! I was the same age as you when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and it also did not run in my family so I understand that it can all be a bit daunting! I attended the Dose adjustment for normal eating (DAFNE) course through my hospital's diabetes clinic and found this to be very useful as it covered carb counting and various other topics such as diabetes and exercise. It was also a great opportunity to meet others with diabetes. The my diabetes my way site is also a good tool to keep track of all your results (your hospital clinic should be able to tell you about this). Wishing you all the best
That's an important observation you've made, @Caoimhe123 , and it's key to understanding the nature of diabetes. In short, it's kinda random and unpredictable. The changes in levels are to do with that, nothing to do with building up resistant areas.
If it was just a case of balancing insulin, meals and exercise, which are the three main factors involved, then it would be relatively easy, just as if you were balancing each of those things in a set of scales.
But the problem is insulin/food/exercise are trying to get along with a lot of other bodily processes, and sometimes those other bits and pieces will throw the balance out, almost like some hidden forces are wobbling the table the scales are sitting on. That's obviously unfair but it's not as bad as it sounds: sure, it's difficult at times, you'll get a lot of unexpected results even though you've done the exact same thing twice, you'll have some messy hypos, you'll get frustrated, but, after a while, you'll figure out a lot of subtle tips and tricks to even the game a bit. You'll pick up a lot of fine tuning tips through your own experience, and from people on this site: it's sometimes like watching grand masters playing chess or snooker!
Even so, experienced T1s still make a mess of it now and then, so don't feel at all disheartened if the carb counting/insulin calculations don't always go to plan. You'll learn as much from mistakes as you do from getting it right. .As long as levels are OK most of the time, you'll be fine. The odd mistake doesn't matter that much.
Some newbies become resentful of the condition. It can be easy to end up thinking why bother, but, seriously, don't go down that route.
I've been around the block long enough to think of it more like a few bits of my body have stopped working properly, so I'm going to have to give them a bit of hand: like a parent steers a small child when they're learning to walk, I need to steer my blood glucose. That way, it's no longer an enemy: it's something I co-operate with. I can even go to the pub with it quite happily!
No problem at all. I'm really sorry but I've just realised that my diabetes my way is used in Scotland only. Hopefully there's a similar site that is used elsewhere in the ukThanks @lyndsayob ! Going to look into education courses now and will check out that website!!
My mother told me I need to relax
Is Diet Coke not good?When my body screams sugar! But my brain knows I've had enough, I drink Diet Coke to trick it. Not the best advice but if desperate, worth a try.
Hi PaigeHi @Caoimhe123️
I'm Paige and I was recently diagnosed with type 1. I'm only 11 (so that's quite a big age difference) but gradually, my bg levels are starting to become more normal.
I'm not going to go into detail of how I was diagnosed, but when I was, my GP didn't really want to do anything. It was only on my mums insistence that my bg was tested. It came out at 32. I was sent straight to hospital and have been on insulin injections since then.
My bloods stayed quite high at first (between 24 and 32) and on a few occasions, my bg testing machine just said 'hi' and gave me no results. After a few more weeks, my blood started to come down to between 11 and 17. And now, I'm finally becoming back to normal, having bloods in between 5 and 8 (occasionally higher). As long as you keep taking your insulin and the advice of the nurses from hospital, your blood will come down and will become more 'normal'.
And finally, I would just like to say, be careful whilst looking out for hypo symptoms. Every person is different. The hospital will have probably told you that a hypo is when your bg is below 4, but everyone is different. I have hypos when my blood is around 4.6 and lower. Just make sure you know the symptoms and know when to treat it.
I'm happy to help and give any advice even though I'm a lot younger haha
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