1.5

[Granndad13]

Hi I’m Ross, I’ve been a type2 for 9 years just before lock down I was Re-diagnosed with type 1.5 diabetes I am a serving soldier in the infantry.
maintain the fitness level but yet I’m slowly getting worse as anyone got any advice my mental state is crumbling slowly.

 

[Inka]

Hi @Granndad13 and welcome

There are a number of Type 1.5s here so you’re not alone. I think @Ljc was recently re-diagnosed as 1.5.

Are you on insulin? What are your blood sugar results like? If you can tell us a little more about your medication and your blood test results, then you’ll get more tailored advice.

Diabetes is a pain and it is tiring mentally to live with. My advice is to take one day at a time, try your best to get good control but don’t beat yourself up if you get a ‘bad’ result. It’s impossible to be perfect.

Being rediagnosed must have come as a shock and be a bit like starting again, but having the correct diagnosis will make things easier in the long run.

 

[Granndad13]

Hi @Granndad13 and welcome

There are a number of Type 1.5s here so you’re not alone. I think @Ljc was recently re-diagnosed as 1.5.

Are you on insulin? What are your blood sugar results like? If you can tell us a little more about your medication and your blood test results, then you’ll get more tailored advice.

Diabetes is a pain and it is tiring mentally to live with. My advice is to take one day at a time, try your best to get good control but don’t beat yourself up if you get a ‘bad’ result. It’s impossible to be perfect.

Being rediagnosed must have come as a shock and be a bit like starting again, but having the correct diagnosis will make things easier in the long run.

Hi thanks for the quick response. I’m 44 I take LANTUS I take 52 clicks of the pen as I was told to get a base line figure for the start which was between 8-4 mmol so I get it to 5.6 fasting which I thought was saver to have in the
mornings I have woke up in the early hrs with it been below 4mmol so I happy with that. I also take metaformin 4 500 mm tablets and alvastatin for Cholesterol. I feel better in my self and I sleep well now hope that helps

 

[Inka]

You’re absolutely right to try to avoid going low at night. Waking at 5.6 is an excellent result.

The Lantus is what’s known as a basal insulin. It works over the day/night to keep your blood sugar controlled. It’s not so good at dealing with meals, so there’s another type of insulin called a bolus insulin which you might have added in at a later stage if your blood sugar goes high after meals. This isn’t a bad thing. It can actually help you be more flexible and get better control.

Do you test your blood sugar before you eat and 2hrs after the start of your meal? That gives a good idea of how you’re body (and the Lantus) are dealing with meals. Are you following any special diet at all?

Ask any questions you want here. Nothing is too trivial or silly

 

[Ljc]

Hi @Granndad13 , welcome to the forum.
Your re diagnosis must have come as a bit of a shock.
I was dx T2 over 20 yrs ago. I ended up on insulin , Basal and bolus a few yrs ago .

It takes a while for them to work out what our ratios for insulin are. They don’t want to bring our levels down to quickly as that can cause some unpleasant symptoms, so they start us conservatively.

Tbh since going on to insulin which was before be removed diagnosed, I’ve found diabetes easier to manage, once I learned to adjust the doses myself that is.
No type of diabetes is worse than any other type , the only difference is the cause and treatment if any is different.
LADA ( latent auto immune diabete in adults) ie 1.5 is like a slow onset T1.

Ask all the questions you you need to , we will do our best to help

 

[Granndad13]

The thing that broken me is pdst and I was athlet fitness level and my employeers was keen to help buy making me fitter and stronger which after reviewing it really did the reverse now, I’m stuck in a world of not able to deploy or do the promotional courses to go to Serjent. Every time I look at testing my self I just get mad at the Realisation that I I’m not the man I was before so I just get miserable depressed I’m in TalkWorks hoping with my psychological well-being. But as I’ve only been on a trial for 3 1/2 months at the three-month point I’ve got to inform the DVLA am I Shauns company that I am on insulin so now my cat see my cat C plus a my dangerous goods license my motorbike license my cat B plus C all of this has to come into account of total testing which just makes me even more depressed that I have to inform people that I am not the same person I used to be I’m 44 and I have to answer to more people this is why I am the way I am at the moment. Thank you all very much for you help and advice. Sorry for the dewling

 

[Inka]

I understand what you mean @Granndad13 When I was first diagnosed and suddenly had to do all these extra things, I felt quite angry as well as upset, and, like you, I felt someone had ‘stolen’ something from me and changed the person I was.

But that feeling faded away gradually. It helped speaking to other people with diabetes and hearing about all the things they’d done. I could see that they were all just normal people - and you are too. You’re not your diabetes. It’s just an annoying extra bit of luggage you have to carry around with you. You’re still the same person.

I don’t know anything about your job to give any advice but there is a Diabetes UK helpline during working hours if you need advice. I’ll also tag @everydayupsanddowns because he might know of specific information available on the Diabetes UK website.

And you don’t need to apologise for feeling down. You can get things off your chest here. There’s no shame in being down or feeling totally fed up.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis @Granndad13 - and the negative impact it has had on your mental health

Diabetes can be a shock at diagnosis, and a reclassification like you have had is no different to getting a sudden diagnosis out of the blue. Have you been offered any psychological support from your hospital?

Unfortunately I don’t have specific knowledge of career options in the military, but things are vastly different now than they were just a few years ago. T1s (and I believe, by extension, LADA/1.5) can now be licensed to fly commercial aircraft and all manner of jobs that were once impossible - partly because of significant improvements in monitoring technologies.

This page has some background info about diabetes and work

Work and diabetes

This information is about how to manage diabetes at work and to support you in knowing your rights at work. Jump to:

www.diabetes.org.uk

Like @Inka I think it might also be worth you contacting the DUK helpline (Mon-Fri 9-6) on 0345 123 2399

Hope you can get some specialist support, get access to a fully flexible insulin regime, with training to use it, and begin to accept your diagnosis one day at a time.

 

[trophywench]

You've been 'answerable' to the DVLA ever since you got your first provisional licence - who made sure you could ride a motorbike and drive a car to their required standard before they ever gave you a full licence to ride or drive without supervision - exactly the same as the rest of us. The difference now is that anyone passing their test after a certain date doesn't now automatically even get the C1 included to begin with. I still had mine until a few years back when they had a campaign to generally limit the C1 category but as I'd never felt the need to drive anything bigger than a car since I passed my test and by then well over 60 I discussed it with my husband and we decided I shouldn't bother keeping it.

My husband lost his C1 3 years ago on his 70th birthday, as all drivers automatically do - but he decided to keep his so he had the necessary medical and they issued him a 3 year licence, which expires on 24th January 2021 so having received the reminder in November, had another medical and filled in the renewal forms and sent it off the DVLA with the forms and they sent him his new licence for another 3 years in December.

He still has his motorbike licence and his shotgun certificate - they all expire at various times and you have to be visited at home by a Police firearms officer to inspect the guns and the security of his gun cabinet before they renew it.

Nobody is picking on you - it's nothing personal so don't be annoyed about it, that's a waste of energy! Laws are just laws, and you either obey them or pay the consequences.