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Diabetes Greeting

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Damaris

Damaris

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hello everyone my name is Damaris and I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I was diagnosed in October 2022. I work in a cafe. I like watching games shows and cookery shows on tv. I have joined this as I would like to learn more about Diabetes and listen people opinions.
 
Hi Damaris and welcome.

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis but you have found the right place for practical advice, support and knowledge about diabetes. The forum is a goldmine of tried and tested practical experience. I am nearly 4 years down the line since diagnosis and the people here have been wonderful in keeping me right and helping me to develop my confidence in managing my diabetes well. I hope you will gain the same benefits.

How are you doing? It is a lot to take in and the first few months can be pretty overwhelming. I hope you have had good support from your hospital/clinic team.
Would you like to tell us a bit about how your diagnosis came about and which insulins you have been given?
Have you been given Freestyle Libre sensors to help monitor your levels or are you still finger pricking?
Are there any aspects that you are finding particularly difficult?
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and don't worry if they seem really basic because we all started out knowing almost nothing, but eventually you will become the expert in your own diabetes management. You live with it day by day and night by night and meal by meal, but don't ever forget that impersonating a pancreas is an extremely tricky task and despite our best efforts we will get it wrong occasionally, so do be kind to yourself and don't expect perfection. Good enough is good enough.
 
Welcome to the forum 🙂
 
Thank you so much for your very kind message. I don't actually know how long I have been a Diabetic but the staff at the hospital suspect I may have had it for about 6 months and never knew. I had been losing weight which my family and a few colleagues had mentioned but I didn’t think anything about it and I had a big appetite. I even tried changing my diet for a while but when I went on holiday I arrived back and collapsed on the floor so my family took me to hospital and that’s when I got diagnosed so I have been put on 2 insulin pens and I am now using the Freesyle Libre 2.
 
That sounds like a bit of a traumatic diagnosis. Hopefully they have reduced your levels slowly so that your body hasn't been put under too much strain after being used to probably quite high levels for a good while.
What are the names of the insulins they have started you on?
Great that you have Libre as it does help enormously, but you do have to be aware of it's limitations and not take every reading it gives you at face value..... particularly any overnight low readings should be double checked with a finger prick as lying on the sensor can cause it to read erroneously low referred to as a "compression low".
How are you managing with doing the injections?
Are you carb counting yet or still using fixed doses of meal time insulin?
Have they offered you a DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) course or whatever your local equivalent is. It is usually a week long intensive course or sometimes one day a week for 5 weeks. Apart from carb counting, it also teaches you how to recognise when your basal (long acting) insulin needs adjusting and how to keep yourself safe with insulin in a whole range of everyday situations like exercise and alcohol and illness etc. If you can get an in person course (which has been difficult during Covid) you will find an enormous benefit in spending time with other real live Type 1s, which enables you to learn from each other and also appreciate just how individual Type 1 diabetes can be. If you haven't been offered such a course yet, do ask about it, as it really is beneficial.
 
Welcome @Damaris - what a lovely original name. 🙂 I hope you feel right at home here.
 
rebrascora said:
That sounds like a bit of a traumatic diagnosis. Hopefully they have reduced your levels slowly so that your body hasn't been put under too much strain after being used to probably quite high levels for a good while.
What are the names of the insulins they have started you on?
Great that you have Libre as it does help enormously, but you do have to be aware of it's limitations and not take every reading it gives you at face value..... particularly any overnight low readings should be double checked with a finger prick as lying on the sensor can cause it to read erroneously low referred to as a "compression low".
How are you managing with doing the injections?
Are you carb counting yet or still using fixed doses of meal time insulin?
Have they offered you a DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) course or whatever your local equivalent is. It is usually a week long intensive course or sometimes one day a week for 5 weeks. Apart from carb counting, it also teaches you how to recognise when your basal (long acting) insulin needs adjusting and how to keep yourself safe with insulin in a whole range of everyday situations like exercise and alcohol and illness etc. If you can get an in person course (which has been difficult during Covid) you will find an enormous benefit in spending time with other real live Type 1s, which enables you to learn from each other and also appreciate just how individual Type 1 diabetes can be. If you haven't been offered such a course yet, do ask about it, as it really is beneficial.
Click to expand...
I am on the Basal and NovoRapid insulin pens. It’s the grey and orange pens. I have not been introduced to any of the diabetes courses but I think the diabetic team said you have to wait six months before you can do that but I have been doing the courses on learning zone. I did not know that about the problem when the sensor is low. My readings have been very unpredictable but I haven’t really been counting my portion sizes. I have been using the Carbs and Cals app as my way of recording and checking how many carbs I’m eating. I am managing ok with the injections.
 
Welcome @Damaris 🙂 Are you on fixed doses of Novorapid for meals then? What’s the name of your basal insulin? There are a few different types (and different types of bolus/meal insulin too).

As well as the learning zone courses, there’s an online course called BERTIE. It helps with carb-counting. I was taught carb-counting at diagnosis. It’s not too hard and makes things easier. Here’s a link to BERTIE:

https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/

Type 1 is a pain but it does gradually get easier. Don’t underestimate the emotional burden and be kind to yourself. It’s a lot to get used to.
 
