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Recently diagnosed

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Gary Pickles

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi
Originally diagnosed back in December but treated as Type 2 even though I was pretty sure this wasn't the case. Now been 'upgraded' to Type 1 and started injections yesterday. 43 years old so a late starter and obviously pretty gutted. Joined up to see how other people live with this and also for baking/food tips. I'm a reasonably healthy eater but do like baking and am looking for ideas and also any tips on cooking with seafood. Any tips greatly appreciated, thanks for listening to my ramblings.
 
Welcome to the forum Gary. There are a couple of people on here who do baker. And some posts about it.
 
Hi Gary and welcome. You will find yourself in good company here, with quite a few of us late developers and wrongly diagnosed at first. I was 42 when diagnosed and was initially diagnosed Type 2 also.
It is hugely gutting, I agree. For me I got to the gutted stage once I didn't have to drag my exhausted self around trying to sort out my diagnosis. Once all sorted the reality hit!
There are loads of good baking recipes on here. I believe there is a low carb baking thread and many other recipes in the food section. I enjoy baking, but tend to just make normal recipes with the kids and just have a smaller amount.
 
Welcome to the forum Gary🙂.
 
Hi. Thanks for the warm welcome. It has been very frustrating Steph, six months on tablets that have done nothing for me so it was nice to finally get to see an expert doctor who immediately diagnosed type 1. Hopefully now I can get into the routine and regain some of the energy I have lost in past year. I think like many people you immediately fear the worst when you are diagnosed but having read through a few threads on here and spoke to medical staff I have realised that if you educate yourself and treat diabetes with respect then hopefully you can lead a fairly normal life
 
Hi Gary, and welcome to the gang. Your story is almost identical to mine, and at the same age. That was 22 years ago, mind. Sure you can lead a normal life if you stick to the rules, which become second nature.

I love baking too, but not imaginatively - I’m a Mary Berry acolyte. I love her Sachertorte. Not very much flour, but rather a lot of chocolate, so a bit of judicious bolusing needed for a slice while everyone else gobbles the rest. Such is life, but then artists don’t stare at their own pictures for years. Keep that in mind as you give pleasure to others. And start baking bread, using a mixture of wholemeal and soya flour - between 5 and 10%. That adds protein and reduces carbs, but it might take a bit of experimentation to get a good rise, without using the chemistry lab fixes the commercial bakers use.

Best of luck for the future, and don’t stop baking. There’s fun to be had over on the Food and Recipes pages, for sure🙂
 
Gary Pickles said:
Hi
Originally diagnosed back in December but treated as Type 2 even though I was pretty sure this wasn't the case. Now been 'upgraded' to Type 1 and started injections yesterday. 43 years old so a late starter and obviously pretty gutted. Joined up to see how other people live with this and also for baking/food tips. I'm a reasonably healthy eater but do like baking and am looking for ideas and also any tips on cooking with seafood. Any tips greatly appreciated, thanks for listening to my ramblings.
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Welcome Gary ! Seafood now you are talking ! I love the stuff. Good luck with your baking 🙂
 
Gary Pickles said:
Hi. Thanks for the warm welcome. It has been very frustrating Steph, six months on tablets that have done nothing for me so it was nice to finally get to see an expert doctor who immediately diagnosed type 1. Hopefully now I can get into the routine and regain some of the energy I have lost in past year. I think like many people you immediately fear the worst when you are diagnosed but having read through a few threads on here and spoke to medical staff I have realised that if you educate yourself and treat diabetes with respect then hopefully you can lead a fairly normal life
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You have pretty much nailed it.. read up on what you need to and ask when it gets a bit much, personally if the words are getting to be 30 or 40 in scrabble scores then I am lost.. but even so it is possible to get an understanding of what is going on and begin to work out what it does to you. I am coming to the conclusion that life isn't changed but the way you fuel it is... I was fearing the worst before diagnosis.. now I kind of have an idea of how to work around. Type 1 since January, and a baker for a few years prior to that..these facts are not connected!
 
Gary Pickles said:
Hi. Thanks for the warm welcome. It has been very frustrating Steph, six months on tablets that have done nothing for me so it was nice to finally get to see an expert doctor who immediately diagnosed type 1. Hopefully now I can get into the routine and regain some of the energy I have lost in past year. I think like many people you immediately fear the worst when you are diagnosed but having read through a few threads on here and spoke to medical staff I have realised that if you educate yourself and treat diabetes with respect then hopeyfully you can lead a fairly normal life
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Welcome Garry from another late starter. There is a lot to learn at the start, but it is a manageable condition.

One of the books that I found very useful is Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas. Ignore the age reference, I was 53 at the start and still find it one of the most informative books.

Tell us a bit more about how you are managing your diabetes.
What insulin regime are you using?

There is a lot of experience around on here and people are only too happy to help. Just ask any questions that you have, and remember that no question is considered silly.
 
