Hi I’m day 10 as a type 1 diabetic so on the sugar and emotional rollercoaster and I want to get off I had funny dizzy feeling like I was going to pass out when waking for the toilet which was not a nice feeling also next day I felt very swimmy headed I had my evening meal fish potatoes and veg 125ml red wine with meal sugars before meal were 6.5 2 hrs after eating I was shocked that they had gone down to 3.7 so had some jelly babies and then strawberries cheese and crackers after 10 mins sugars rose to 4.7 and 20 mins after 6.7 I wasn’t sure what to do but I did have 1 weetabix and milk before bed sugars went to 13.7 as I was scared I went low during th night also I must mention I have not had my hospital appointment so I’m recieving my treatment from my diabetic nurse at my doctors surgery so she has just increased my insulin slowly until hospital referral if any one can advise or she’d some light on my situation it would be greatly appreciated
Hello! I was diagnosed in August, so I'm only a little ahead of you. It's still a bit of a rollercoaster, and I still want to get off too! But it really does get better.
I had the good fortune to get to the diabetic unit at my local hospital straightaway. Even so, they started me on basal insulin only (one injection a day), and it was a couple of weeks before they started me on bolus insulin as well (at mealtimes).
For the basal insulin, they started me on 10 units-- and that rapidly proved too much; I kept getting hypos. The diabetic nurses at the hospital rang me up every day, though, to check my readings and see how I was feeling; so they knew what was going on and kept reducing my basal, bit by bit, until they got it right.
That "funny dizzy ... very swimmy headed" feeling sounds exactly like a hypo. Whenever you feel like that, you should check your blood-glucose level. It is definitely "not a nice feeling"! But it's actually very important; it means you can feel when you are starting to go hypo, so you can do something about it. Some people have 'impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia', meaning they don't get that feeling-- which can be very dangerous; unless they have a device, like a Libre 2, which sets off an alarm when their glucose levels go too low, they don't know they're becoming hypoglycaemic, so they can't intervene and can end up in trouble.
Remember that Type 1 diabetes does not cause hypos. What causes hypos is injecting too much insulin as compared to how much carbohydrate you're eating.
Tell your diabetic nurse about your hypos, and she will probably tell you to reduce your insulin dose, especially if you're currently only on basal insulin. The problem with basal insulin is that it pootles along at the same level day or night, and at night you're not eating, so you can easily get nighttime hypos if your basal dose is too high.
As for the high readings, like the 13.7 you mention: In the period that I was only on basal, my DSNs (diabetes specialist nurses-- when I was first diagnosed, I didn't know what 'DSN' meant!) told me not to worry about the highs-- but of course I did anyway! Again, though-- talk to your nurse about what sort of highs you should be worried about, and when you need to test your ketone levels (and how to do that). And talk to him/her about what's a safe glucose level for bedtime.
It is all tremendously scary at first! But it does get better. Let us know what your nurse says, and how you get on. With any luck, you will get in to see a consultant soon-- and will get a Libre 2, or similar, soon. Having a continuous glucose monitor makes a huge difference, I think above all psychologically; I was terrified of nocturnal hypos, and it is a great comfort to have a device that will set off an alarm if necessary.
