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Another newbie!

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L

LeeD

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Good morning all, yet another newbie introducing themselves on the forum....Hi!

I was diagnosed Type1 in May last year and must admit, it was a huge shock!
I live a healthy lifestyle, eat well, married to a Vegan...maybe that's the issue??? (although I do eat meat) and exercise every day.
My blood glucose count went from my usual 5 to 37 in the space of 3 days. I was sent to the Rapid Diabetic Unit in Derby Hospital and was diagnosed with Type1.

They whole process was obviously very daunting. I shouldn't get type1 at 48! .......

The rapid unit were absolutely fantastic. They reassured me, advised me, guided me and made the whole sorry affair so much easier to comprehend and deal with.

I'm getting there. I was fitted with my Libre within a couple of months and have made a conscious effort to minimise changes in my life. I still eat well, I still exercise I just have to be a bit more careful in my eating patterns. I was a serial tea time eater and rarely ate breakfast or lunch..... not anymore!

Well its interesting to read other peoples issues and advice on this forum and count myself lucky that I've not really had too many problems.

My thought is.... I didn't ask for it but I've got it. I can't get rid of it but I can live with it. I could have been diagnose with something far more sinister rather than type1. I still have many many (many) years left in the tank and I'm damn sure I'm going to claw back as much company pension as possible in the years to come!

Everyone else on here, all the best for the future..... and hello again!
 
Look at it this way Lee - diabetes only chooses the best people to land on. Must be true cos it chose me and you apart from anyone else!
 
Hello @LeeD
Welcome to the forum, so pleased you have joined us.
There are quite a few others on the forum that were diagnosed Type 1 later in life, and I'm sure they will be happy to share the ups and downs with you.
You seem to be coping very well.
 
Hi Lee and welcome.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 last year at the age of 55 so you are by no means alone in your late onset diagnosis, although I came into it slightly differently as they initially assumed I was Type 2. I had several weeks of oral meds and extremely strict diet, progressively reducing carbs to the barest minimum to try to bring my readings down, only to have my HbA1c increase from 112 to 116 after 5 weeks of what seemed like eating cardboard, so they started me on insulin and I was subsequently tested positive for Type 1 a couple of months later.
It sounds like you are doing really well and your outlook on life is brilliant. How are you finding the Libre? I am really hoping to convince my consultant that it would be beneficial for me when I see him next week.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi Lee and welcome.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 last year at the age of 55 so you are by no means alone in your late onset diagnosis, although I came into it slightly differently as they initially assumed I was Type 2. I had several weeks of oral meds and extremely strict diet, progressively reducing carbs to the barest minimum to try to bring my readings down, only to have my HbA1c increase from 112 to 116 after 5 weeks of what seemed like eating cardboard, so they started me on insulin and I was subsequently tested positive for Type 1 a couple of months later.
It sounds like you are doing really well and your outlook on life is brilliant. How are you finding the Libre? I am really hoping to convince my consultant that it would be beneficial for me when I see him next week.
Click to expand...
Hi Barbara. I don't know what other people think of the Libre but I think its fantastic! Its such a relief not having to finger prick all of the time and if you love numbers (like I do) its almost a game to stay within your target range of 4-10 (72-180). The only down side is you can over scan sometimes and be a little bit too critical on yourself when you fall out of range. I am averaging 85% in target but get disappointed with myself when I have a bad day????
If you get the chance to have a Libre id jump at it!
All the best.
 
LeeD said:
Hi Barbara. I don't know what other people think of the Libre but I think its fantastic! Its such a relief not having to finger prick all of the time and if you love numbers (like I do) its almost a game to stay within your target range of 4-10 (72-180). The only down side is you can over scan sometimes and be a little bit too critical on yourself when you fall out of range. I am averaging 85% in target but get disappointed with myself when I have a bad day????
If you get the chance to have a Libre id jump at it!
All the best.
Click to expand...
Hi Lee
I think it is great having the Libre. I have found that I can often head off a hypo and hyper. I found some foods cause me to spike more than I thought so have replaced them. Also it has helped me to time my insulin before meals to let it get giong and meet the glucose head on, thus reducing post meal spikes to blips. All good.
 
Thanks for your responses Lee and @SB2015.
I particularly struggle with bolus insulin taking it's time to start working and get huge spikes after eating. My breakfast bolus often needs to be an hour or more before breakfast and I am sure the Libre would really help me to see when it is kicking in so that I know when to eat. Thankfully lunch and dinner are nearer half an hour but it is not pleasant going up to 14 or 15 before coming tumbling back down when I get the timing wrong.
I would probably also be a bit competitive about getting a high "time in range" result but surely it has to be better than the frustration of the stabbing in the dark that I am doing at the moment.
Unfortunately with my consultant, it will be more of a case of putting together a very good case and pushing as hard as I dare for it, rather than being offered the chance of it. I am making a list of all the qualifying factors I meet plus any other potential benefits that I anticipate from it in the hope of swaying him.
 
rebrascora said:
Thanks for your responses Lee and @SB2015.
I particularly struggle with bolus insulin taking it's time to start working and get huge spikes after eating. My breakfast bolus often needs to be an hour or more before breakfast and I am sure the Libre would really help me to see when it is kicking in so that I know when to eat. Thankfully lunch and dinner are nearer half an hour but it is not pleasant going up to 14 or 15 before coming tumbling back down when I get the timing wrong.
I would probably also be a bit competitive about getting a high "time in range" result but surely it has to be better than the frustration of the stabbing in the dark that I am doing at the moment.
Unfortunately with my consultant, it will be more of a case of putting together a very good case and pushing as hard as I dare for it, rather than being offered the chance of it. I am making a list of all the qualifying factors I meet plus any other potential benefits that I anticipate from it in the hope of swaying him.
Click to expand...
I played around with both time and also reduced the amount of carbs I was eating at meals.
I am not ‘low carb’ but just lower than I was.
Both here strategies helped me to get rid of those spikes (except when eating out!!)
 
SB2015 said:
I played around with both time and also reduced the amount of carbs I was eating at meals.
I am not ‘low carb’ but just lower than I was.
Both here strategies helped me to get rid of those spikes (except when eating out!!)
Click to expand...

I already eat low carb most of the time. I just seem to be extremely efficient at digesting the ones I do eat, but slow to utilise the insulin. I had hoped that Fiasp might work faster than NR but it didn't, so timing the bolus seems to be pretty critical for me and trying to do that by finger pricking is challenging.
 
Yup, I know what you mean! Although the Libre will not fix your problem, it gives you a far better indication of when your levels are rising and falling and helps you manage the peak better. Its all trial and error (as you all well know) but you can go back historically and see what happened when you've tried different things. Every bit of technology that can strengthen our armour is greatly appreciated. I really hope you are successful in convincing your consultant. For me it was quite literally life changing.
 
Hi @LeeD - Welcome, nice to have you here, hope you enjoy the forum 🙂
 
Last edited:
Welcome @LeeD sorry to hear your diagnosis was traumatic. There are lots of good advice and posts in the forum. Enjoy looking around.
 
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