Anger, Confusion, Anxiety

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Jake90

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi, I was diagnosed with type 1 around a year ago and I am still coming yo terms with everything if I'm being honest.
Has anyone gone through the motions of Anger, Anxiety & confusion?
I seem to be getting the anger feeling over the slightest of things and I have no idea why.
I have recently started to feel like I am not good enough and feel very unwanted. Is this normal for what I am going through? Any help/advice would be much appreciated.
 
Oh yes - it may have been 50 years ago but I still remember bursting into tears at the drop of a hat and that was not 'me' at all ! Of course crying didn't help whatsoever, we're stuck with it and that's that. Yes of course it affects our lives BUT since there is no escape, better use whatever energy and resources we happen to have, to try and sort ourselves out so that the D has as little effect on the things we actually want to do, as I possibly could. And I've managed to, by and large. If I can, pretty much anyone can.

And you've already started helping yourself by opening up about how you feel !

Both my parents used to tell me 'God helps those who help themselves' - and so does pretty well everyone else, by and large, I've found.

Good luck !
 
Hi and welcome

Yes, totally normal and part of the "grieving process" for the life you had prior to diagnosis. Hope you reach the acceptance stage soon and that makes it easier but it is perfectly acceptable to feel anger and "why me" etc.
Being part of the forum and asking questions and discussing stuff with people who have been there and got the T-shirt really helps to normalize things and come to terms with it as well as learning lots of useful tips and tricks to manage different situations and just generally help you to improve your confidence in dealing with your diabetes.

Would you like to tell us a bit about your diabetes management. Ie which insulins you have and if you have Freestyle Libre sensors for keeping track of your levels etc or are you finger pricking. Are there any particular elements of it which you find difficult or need help with. No pressure to divulge information if you don't want to but I found that discussing this stuff with people who knew all about it from a real life (rather than doctors and nurses who deal mostly in theory) helped enormously. Feel free to also have a good moan about anything here as there is a need to release the frustrations and better here than to nearest and dearest who perhaps don't fully understand the immense amount of thought which needs to go into almost every aspect of life when trying to balance insulin with your body's needs. Doesn't half make you realise what a clever little organ a pancreas is when it is fully functioning. Hard to really appreciate it until you have to manually impersonate one of it's functions. 🙄

Anyway, make yourself at home and ask whatever questions you need to or just have a good rant if that will help you feel better. We "get it"!
 
trophywench said:
Oh yes - it may have been 50 years ago but I still remember bursting into tears at the drop of a hat and that was not 'me' at all ! Of course crying didn't help whatsoever, we're stuck with it and that's that. Yes of course it affects our lives BUT since there is no escape, better use whatever energy and resources we happen to have, to try and sort ourselves out so that the D has as little effect on the things we actually want to do, as I possibly could. And I've managed to, by and large. If I can, pretty much anyone can.

And you've already started helping yourself by opening up about how you feel !

Both my parents used to tell me 'God helps those who help themselves' - and so does pretty well everyone else, by and large, I've found.

Good luck !
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Thank you very much for replying. It's nice to know that I am not the only one.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome

Yes, totally normal and part of the "grieving process" for the life you had prior to diagnosis. Hope you reach the acceptance stage soon and that makes it easier but it is perfectly acceptable to feel anger and "why me" etc.
Being part of the forum and asking questions and discussing stuff with people who have been there and got the T-shirt really helps to normalize things and come to terms with it as well as learning lots of useful tips and tricks to manage different situations and just generally help you to improve your confidence in dealing with your diabetes.

