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Recently diagnosed and concerned.

Dan_Mason

Dan_Mason

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,
I was recently diagnosed with type 1 around 4 weeks ago and I've been on a bit of a roller coaster and was wondering if anyone has any help or info for me.I started off on 15 units a day, 9 to be taken before breakfast and 6 to be taken before lunch. This was fine for 2 days until I started experiencing hypos inbetween meals. My units have since been decreased a lot but the same thing seems to happen. It works fine for 2 days then I start experiencing hypos. I am now on only 3 units a day before lunch. I injected last night around half an hour before lunch but within 20 mins of finishing my bg was at 3.2. I had some sugar but struggled for around 3 hours to get this above 5. Do you think it's possible I have been wrongly diagnosed? I'm on humalog mix 25 and eat a healthy diet, if this information helps with any response. Many thanks x
 
Dan it sounds as if the insulin dose needs to be reduced. It's very common for your body to need less insulin soon after you've started taking it, especially if you're in your honeymoon. It sounds as if that's what's happening here - honeymoon variability. You'd also find things easier on a basal/bolus regime rather than mixed, because then you could get the basal right first, then fix the mealtime on top.

You can't do this on your own though. Go back to the doc or the DSN so you can figure it out

Don't worry, this can be got under control. It just takes patient experimentation. But you don't want those lows. Good luck!

PS Have a look at low-carb and see if it appeals. It's a way of minimising spikes and lows. Some of us find it incredibly helpful, though some not. This man is a Swedish doctor who is quite reliable. http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
 
Thanks for the reply Lucy,

Do you think the basal/bolus would be right for me? I check my blood sugars at lest 4 times a day and I've noticed that before breakfast and dinner I'm fine with a range between 4-7 and it rarely peaks above 8-9.this is all without any injections. I only seem to have problems once I take the insulin before my final meal of the day.
 
You need experienced people to advise you like @noblehead.

Tho it sounds as if you'll stabilise needing hardly any insulin. Which is good news!
 
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Your insulin requirement can naturally reduce within the first four weeks of diagnosis-I was the same, I went from having 12 units of levimir (basal) and 6-8 bolus with meals. Within a week this dropped dramatically to just 2-4 units basal and also 2-4 units bolus with meals. In some cases your pancreas has a little 'burst' after diagnosis and produces v small amounts of insulin alongside what your injecting. Eventually your pancreas will stop this. After 18 months I am still in what's called the honeymoon period and inject a maximum of 20 units overall a day which is v little compared to other diabetics. Speak with your DSN and they will advise you with what doses to take and hopefully put you on the waiting list for the carb counting course.
 
Hi Dan, you just need to try changing things up. When doctors tell you what to inject its really just their best guess, they don't actually know off hand what exactly you need.

For examples when i was diagnosed i was told to inject 6 units of novo rapid before every meal minimum plus more if I was above 8mmol/L i did that for about a week and was constantly low.. jump through all the changes to now, and i RARELY ever need more then 3 units for a meal. There was meals i was inject 7-9units! Those same meals i now only inject like 3..

Point is, i felt the exact same way, i felt like they screwed up the diagnoses, but really its just that you need to play with your doses and get them to a point where they are proper.
 
Dan_Mason said:
Thanks for the reply Lucy,

Do you think the basal/bolus would be right for me? I check my blood sugars at lest 4 times a day and I've noticed that before breakfast and dinner I'm fine with a range between 4-7 and it rarely peaks above 8-9.this is all without any injections. I only seem to have problems once I take the insulin before my final meal of the day.
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Your in the diabetic honeymoon period as novorapidboi explained earlier, here is an explanation about it from the DCUK community pages:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/honeymoon-phase.html

Have a chat with your DSN in the morning about reducing your insulin doses.
 
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