20th year of being diabetic...time to take action!

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keeks334

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,
I'm new to this site (having read about it in Balance Magazine) and wanted to join to get any support and advice from fellow diabetics. I am coming up to the 20th anniversary of getting diabetes and this year I'm determined to get my HBA1c to a good level as I want to have a baby! I have always had HBA1c of above 8 and recently that has risen to 12 (most recent one was down a bit at 11) but I really really want to get it sorted out and have recently become a model patient (monitored my blood 5 times a day) and been carb counting crazy!!
Ideally if anyone has any advice/ideas on how I can keep up my current motivation as I know I tend to get lazy after a few weeks and any advice on preparing for a baby while having type 1 that would be great!
Would love to hear from you all!
K xx
 
Hi keeks, welcome to the forum, glad to have you with us 🙂 What insulin regime are you on and what sorts of numbers are you getting through the day? Are there any particular periods when your levels are very high? Do you have many hypos? One of the best things you can do to start to get a handle on everything is to start a food diary, where you record everything you eat, breaking it down into carb, sugar, fat, protein content etc., and taking readings before eating and at one and two hours after eating. Oh, and insulin doses too! 🙂 By doing this you may be able to spot patterns, and also areas where you might be getting things wrong with your carb-counting, or perhaps things that you can change to make your meals more diabetes-friendly i.e. so they don't raise your levels too much.

Set yourself small goals so you don't become overwhelmed and dispirited - small steps can achieve great things in the long run! Find yourself a sport or exercise routine you enjoy, and that you can build on - this helps tremendously with your blood sugar control 🙂

Hope those ideas are helpful, I'm sure others will be along with their own thoughts! You might also like to browse the pregnancy section - lots of inspiring stories there and it will give you some idea of the 'work' involved 🙂
 
Hi Keeks and welcome to the forum

I would suggest contacting your DSN, many clinics have pre-conception clinics to try and help you get your blood sugars under control, and to advice on things like folic acid. Diabetics trying to conceive are recommended to take a high strength folic acid tablet but you will need a prescription from your Dr.

I think focusing on your hopes for a child should help keep you focused on your goal.
 
Welcome to the forum keeks334 🙂
 
Hi keeks. Welcome 🙂

Have you been offered a place on a carb counting course, such as DAFNE ?

And what insulins are you on ?

It can make a big difference if your current insulins aren't matching your lifestyle.

Definitely do what Northerner and Margie have suggested. Attack it from as many angles as you can, but testing at the right times and recording everything will give you a good start.🙂

Rob
 
Thanks

Thanks for your advice so far!

Have done a DAFNe course (about 3 years ago now) but I think I need to dig out all the info again to give myself a refresher!
I'm on the following insulins: humalog and lantus. Been on them for a long time and they seem to work but have considered changing -bit scared to though as have got so used to them now!
Thanks Norterner for the food diary idea, I will definitely give it a go! My blood sugars are fine for most of the day apart from between lunch and dinner. Have previously tried splitting my lantus injection up to take some at night and some in morning and that helps but I always forget that I have to inject the lantus in the morning so went back to what I'm used to!!
Lots of things to try really! Think I will start with the food diary alongside my blood monitoring and insulin doses.

THANKS 🙂🙂🙂🙂
 
Keeks hi and a warm welcome to the forum
 
keeks334 said:
Thanks for your advice so far!

Have done a DAFNe course (about 3 years ago now) but I think I need to dig out all the info again to give myself a refresher!
I'm on the following insulins: humalog and lantus. Been on them for a long time and they seem to work but have considered changing -bit scared to though as have got so used to them now!
Thanks Norterner for the food diary idea, I will definitely give it a go! My blood sugars are fine for most of the day apart from between lunch and dinner. Have previously tried splitting my lantus injection up to take some at night and some in morning and that helps but I always forget that I have to inject the lantus in the morning so went back to what I'm used to!!
Lots of things to try really! Think I will start with the food diary alongside my blood monitoring and insulin doses.

THANKS 🙂
Click to expand...

Is there a reason why you want to try a change of insulins ?

I'm on the same and have looked at the alternatives, but for me, I don't think I would see any improvements.

I also split my lantus and set myself reminder alarms to inect morning and evening. I still forget the evening one sometimes, so the alarms are essential. 🙄

Good luck with the diary and hope to see some results soon.🙂

Rob
 
hi and welcome, i have had two children whilst being a type one diabetic, well it was discovered in my first pregnancy at ten weeks, i would advise to let your consultant know you want a child, they will probably then see you way more frequently than you are used to in order to prepare you for pre pregnancy tight sugar control, good luck with everything
 
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