Busy nursing Mom newly diagnosed as type 1

[Pink Rose]

Hi. I have been reading this forum for a few days which is full of information and support, so I have decided to join. Here is a little about myself:

I had gestational diabetes in my last 4 pregnancies. The first two times it was managed by diet the next time medication and this last time It was insulin. My baby was born exactly a year ago.
I was often feeling unwell and at the three months blood test it showed that I'm diabetic. Doctor assumed it was type 2 - as this usually follows gestational diabetes ( I am young for that though - 41). My Hba1c was 90. I went back to low carbs diet, exercise and glucose monitoring from time to time and still had high numbers (high teens / low twenties occasionally high twenties) I was also losing weight. At that point I decided to see a diabetes specialist privately as GP wasn't helping. The specialist still thought it was type 2 but put me into insulin since I'm breastfeeding and medication is not safe for the baby. There was some improvement for a while. Recently (beginning of Feb.) My Hba1c was still 87 and after blood test it showed that I'm actually type 1 !!

I am now starting to adjust to the new condition, had a change of insulin to levemir and added the novorapid before meals. (Had a major hypo yesterday morning - 2.4)

I understood from diabetes nurse that my type 1 diabetes is unrelated to the gestational diabetes. I wonder if it came from the Covid that I was quite seriously ill with last year just a few weeks before giving birth ? Or was the pregnancy too much for my pancreas ? Or could it be related to my mother's autoimmune lupus problem ? .... who knows ?

 

[Leadinglights]

Welcome to the forum.
That must have been a struggle to cope with 3 children, pregnancy and to top it all getting COVID and then a diabetes diagnosis. There seem to be many people being diagnosed after having COVID but hopefully you will start to feel better with your insulin regime.
There are many people with experience of Type 1 and who will be all too willing to answer any questions you have.

 

[trophywench]

You can speculate about which precise thing caused your immune cells to kill off some jolly useful bits of you instead of just the baddies, until the cows come home, if you want?

Or - just accept that it happened and get on with living the life you want, with the added necessities none of us wanted.

The choice is yours! 🙂

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Pink Rose 🙂 I know of at least 3 women who had ‘gestational’ diabetes that later turned out to be Type 1 so you’re not alone. I presume it’s just a slower-onset Type 1.

Sadly, misdiagnosis isn’t uncommon. Adults are assumed to be Type 2 (or GD if pregnant). So IMO you never had GD - just Type 1 all along.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi Pink Rose, welcome to the forum.

Sounds you've had a lot to contend with of late! There could be a number of reasons why you have diabetes, unfortunately there's no fool proof way to isolate the potential origin.

The good thing is that you've got a specialist who is looking after you so hopefully you'll be on track once your medication has been sorted.

Do have a look around and let us know if there's anything we can help with re managing diabetes.

 

[Rothers1969]

welcome sounds like your really busy !!! and your never gonna know probably what caused it its a shock give it time to sink in, but its nothing you did you cannot have prevented it in any way x its a lot isn't it plus being a new mum too.
were always here for a chat whenever ! and no question is a daft question. just ask away x

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Pink Rose

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. As others have said you will probably never know what triggered the antibodies that did the work of destroying your beta cells, and there is nothing that you could have done about it anyway. An infection of some sort is often not the trigger, but is the straw that breaks the camels back. When we are ill we need more insulin as our glucose levels rise. We have fewer cells producing insulin as they have been destroyed but by bit, so finally the last few just go on strike which then leads to a diagnosis. It doesn’t change what you do now, so I would be tempted to forget about how it started and focus on what you can do now.

It is good that you have a supportive team. The insulins you are using will give you the flexibility to make adjustments both to the background insulin (Levemir) which deals with the glucose trickled out by your liver to keep you going, and to your meal time quick acting insulin (Novorapid). I found it very helpful to get half unit pens, as I was on small doses at the start and this made life a lot easier, especially when making changes to my Levemir. Talk to your team about this if you fancy trying them.

Read around the forum. Ask questions. Stick around. There is plenty of experience to tap into.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Pink Rose and nice that you have de-lurked and started posting 🙂

Sorry to hear about your T1 diagnosis and the rather protracted route it took you to get an accurate classification. Hopefully now you have access to the right tools and the right information, you should be able to manage your diabetes more effectively.

If you’d like a good overview of T1 diabetes to help with your self-management efforts, two books which are frequently recommended here are:

Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas (relevant to people of all ages despite the title!)

and

Think Like a Pancreas’ by Gary Scheiner

And do keep asking questions on the forum. Lots of experienced T1s here with years of BG juggling under their belts 🙂

 

[Pink Rose]

Thank you everyone for such a warm welcome. It is nice to be part of a supportive group of people who understand what I'm going through.... It took me a while to answer, as being so busy, I will only have time once every couple of days to read/write in the forums, but I do appreciate everyone's posts. And yes you're all right, no use thinking what caused it, better to concentrate on how to deal with it...
Just wondering, are all type 1's eligible for a pump under N.H.S? It seems so much nicer than injecting 5 times per day... I am on a waiting list for the gadget that you put on your arm to show the glucose level (I forgot the name...) so the many finger pricking per day will hopefully soon be a thing of the past... When I asked the diabetes nurse about the pump she said that I first need to learn the correct amount of insulin for each food, before I can go onto a pump. (but she didn't mention if I would then receive one or need to buy on my own... I think they are very expensive...) I am waiting for my dietitian appointment so she can teach me the 'tricks of the trade...'

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Just wondering, are all type 1's eligible for a pump under N.H.S?

No! There are national criteria for this which are reasonably strict (so not many qualify); apparently if you're interested the trick is to stress that you're worried about hypos (which is one criterion that's hard to disprove). (About twice as many women as men are prescribed a pump, apparently.)

I am on a waiting list for the gadget that you put on your arm to show the glucose level (I forgot the name...)

It's the Freestyle Libre (now Libre 2). You still need to use finger prick tests at least now and again, but most of the time I find it accurate enough that I can bolus from it.