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Recent diagnosis of T1

K

Kathleen Mc

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last month (13/6/09) after being taken into A&E with DKA. This was mainly due to me being too stubborn to go to the doctors and admit that something was wrong. My BGLs were in the high 20s on admission and I was in the Clinical Decision Unit @ West Berks hosp for 3 days before spending 7 days in another ward. My BGLs remained high, not falling below 14 and peaking over 20 a few times and it was decided to send me home as sitting in bed all day was deemed counter-productive as I wasn't burning off any energy.

It was decided to put me on the Novomix insulin, and I managed to administer the injections myself straight away with both the syringe and the pen that I now use at home.
I have increased the two doses I take (before breakfast and evening meal) based on my BGLs so I'm now on 30 and 22 units.
My levels gradually came down and I seemed to have gotten everything under control - but then they went up again, and now they seem to have come down again.
My biggest problem is that I can eat the same thing on consecutive days and have different BGLs!!!

Whilst in the hospital I had a couple of visits from the dietician and the diabetes nurse (although they both made their first visits when I was pretty out of it in the CDU!!) They both visited me on the day I was discharged, and other than a 30 second phone call 3 days after discharge, I've not had any contact with anyone!!!! It's now nearly 5 weeks since I came home. And my first diabetes clinic won't be until Aug/Sep. I don't even know what a diabetes clinic involves.

The advice I was given was basically to follow a low GI diet, but I've avoided all things sweet (except fruit and drinks with sweeteners), apart from a piece of sugar-free fruit cake (that I don't think was sugar-free having seen my BGLs afterwards!!!), a piece of fruit strudel and a Chinese restaurant meal. I've also been teetotal since diagnosis!

I'm just wondering if all I've read on here about carb counting is relevant to me on the Novomix rather than the individual fast and slow insulins.

Well, I've waffled on for long enough!!
Kathleen
 
Hi Kathleen and welcome to the forum.
The variation in your bg levels can be down to a number of factors such as stress, exercise, infections, alcohol etc. It may also be related to how your pancreas is performing. There is often some residual function just after diagnosis and it may make it difficult to get consistent readings early on. Things will settle down fairly soon with luck.
Carb counting is absolutely relevant to all diabetics, regardless of which medical regime they follow. Carbs are the single biggest factor in raising your blood sugar, so you will need to know how much you are eating in order to make sure your meds are appropriate.
You'll find that some carbs raise your bg quickly and steeply and are best avoided actually if you'd prefer to keep your use of isulin to a minimum.
Best of luck,

fergus
 
Hi, There!

at Clinic all they wil do is a blood test for your hb1c ur hight and wight and then u will go talk to a doc about ur hb1c result. it takes an hour maybe less ave seen me being inand out before.

you can contact ur diabetic nurse by phone and arrange to go see her/him. i do tht and it helps with things i need to get off my chest.

whn i was 1st told i had diabetes i never receved much help from my nurses! but 7 years on in the adult clinic i am gettin more help than ever.

Bgls are a nightmare i hate them just because i dont like going hypo. like this morning. but it wasnt too low so i felt ok about it.

diabetes do get easyer in time and you myt need a short acting insulin to bring down ur levels. such as just before a meal. i had to take humilin s before dinner depending on my bgls.

and as for the carbs i dont knw as i eat everything i am ment to and everything am not i just cant give the chocolate up! but i onli have a little each day.

hope i have helped u! this is my 1st post reply as ave onli done my own one!

xx 8)
 
Hi Kathleen,

Welcome to the forum. Your scenario sounds quite similar to my own - taken in with DKA, pushed out of the NHS system after a few days, very undereducated and not really knowing what was going on! I'm also on Novomix and I can say that 'carb counting' is definitely pertinent to those of us on premix insulins, just as much as those on basal/bolus (the proper name for slow acting and quick acting insulin) regimes.

Following the advice on this forum I was able to reduce the amount of insulin I was taking from in the high-20s (similar to yourself) to around 8-10, both morning and evening. I would say that considering the amount of Novomix you're injecting, and the fact that you're BGLs are still very high, that the thing that really needs attention is your diet and exercise regime, rather than your medication.

Again, it wasn't till reading around the subject did it 'sink in' that carbs were the enemy, rather than just 'sugary things'. Maybe it's pre-diabetes ignorance coupled with an inadequate education from the NHS which leads a lot of newly diagnosed diabetics to not be totally clued up about what they should and shouldn't be careful about.

Anyway, it's not all doom and gloom. If you stick around in the forum, do a bit of lurking, read other people's posts and you will soon start to gain a much better understanding of what's happening to you, what CAN happen to you (Dawn Phenomenon, Honeymooning etc) and the best way to approach any problems you might be experiencing. We're a friendly bunch and there are a lot of real experts here too.

You've come to the right place!
 
Hi and welcome

Carb counting is absolutely essential. Eating more carbs than you are dosing/exercising for will raise your blood sugar regardless of what insulin you're on.

Often dieticians say ignore anything 5 carbs or less - this may be true once you're well controlled, but if your sugar is already a bit high or unstable 4-5 carbs can make a big difference. So best be as accurate as you can.
 
Hi Kathleen, you've had a hell of a shock, and I don't want to bombard you too much with info so soon after your diagnosis, but something else to consider is that the insulin might not be working for you.
A factor that can affect diabetes control is being on an insulin that doesn't suit you. I struggled on Lantus for 4 1/2 years before I realised it was actually the Lantus causing the inconsistency in my control. I could do, eat the same things and take the same dose of insulin, yet my daily levels varied so much; after breakfast one day i could be 7-8, next day up to 17! I had no help or advice from my hospital, in fact when i told my consultant that my bloods fluctuated daily between 2 - 15, (sometimes higher), she told me it was ok as long as they came down again! However when I was on insulatard, and having some control problems, I was switched to Lantus. Why was it not suggested that I change to another insulin when having probs with Lantus? Lantus is a synthetic analogue ,supposedly 24 hour insulin.
Any way the upshot is that I changed to pork insulin last may, and have great consistent control, no unexplained ups and downs- so the proof of the pudding is in the eating! Some insulins don't work for some people.
I also suffered some awful side effects while on Lantus, exhaustion, joint and muscular aches and pains to name a few. As well as my erratic control, these side-effects were ignored by by diabetes clinic, although, as i've since discovered, they are very commonly reported side-effects of analogue insulin.
It would be worth your while looking at the IDDT(insulin dependent diabetes trust) website or ringing their helpline for advice, about insulin or any other queries you probs ur have having being diagnosed to recently.
Best of luck to you
Jus
 
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