Thinking I know better or way off the mark?

[Doppeybhoy]

Having a few issues with being type 1. Have been diagnosed for just over 2 years now and have only stuck the the programme I’m on for about 8 months of that religiously if I’m being honest. In all that time of not taking the jags or doing so in drive and drabs when I feel like it. Also haven’t actually checked my bloods in a few months now either so don’t know if I’m playing a dangerous game with myself or maybe I’m not as insulin dependant as I was first told. I also haven’t been to any of my appointments in months through working away and stuff, so have no professional in put with any this. I haven’t had a hypo in any of this time , although have felt a bit Brad Pitt at times so maybe jag a few days then stop when I’m over it. Help a clueless diabetic brother out

 

[Deleted Account]

It is very difficult to comment if you have no BG measurement to know whether you were experiencing hypos or hypers when you feel "Brad Pitt".

I would suggest going back to religiously testing at least 4 times a day to see if you need insulin or not.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @Doppeybhoy ,

What insulin regime are you prescribed?

If you were to test right now, what number does it throw up??

A full assessment of your BG control would be advised by your HCPs in order to move things along..
Ask questions here by all means.

 

[Doppeybhoy]

Thanks for the feed back see this is my issue after 2 years of this I’ve never really understood any of it. Generally clueless when you mention ‘hypers’. I’m not sure all this jagging and stuff is for me. I have really tried with the adjusting to it all I just can’t seem to brack it at all. Is there somewhere I can hand it all back and just leave it at that? Maybe a diabetic amnesty bin located in a local hospital?

 

[Doppeybhoy]

Currently on novo rapid and levimr
But I very rarely take it. Just when I start to take a dip or feel lethargic I then take it a few days and fall away from it again. However I know if I had to test my bloods it will say high. I do have a very active job, could this be burning any the stuff I’m eating and my body has found a balance wit it?

 

[Jaylee]

Hi again,

You could possibly be I some sort of "honeymoon" stage.. But I doubt it.
You may well just have gotten used to the high BGs? But that's not going to help you. (Like a tolerance to drugs or alcahol, they all "crash & burn" in the end.)

Type1 is not something you can brush off & walk away from... To be blunt, you will wind up either carried to a hospital or a crematorium..

You are on a diabetic forum. Get yer meter out, draw some blood & humour me..!

 

[KK123]

Hi Doppey, well you're playing Russian Roulette with your health but you know that. The problem is you have NO idea what your glucose levels are doing to your body. You may think you are getting away with it now and feeling no signs of a hypo etc, but you won't know if you are constantly high and that WILL be causing damage to just about every part of your body. Please think about it, second guessing is a very risky strategy. Do you know why you are so blasé about it? x

 

[EllieM]

I do have a very active job, could this be burning any the stuff I’m eating and my body has found a balance wit it?

Not really.
Look, there are some possibilities here
1) you've been completely midiagnosed, you're not diabetic and you can forget about the whole thing.
2) you've been slightly misdiagnosed and you're T2 rather than T1 so your body is pumping out the insulin in ever increasing quantities to attempt to cope with the carbs in your diet. Eventually this'll result in your insulin producing cells burning out and you'll be an insulin dependant T2, which in my opinion is way worse than being T1.
3) You're still producing some insulin so you're not dead, but you're not producing enough and you'll feel sicker and sicker without enough insulin, get unpleasant complications and die (and it's not a pleasant death).

I went through a phase about ten years ago when I didn't go to the dentist for a few years. I knew I needed to go, but I started to feel guilty (?) about missing appointments and going so long without an appointment and it was easier just to keep ignoring the situation than actually make and keep the appointment to see the dentist. Eventually I plucked up my courage and went, and had a fair number of fillings and lectures on dental hygiene to endure. But once I'd made and kept the appointment, despite the fillings I had to have, the whole thing became much more manageable, and I lost the "you know you need to see the dentist" background voice of doom that had been slithering through my brain.

Now, here's for some good news. Many if not all diabetic complications can be reversed or controlled by improving your blood sugar control, and there are many of us T1s who've been diabetic for decades and are still leading healthy lives. Many of us have had less than stellar diabetic control at some point or other and you can bet that the nurses at your clinic are used to diabetics who have or have had issues with testing, injecting etc. If you ask for help, they should give it to you. (And if they don't come back to these boards and we'll give you moral support and suggestions as to how to get the system to help you.)

You are on a diabetic forum. Get yer meter out, draw some blood & humour me..!

If you were to test right now, what number does it throw up??

I would suggest going back to religiously testing at least 4 times a day to see if you need insulin or not.

What they all said. Do you have a glucose monitor and testing strips? If so, please do a blood test right now and tell us the result.

The treatment for T1 diabetes is getting better and better, and there may well be a cure in your lifetime, but you need to keep going to get to that cure without going blind or dying. Insulin is your friend. 100 years ago T1 diabetes was fatal, it just varied in how long you lasted before you died (a starvation diet was the most effective way to prolong lives.) Please live.

(Edited to add: I'm betting you're option 3 above, and you know that option 1 isn't the case.)

 

[kitedoc]

Hi mate, saying hello from Australia. I have been on insulin for 51 years and counting.
What I have to say is from that experience, not professional advice or opinion.
As others have said, if you are definitely type 1, insulin injections are a must. Maybe in your case the insulin you take plus the exercise gets you through but I remember talking with a bricklayer who took his insulin every second day, had to eat 18 weetbix for breakfast for energy and was as sick as a dog most of the time.
High blood sugar levels (what the docs call hyperglycaemia) are what we call hypers (hyper- = high, gly - glucose or sugar - aemia - in the blood) as opposed to hypos (hypoglycaemia- hypo = low).
Finding out if you are definitely type 1 diabetic is very important because of the need for insulin. So high blood sugars cause problems later but can affect weight ( lots of the sugar going out in the urine, less of what we eat can be used for energy), energy levels, ability to have sex, risk of infections etc. As you know hypos are not good to have either, particularly if you work on ladders/heights etc and for driving.
In Australia we have emus, flightless birds that can run fast to escape danger.
But what I call ostrich behaviour, hiding one's head in the sand to avoid danger or bad news, is what I, and many other diabetics, have gone through at times. As long as we don't feel too sick or too troubled by infections etc we deny what is happening to us, we pay little attention to our diabetes, our diet, and any medication and hope things continue all right.
You have posted on this site. Great - that is the first step. Can you do one blood sugar test per day to start with.? Say before breakfast one day, at lunchtime the next and before dinner on the third and mark the results on a calendar along with what insulin you took and when. Add in what food you had those days. That is a start. like marking progress of what you do in your job.
By all means let us know and make a list for your doctor or nurse. (yeah, we all at times have had to turn up and say sorry for missing appointments).
Can you do that for yourself and your support team here as a start!! I promise you there is more to follow in terms of hints and suggestions - The Magical Mystery Tour of Diabetes. Best Wishes, Hear from you soon, yeah?

 

[slip]

If what everyone above has said hasn't hit home yet.............you carry on as you are, and it won't be long before your old man is incapable of standing to attention(!). As a young man I hope thats got your attention.

Buy (and read!) the book 'Think like a pancreas' by Gary Scheiner a fellow T1 medic.