Would you like to tell us a bit about your diabetes management. Ie which insulins you have and if you have Freestyle Libre sensors for keeping track of your levels etc or are you finger pricking. Are there any particular elements of it which you find difficult or need help with. No pressure to divulge information if you don't want to but I found that discussing this stuff with people who knew all about it from a real life (rather than doctors and nurses who deal mostly in theory) helped enormously. Feel free to also have a good moan about anything here as there is a need to release the frustrations and better here than to nearest and dearest who perhaps don't fully understand the immense amount of thought which needs to go into almost every aspect of life when trying to balance insulin with your body's needs. Doesn't half make you realise what a clever little organ a pancreas is when it is fully functioning. Hard to really appreciate it until you have to manually impersonate one of it's functions. 🙄

Anyway, make yourself at home and ask whatever questions you need to or just have a good rant if that will help you feel better. We "get it"!
Click to expand...
Thank you for replying. I currently use lantus and Novarapid. 12 units of lantus daily. I thought I was managing everything OK until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting random belly pains and feeling sick. I am monitoring both my bloods and ketones as normal by finger pricking (bloody nightmare) I don't qualify for a libre as of yet. I am struggling with my ketone levels they seem to be all over the place but my bloods are fine. I explained this to the nurses and they are just as baffled as me I haven't been ill so no reason for my levels to be doing what they are doing.
 
Hi @Jake90 🙂 I was very angry and upset when I was first diagnosed. I felt on edge all the time and was quite snappy towards people. When you say you feel not good enough, do you mean because of your diabetic control or do you mean because you now have a chronic medical condition? I felt angry about suddenly having to go to the doctors all the time.

I see you’ve just mentioned ketones. How high is your blood sugar going? How high are your ketones? Are you eating enough? Stress can really affect blood sugar too.
 
Sorry to hear you are struggling with stomach pain and nausea. Presumably you have mentioned that to your doctor/nurse? Did they give you any other medication for the diabetes as well as or maybe before the insulin. Just wondering if you might be on Metformin as well, which they often start adult onset Type 1s on because they assume Type2.
How did your diagnosis come about? Did you end up DKA/in hospital?

What sort of ketone levels are you seeing and if your BG levels are good is there any particular reason why you are testing for ketones? Generally we are advised to test when levels are persistently mid teens or above.

Sorry to hear that they told you you don't qualify for Libre. Did they give you a reason why? If not ask and keep pushing. The rules on prescribing it are set to change very soon and we anticipate that all Type 1s will then be eligible, so hopefully your situation will change soon in that respect but do keep pushing and it will help if you do your homework on it and maybe complete the "Libre academy" educational material on the Abbott website. Many of us self funded Libre for the first few months or even years before getting it prescribed so you might want to consider that in the meantime. Abbott are currently doing a free 14 day trial (1 free sensor) if you have a compatible phone to use to scan it. Most smart phones with NFC and blue tooth work but I think there is a list of requirements for the phone on their website. I know they are a lot of money at £100 a month but even as someone on a low income I can tell you that they are worth every penny. I used family birthday money to fund the first ones and it was the best present anyone could have given me. It gives you a massive insight into how your body responds to BG levels and insulin.

Anyway, hope you are able to get some more support and get some answers about gastric upset and ketone levels as that does seem odd and obviously concerning. I know there was talk of people getting ketones at lower BG levels with Covid but not sure how dangerous they are if your BG levels are low because I believe it is the more acidic blood as a result of high BG which causes the ketones to become toxic to the body, which is why you only need to test when BG levels are persistently high.
 
Jake90 said:
Thank you for replying. I currently use lantus and Novarapid. 12 units of lantus daily. I thought I was managing everything OK until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting random belly pains and feeling sick. I am monitoring both my bloods and ketones as normal by finger pricking (bloody nightmare) I don't qualify for a libre as of yet. I am struggling with my ketone levels they seem to be all over the place but my bloods are fine. I explained this to the nurses and they are just as baffled as me I haven't been ill so no reason for my levels to be doing what they are doing.
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Hello Jake have you had a Coeliac test? If not worth asking for one as being Coeliac quite often goes hand in hand with type1 diabetes, it might also be the reason for your blood sugars being a bit ups and down plus the bellyache.
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Hello Jake have you had a Coeliac test? If not worth asking for one as being Coeliac quite often goes hand in hand with type1 diabetes, it might also be the reason for your blood sugars being a bit ups and down plus the bellyache.
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Must admit that this has had me thinking. I follow a low carb way of eating as you probably know so only very occasionally have wheat products but in the last couple of months I have had a few occasions when I have eaten bread or a cauliflower cheese made with flour rather than just cheese the way I make it and my BG levels went up and took ridiculous amounts of insulin corrections to bring them down and stomach and gut were so unhappy for a couple of days afterwards. Does that sound plausible for Coeliac?
 
