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Newly diagnosed with type 1

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Paige97

Member
Messages
8
Hi,

My partner has just been discharged from hospital after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He is 25 and very healthy so this has come as a shock to us both. If anyone has any helpful tips or advice to help us I would really appreciate it. Thank you :)
 
Hi @Paige97, welcome to the forum.
I don't know that I have any helpful tips or advice to share, it's a long time since I was diagnosed and there's so much for your partner (and you) to learn! I recommended the Bertie course to another newbie earlier today who has just been diagnosed https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/ aside from that there is lots of information on this website and on the forum :)
 
Paige97 said:
Hi,

My partner has just been discharged from hospital after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He is 25 and very healthy so this has come as a shock to us both. If anyone has any helpful tips or advice to help us I would really appreciate it. Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Just out of interest how many units of basal insulin does he take? (Usually Lantus or Levemir)

I’m just going to share some details that might be useful when learning about Type 1 diabetes:

1) Type 1 diabetes has nothing to do with your lifestyle but is mainly due to a combination of genetics and environmental triggers. Scientists have theorised that some viruses such as enteroviruses trigger an autoimmune response where your body mistakenly destroys insulin-producing B-cells in the pancreas. The genetic aspect is that if your mum has it you have a 4% chance of getting it, 9% from a dad, 10% if a sibling has it and 30% if both mum and dad have it.

2) There is a likelihood of your partner experiencing a phenomenon called the honeymoon phase where the remaining B-cells that still haven’t been destroyed start producing insulin as there is less pressure on the pancreas due to taking exogenous insulin in the form of injections.

3) Ideally your partner should talk with a dietician to do basal testing. This is when you eat no carbs for 2 days and test your blood sugar at least 4 times a day to see if the basal insulin is too much or too little. However you should do this with your diabetes dietitian because when newly diagnosed they will instruct you to adjust your dose.

4) Anaerobic exercise like weightlifting increase blood glucose while aerobic exercise like swimming decreases blood glucose obviously depending on intensity, high intensity workouts increase blood glucose initially.

5) Your partner will be required to do a DAFNE course which trains him to adjust his insulin. The DAFNE course is by invite only. There is an additional course called BERTIE which he can sign up for free online. It will teach him about basal adjusting, everything related to diabetes such as exercise and also carb counting and the use of ratios.

Anyways I don’t want to go too much in detail. The BERTIE course a long with a PDF file from Diabetes UK about carb counting literally made me an expert on diabetes.
 
Hi @CelalDari

Am unsure why you think a newly diagnosed type 1 should be basal testing ?

Any basal adjustments need to be done under guidance of their DSN who will keep a close eye on readings and ratios.

Many newly diagnosed type 1’s are over loaded with information, understanding the nuances of the condition comes with living with it and the honeymoon phase brings with it instability and many changes, basal needs do invariably change over time but the majority of type 1’s follow the care of their team in regards to adjustments.

The Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating course is only offered to insulin dependent diabetics after the honeymoon phase has ended which can take over a year.

An excellent read for any type 1 is ‘think like a pancreas’ written by Gary Scheiner who is type 1.
 
Paige97 said:
Hi,

My partner has just been discharged from hospital after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He is 25 and very healthy so this has come as a shock to us both. If anyone has any helpful tips or advice to help us I would really appreciate it. Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Hi @Paige97 ,

Welcome to the forum.

You sound like a caring person. Encourage your partner to join up & take the subject in bite sized chunks?
There can be plenty of tips. But it does depend what the questions are?

Kind regards,

Jaylee.
 
Paige97 said:
Hi,

My partner has just been discharged from hospital after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He is 25 and very healthy so this has come as a shock to us both. If anyone has any helpful tips or advice to help us I would really appreciate it. Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Hi and a big welcome. Sorry to hear your partner has been diagnosed with type 1, but it will get easier and more manageable in time, as there is a lot to take in and adjust to.
Type 1 is an autoimmune condition, where the body attacks it's self. I was 31 when diagnosed and in hospital too. I will tag, @becca59 @Fairygodmother @LooperCat and @kev-w too.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/type-1-diabetes/newly-diagnosed-things-to-help/
 
Last edited:
Juicyj said:
Hi @CelalDari

Am unsure why you think a newly diagnosed type 1 should be basal testing ?

Any basal adjustments need to be done under guidance of their DSN who will keep a close eye on readings and ratios.

Many newly diagnosed type 1’s are over loaded with information, understanding the nuances of the condition comes with living with it and the honeymoon phase brings with it instability and many changes, basal needs do invariably change over time but the majority of type 1’s follow the care of their team in regards to adjustments.

The Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating course is only offered to insulin dependent diabetics after the honeymoon phase has ended which can take over a year.

An excellent read for any type 1 is ‘think like a pancreas’ written by Gary Scheiner who is type 1.
Click to expand...

Because sometimes the amount of insulin they calculated while staying in hospital does not match your requirements at home.

I was put on 16 units of Lantus for my basal which worked fine in the hospital but I found that I was getting hypos when I came home (around 1-3 a day) even for short 5 minute walks to the GP.

In addition to this your dietitian would want to see how effective your basal is. You might have to split a dose, increase or decrease a dose. So many alterations which could make your BG more stable.

Obviously everything must be done within the guidance of the diabetes medical team but there’s no harm in learning stuff ahead e.g. doing a BERTIE course
 
Welcome @Paige97 - sorry to hear of your partner’s diagnosis, it’s such a shock when it comes out of the blue like that. It hit me at 23 in a similar way, so I can empathise totally. It’s a steep learning curve, and there’ll be mistakes along the way while you both learn how to live with it. It’s hard work being a pancreas, but he’ll get the hang of it. Advice to you as his partner would be to be patient, learn about it with him - you’ll never know what it’s like to BE diabetic, but you’ll get to know a lot about how it works. Try not to get angry or frustrated when his blood sugars don’t behave, sometimes they just don’t. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Once things settle down, and you get the hang of it, life can carry on pretty much as normal - you just have to carry a bit more stuff.

Biggest tip? Always keep some sort of glucose on you, both me and my husband carry dextro tablets, and they’re in every vehicle, bag and coat pocket! And especially on the bedside table ;) £1 for a twin pack in Home Bargains :D

And see if he’ll join here. He’ll gets loads of advice and support from people who live with this thing day in and day out.
 
Thank you all so much for your kind words, support and advice. It’s a long road ahead and there’s definitely a lot more to learn than you think but I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it soon! I have recently purchased the ‘Think like a pancreas’ book which is really helpful and he has just received an appointment to see the local diabetes nurse so we’re making note of any questions! I will convince him to sign up here too, it’s really nice knowing there’s so much help and support around at what can be a scary time! Thank you all again, it’s really appreciated :)
 
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