Newly Diagnosed Yesterday

[emjgil]

Hi everyone, thought I could give you back ground first...

Firstly it's my husband not myself, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes yesterday, here is what happened...

My husband is the most active healthiest person I know. He has always been sporty, active, fit etc, is ex army heavy weight boxer, always looked after himself, has a steady weight of 14-15 stone and is 31 next month.

As I'm guessing with some of you at least, all symptoms could be explained away by something or other.
In December he started working out daily and eating healthier (still with the odd treat) so of course he was drinking more water and losing some weight. He was doing this for about 3 weeks, then took a break due to myself having had surgery and Xmas. During this time his eyesight started getting blurry on and off so was going to book an eye test and in mean time got drops as eyes were dry. Around Christmas his eyes got back to normal. over Christmas, New year and beginning January he was his usual self. Then he started getting thirsty to the point nothing quenched it, he would drink water, juice, milk, squash and have relief for a few seconds then the thirst returned. As he was drinking so much obviously he was peeing lots too.
On Thursday he mentioned the thirst wasn't improving so I made him a routine doctors appointment for a check up, I knew no-one should be THAT thirsty all the time, he also wanted me to go with him.

They happened to have an available appointment Friday morning so that's great, although if they had of offered a day next week we would have accepted that too.

We went in, explained everything and she suggested it could be diabetes, took blood to send off, and got him to pee in a cup. She tested urine and commented she has never seen a result so high in a non diabetic of ketones, it was off the chart. She then thought best to do blood sugar finger test (sorry I don't no tech terms for things yet) and that came back at 29.5, diabetes nurse popped in, looked at reading and said hospital and doc called ahead.

We dropped our 2yr old daughter to nursery and went.
By the time we got there (20 miles) they did finger test again, it was 32mmol/l (is monk/l right term?) and immediately gave him insulin. an hour later tested again and 29, so another shot.

He now weighs 12st 6, has smaller arms than me (I'm not huge) his face looked gaunt, his muscles started wasting away so he is half the size he usually is. When you see someone every day you don't always notice these things happening until you really look at them.

Today, he is still in hospital and most likely will be til Tuesday, has had needles in him about 48 Times, and currently his blood sugar is 18 so back on insulin drip, potassium in good again after being on that drip for 7 hours, and urine test showed no ketones so that's good.

I'm told we have been very lucky as we got him there just in time. I dread to think what would have happened if his doctors appointment was next week instead

Emma xx

 

[daisy1]

Hi Emma and welcome to the forum

I do hope that your husband's levels are starting to come down well and wish him all the best. I expect he will have to stay in for a few days. Here is the information we give to new members which I am sure you will find useful (I had already put this in your other thread too). You will have loads of questions to ask so just fire away and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I'm sorry to hear of your husband's T1, but it looks like everyone did the right thing once he started to be unwell. Yes, the symptoms are the ones many of us had at diagnosis. The insulin should continue to resolve the blood sugar and I'm sure he will be in a good state within a day or so. As you will find on the forum there is a lot of good advice for those with T1 using insulin. If your husband can start a low'ish carb diet it will enable him to have a matching low'ish dose of insulin to match the food intake but he will of course be guided by the docs and his meter. It's so important the public at large are aware of the symptoms of severe hyperglycemia and ketones and know that going to A&E if necessary is the right thing to do.