rebrascora said:
Must admit that this has had me thinking. I follow a low carb way of eating as you probably know so only very occasionally have wheat products but in the last couple of months I have had a few occasions when I have eaten bread or a cauliflower cheese made with flour rather than just cheese the way I make it and my BG levels went up and took ridiculous amounts of insulin corrections to bring them down and stomach and gut were so unhappy for a couple of days afterwards. Does that sound plausible for Coeliac?
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It could be a lot of things, but for a Coeliac test you need to be eating gluten for at least 6 weeks. :(
 
Pumper_Sue said:
It could be a lot of things, but for a Coeliac test you need to be eating gluten for at least 6 weeks. :(
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Since it is so rare that I indulge I will happily just continue as things are and avoid the wheat. It is easy most of the time, just the odd occasion when eating out. I don't need a diagnosis as it doesn't really change things for me.
 
Welcome to the forum, Jake!

I think those are normal emotions for anyone to feel at some point, and especially with a condition like that. Diabetes is not the end of the world and today's treatments make possible to have a pretty normal life with it and it shouldn't stop you from doing anything you love...but there is no denying it's a change and it takes a bit to adapt to. I'm pretty new to it, and I remember the first weeks I was very nervous, tearful... I was grieving the "loss" of my health and thinking of all the things I couldn't do or eat anymore. Turns out, none of these things are really out of limits, and I have redefined my concept of "healthy". I am in a pretty positive mindset right now, but I am sure I will go through rough patches...and that's human and fine.

I hope you feel better soon, both physically and emotionally, and if you feel you need help don't hesitate to seek it. As others have said, you can also come to the forum to rant and find people who understands what you are going through.
 
Jake90 said:
Thank you for replying. I currently use lantus and Novarapid. 12 units of lantus daily. I thought I was managing everything OK until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting random belly pains and feeling sick. I am monitoring both my bloods and ketones as normal by finger pricking (bloody nightmare) I don't qualify for a libre as of yet.
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Hi @Jake90 , and welcome.

I'm surprised you say that you don't qualify for Libre as of yet. It is my understanding that advice from NICE in 2019 to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and thus to GPs is that Libre is recommended for all Type 1s. I need to search back and find the reference; but I was a beneficiary of this Guidance in Feb 2020, when from a position of obstructiveness in mid 2019 the gates magically opened in Jan 20 and supply arrived a short while later. Broadly this Guidance Note said that T1s should be given whatever they need.

I strongly suggest you seek direct confirmation, from whoever told you that. In practice the actual authorisation needs to start with a Specialist, usually Hospital based. For me it was my Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN) at my local hospital, who recommended to my Endocrinologist that I needed Libre; and my DSN put me on a list that the Endo approved (and no doubt some committe of administrators then did the "triage assessment" to put their rubber stamp on this). They told my GP, who wrote the necessary prescriptions - and thus attracted the cost to my Surgery's allowance from their CCG.

It works this way, since even if your GP is well informed about diabetic needs and agrees you should have Libre, the accountability starts with the recommendation from the Specialists, who are hospital based.

If you already have a DSN, (this is NOT a nurse from your Surgery who might have specific responsibility for all the patients with Diabetes in that practice), ask that DSN if you are already on a list and if not, why not. If the answer is no, e-mail and ask for an e-mail reply to give you something in writing that you can politely but robustly challenge. That challenge would start with a request to your GP for an URGENT referral to an Endocrinologist, to establish why you are not in the chain for Libre 2 now.

Sadly there is a lot of misunderstanding coupled with legacy positions and out of date 'status quo' sitting in GP Surgeries. You might be experiencing this. I'll search for that reference over the weekend.
Jake90 said:
I am struggling with my ketone levels they seem to be all over the place but my bloods are fine. I explained this to the nurses and they are just as baffled as me I haven't been ill so no reason for my levels to be doing what they are doing.
Click to expand...
 
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