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome.
Very early days but have been prescribed Toujeo to take once daily 8 units plus Humalog to take with meals. Eating habits are pretty good I think and I am now obsessive about carb intake. Diabetic nurse gave me a book showing carb intake of certain foods which im finding useful at the moment. Frustrated in mornings a little as I seem to be rising more than I would think due to the 'dawn phenomenon'. So much to take in and so much to learn!!!
 
There are some things which might help with the high readings in the mornings (if you haven't tried these already) - one is to test as soon as you wake up, before you do anything else, as once you are up and moving about your body will think your blood sugar needs to go up ready for the day. It might help to eat a small low-carb snack immediately, to fool your body into thinking it doesn't need to produce glucose because you're eating.

And the other thing is to pre-bolus - ie inject well before you eat breakfast. It might take a while to work out how long before breakfast you should inject, as that will vary from person to person, but to give you an idea of what I mean - if I inject 30-40 minutes before breakfast it helps with the dawn phenomenon, but if I inject 45-60 minutes before breakfast I tend to hypo before I've finished eating! You might want to start with injecting 10 minutes before breakfast and increase the time gradually from day to day until you see what works for you.
 
Thanks for the advice, I am tending to test four times a day currently, with the first being as soon as I wake up. I have tried eating a protein snack before I go to bed, not sure how useful this is though. I will definitely try injecting a little earlier though. Hopefully now I am speaking to like minded people I might get things under control as soon as possible. Just wondering if there is a general timescale as to when blood/sugars will drop into a normal zone at all? Mine are coming down but slowly, im not the most patient guy however!!!
 
Gary Pickles said:
Thanks for the advice, I am tending to test four times a day currently, with the first being as soon as I wake up. I have tried eating a protein snack before I go to bed, not sure how useful this is though. I will definitely try injecting a little earlier though. Hopefully now I am speaking to like minded people I might get things under control as soon as possible. Just wondering if there is a general timescale as to when blood/sugars will drop into a normal zone at all? Mine are coming down but slowly, im not the most patient guy however!!!
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You will find out that the hard and fast rules are a bit fuzzy and flexy when it comes to type one.. your patience will be tested I think! Testing is the way forward though, you have to know where you are and what effect things are having on you.. it takes a little time, but it means you get to take control sooner rather than later. What I am saying badly is that you will recognise patterns and reactions in your bg levels and you can adjust your routines to suit. It's not all about insulin and carbs but it is a lot about insulin and carbs.. you'll find your own way pretty soon. Information is the key right now, read / test / ask / and it gets to make some sense..
 
christophe said:
You will find out that the hard and fast rules are a bit fuzzy and flexy when it comes to type one.. your patience will be tested I think! Testing is the way forward though, you have to know where you are and what effect things are having on you.. it takes a little time, but it means you get to take control sooner rather than later. What I am saying badly is that you will recognise patterns and reactions in your bg levels and you can adjust your routines to suit. It's not all about insulin and carbs but it is a lot about insulin and carbs.. you'll find your own way pretty soon. Information is the key right now, read / test / ask / and it gets to make some sense..
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That's what I'm trying for Chris, its a real education. I always assumed that diabetes was all about sugar and have now done some pretty heavy reading on the subject, still feel that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg though, still learning, still a bit gutted but great to have the support of my family and of forums like this where you can speak to people who go through the same things as yourself
 
Hi Gary

Bolusing earlier for breakfast has changed my post meal spike to a blip. I tend to test it as soon as I wake up and assuming my levels are on target deliver for breakfast, which then gives me time to shower etc, before eating breakfast. It has definitely been a lot of trial and improvement and does not always work. The fuzziness of T1 that @christophe mentioned just emerges it’s head when it feels like it! For other meals at home to do similar pre blousing, but wait until my food arrives when I am eating out.

Another thing that helped me to sort post meal spikes was a simple rule of don’t sit down for 15 minutes after the meal. We might go for a walk, or do some gardening, do the clearing up, .. anything. It tends to use up more of the glucose.

As you say there is a lot to learn, but you will find that things will gradually become automatic. It can be very frustrating at times for someone like me as I am a bit of a perfectionist and that is imply not possible with T1. All we can do is do our best.
 
SB2015 said:
Hi Gary

Bolusing earlier for breakfast has changed my post meal spike to a blip. I tend to test it as soon as I wake up and assuming my levels are on target deliver for breakfast, which then gives me time to shower etc, before eating breakfast. It has definitely been a lot of trial and improvement and does not always work. The fuzziness of T1 that @christophe mentioned just emerges it’s head when it feels like it! For other meals at home to do similar pre blousing, but wait until my food arrives when I am eating out.

Another thing that helped me to sort post meal spikes was a simple rule of don’t sit down for 15 minutes after the meal. We might go for a walk, or do some gardening, do the clearing up, .. anything. It tends to use up more of the glucose.

As you say there is a lot to learn, but you will find that things will gradually become automatic. It can be very frustrating at times for someone like me as I am a bit of a perfectionist and that is imply not possible with T1. All we can do is do our best.
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Thankyou, every bit of advice is greatly appreciated I'm trying to soak it all in. Excuse my ignorance but blousing is injecting?
 
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