Damaris said:
I am on the Basal and NovoRapid insulin pens. It’s the grey and orange pens. I have not been introduced to any of the diabetes courses but I think the diabetic team said you have to wait six months before you can do that but I have been doing the courses on learning zone. I did not know that about the problem when the sensor is low. My readings have been very unpredictable but I haven’t really been counting my portion sizes. I have been using the Carbs and Cals app as my way of recording and checking how many carbs I’m eating. I am managing ok with the injections.
Click to expand...
There is an on line course called BERTIE which I think you can just self register so don't have to wait to do it.
 
For the Basal insulin pen I use SoloStar. I have been put on 18 units. For NovoRapid I am on 6 units in the morning, 6 for lunch and 6 for dinner. The units might be changed the next time I go to the diabetic clinic. I will check the BERTIE link out and thank you for suggesting it. I have trying to do yoga and tenpin bowling to try and stay active.
 
SoloStar is the name of the prefilled pen, I think your insulin is Lantus? You can get re-useable pens for insulin which are much better quality and sometimes have ‘extras’ like a dose memory. You just drop a cartridge in them like a fountain pen. They’re also more environmentally friendly, of course, and the cartridges take up less room in your fridge - bonus!

So yes, you’re on fixed doses for meals 🙂 That means you need to ensure you eat the same amount of carbs each day for each meal. If you eat too few, you could have a hypo, too many and your blood sugar can go high. Once you can carb count and adjust your mealtime insulin, you’ll find it a lot more flexible as you’ll simply count the carbs in what you’re about to eat, apply your mealtime ratio, and work out your dose for that meal.

The re-useable pens usually do half units and that’s great as it means you can, for example, have 4.5 units. It will also help you do more accurate corrections for high sugars.
 
I believe Lantus is the basal in the SoloStar pen, so my guess would be that your basal insulin is Lantus. Just so that you know so that when people refer to Lantus, you can relate to that being the one you use.
Good to hear you are managing the injections OK.
You will gradually get better at managing your levels with practice and carb counting and practical tips that you will pick up from the forum, but it is important to know that we all have ups and downs so don't feel too bad about them or not hitting targets that the nurse might set you like being between 4 and 7 before meals. Obviously it is great if you can regularly hit those targets but don't worry if you don't, just do your best. I used to feel such a failure when I couldn't achieve the targets regularly even though I was trying really hard, but gradually you get better and personally I find the "Time in Range" feature of Libre much easier to achieve the required 70% than hitting premeal targets.

Anyway, best of luck with it and do ask if you have any questions or just read other threads on the forum, as that is a great way to learn, but be aware that Type 1 and Type 2 can be quite different in how they are managed, so do look at the original poster's relationship to diabetes when you read a new thread and probably best to stick to Type 1s for now to prevent any confusion.
 
Welcome to the forum @Damaris

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis :(

How have your first few months of life with diabetes gone? How have you been feelng?

And how did you get on over Christmas?

Has anything been particularly confusing, difficult or annoying so far?
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Damaris

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis :(

How have your first few months of life with diabetes gone? How have you been feelng?

And how did you get on over Christmas?

Has anything been particularly confusing, difficult or annoying so far?
Click to expand...
Hello and thank you for your message. The first couple of months have been a challenge with learning how to prick myself and injection. I have had a few hypos and quite a few hypers but with the hypos I still get a bit worried especially if I’m working and tend to check my blood sugars more than I need to and I also find myself eating more sugary foods than I need to. I am feeling ok at the moment but still feel tired the odd time. I ate as normal over Christmas although didn’t have an alcoholic drink. I was told if your blood sugar are high you need to do a ketone test does that help much?
 
Ketones are chemicals that aren’t good for your body than can build up with a high BG.

It really depends on how high the number is to if you would want to test ketones.
 
Sounds like you are off to a great start!

Has your Dr given you ketone strips (either blood or urine?). I’ve generally been advised to check for ketones after a reading or two in the teens. I think I’m lucky in that I don’t seem to produce ketones very readily - but Your Diabetes May Vary!
 
rebrascora said:
I believe Lantus is the basal in the SoloStar pen, so my guess would be that your basal insulin is Lantus. Just so that you know so that when people refer to Lantus, you can relate to that being the one you use.
Good to hear you are managing the injections OK.
You will gradually get better at managing your levels with practice and carb counting and practical tips that you will pick up from the forum, but it is important to know that we all have ups and downs so don't feel too bad about them or not hitting targets that the nurse might set you like being between 4 and 7 before meals. Obviously it is great if you can regularly hit those targets but don't worry if you don't, just do your best. I used to feel such a failure when I couldn't achieve the targets regularly even though I was trying really hard, but gradually you get better and personally I find the "Time in Range" feature of Libre much easier to achieve the required 70% than hitting premeal targets.

Anyway, best of luck with it and do ask if you have any questions or just read other threads on the forum, as that is a great way to learn, but be aware that Type 1 and Type 2 can be quite different in how they are managed, so do look at the original poster's relationship to diabetes when you read a new thread and probably best to stick to Type 1s for now to prevent any confusion.
Click to expand...
Yes it’s Lantus. I don’t know anybody else who is a diabetic so when I mention it they can’t really relate. I find the Time In Range useful as well. Yeah I know that Type 2 is more about controlling your diet whereas Type 1 requires medication of some sort.
 
Lily123 said:
Ketones are chemicals that aren’t good for your body than can build up with a high BG.

It really depends on how high the number is to if you would want to test ketones.
Click to expand...
I tend to get high blood sugars so I wasn’t sure if that was normal.
 
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