Hi all. Thanks for letting me join. I’ve fallen in love with a man with t1D so actually joined to learn what I can about the condition and learn management tips and how to suggest them without offending. He has good days and bad days. We don’t live together but spend weekends together and sometimes he has hypos which I’ve learned to support by giving a sweet snack and being patient and loving but insistent on either eating or checking his levels. Nocturnal hypos are the scariest for me, as I’ve had to wake him to eat a snack when he’s dipped. He uses a Dexcom (with alarms, I have access on my phone too) and is awaiting the libre on the nhs. I apologise if I have joined the wrong forum, just a girl seeking knowledge in order to best support as I realise now how serious a condition it is. X I find just reading posts here is very informative.
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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Hello, new here
- Thread starter Dot89
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Martin62
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi there, Welcome ,you have definitely joined the right forum, you can ask any questions you want and somebody will always have an answer.
It's great that you are wanting to learn things to help you continue your support for your partner, he is a very lucky man.
Best wishes
Martin
It's great that you are wanting to learn things to help you continue your support for your partner, he is a very lucky man.
Best wishes
Martin
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome.
Sorry to dear your chap is struggling with his diabetes management..... particularly nocturnal hypos.... but great that you want to learn so that you can better support him. Also great that he has Dexcom although it sounds like he is self funding which is a bit financial outlay 😱 but worth it for peace of mind if you can afford it. From what I have read he may find the Libre a bit of a second class alternative, but as someone who has only ever had Libre, I absolutely love it. I don't think it has the facility to link to other mobiles though like Dexcom does.
You seem to realise that it can be a bit of a tetchy situation offering support without being intrusive. Unfortunately the nature of hypos can sometimes mean that we can become difficult and resistant as our brains get a bit short on glucose. It sounds like you have a pretty good approach to it from what you describe. I believe @everydayupsanddowns has an etiquette protocol for managing such situations which might be useful to you so hopefully he will be along when next online to post a link to it.
I am sure we are more than happy to fill you in with any information and support we can, but would your partner consider joining the forum too. It can really be helpful to compare notes with other diabetics as we can learn so much more from each others' practical experiences. Just the fact that we understand the frustrations and challenges it brings on an daily basis and share them with each other can ease some of the mental strain of it all, but we can also offer suggestions and practical tips for fixing particular management problems..... or suggest what to try or check in order to try to improve things. For instance nocturnal hypos would suggest a basal (long acting insulin) check would be appropriate assuming they happen after his bolus (meal time) insulin has finished working. Sometimes a change of dose is all that is needed, other times a change of basal insulin to one with a different profile might suit him better. Sometimes just the timing of when he takes it can fix things, so lots of options and suggestions if we have more info about specific problems.
Anyway, I am so pleased to hear that you are already finding reading other posts helpful and if there are any specific issues or questions that you have, feel free to ask them. Do remember that the forum is a mixture of members with different types of diabetes and some information is more relevant to Type 2 than Type 1 say, so keep an eye out for Type 1 members which shows in the username box at the left of the post, as that will hopefully provide you with more appropriate information to your partner's situation.
Sorry to dear your chap is struggling with his diabetes management..... particularly nocturnal hypos.... but great that you want to learn so that you can better support him. Also great that he has Dexcom although it sounds like he is self funding which is a bit financial outlay 😱 but worth it for peace of mind if you can afford it. From what I have read he may find the Libre a bit of a second class alternative, but as someone who has only ever had Libre, I absolutely love it. I don't think it has the facility to link to other mobiles though like Dexcom does.
You seem to realise that it can be a bit of a tetchy situation offering support without being intrusive. Unfortunately the nature of hypos can sometimes mean that we can become difficult and resistant as our brains get a bit short on glucose. It sounds like you have a pretty good approach to it from what you describe. I believe @everydayupsanddowns has an etiquette protocol for managing such situations which might be useful to you so hopefully he will be along when next online to post a link to it.
I am sure we are more than happy to fill you in with any information and support we can, but would your partner consider joining the forum too. It can really be helpful to compare notes with other diabetics as we can learn so much more from each others' practical experiences. Just the fact that we understand the frustrations and challenges it brings on an daily basis and share them with each other can ease some of the mental strain of it all, but we can also offer suggestions and practical tips for fixing particular management problems..... or suggest what to try or check in order to try to improve things. For instance nocturnal hypos would suggest a basal (long acting insulin) check would be appropriate assuming they happen after his bolus (meal time) insulin has finished working. Sometimes a change of dose is all that is needed, other times a change of basal insulin to one with a different profile might suit him better. Sometimes just the timing of when he takes it can fix things, so lots of options and suggestions if we have more info about specific problems.
Anyway, I am so pleased to hear that you are already finding reading other posts helpful and if there are any specific issues or questions that you have, feel free to ask them. Do remember that the forum is a mixture of members with different types of diabetes and some information is more relevant to Type 2 than Type 1 say, so keep an eye out for Type 1 members which shows in the username box at the left of the post, as that will hopefully provide you with more appropriate information to your partner's situation.
Thank you so much Martin ♥️
Thank you so very much for taking the time to reply with such helpful detail. I really appreciate it. The Dexcom indeed is self funded, rather expensive, he is happy with it but would be equally happy with the libre if it meant he could have it via the nhs. You are so right regarding your suggestion for him to join, I’ve suggested to him it would be so helpful, I didn’t push, but will continue to encourage him and be subtle in my urging him to do so lol. I feel the support would be immense. I get the impression sometimes he feels rather overwhelmed and sad with it all despite that he’s had it most of his life, it’s not easy. He is 43, diagnosed at 18.
Honestly with the nocturnal hypos you’re so right. He has at times adjusted his dosage. We’ve been very…playful…so I suspect the activity too can cause changes in his levels ☺️He has an appointment in a week with the diabetes nurse so hopefully she can tweak a few things to improve things based on the data he will give her.
Thank you so much for the etiquette protocol. One can never learn too much. Can I just say to you people I’m in awe, truly, how you manage to live positively with this condition. I admire your strength. I had NO CLUE how tough going it is to be a diabetic. Im 32 years old and can’t believe how little I knew about such a common illness. Ignorance isn’t actually bliss. As I am glad to know all im learning. Thank you so much, and I’ll be in the shadows reading every post lol
TheClockworkDodo
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi @Dot89 and welcome to the forum 🙂
The etiquette card @rebrascora was talking about is here - though it sounds as though you are already aware of a lot of the things it mentions.
If your OH is having a lot of hypos he ought to be able to get the Libre on the NHS, so I hope they are able to sort this out for him soon - I get my sensors on prescription because of the number of hypos I have and the number of tests I would otherwise have to do (I still have to test quite a lot, but not anything like as much as I did before I had the Libre). It's not as fancy as the Dexcom but a lot cheaper so much more widely available.
The etiquette card @rebrascora was talking about is here - though it sounds as though you are already aware of a lot of the things it mentions.
If your OH is having a lot of hypos he ought to be able to get the Libre on the NHS, so I hope they are able to sort this out for him soon - I get my sensors on prescription because of the number of hypos I have and the number of tests I would otherwise have to do (I still have to test quite a lot, but not anything like as much as I did before I had the Libre). It's not as fancy as the Dexcom but a lot cheaper so much more widely available.
Bruce Stephens
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Libre should now be available to anyone with Type 1, though it's still easier in some places than others. Having good extra reasons beyond just having Type 1 (like lots of hypos) should certainly help if there's reluctance in a particular CCG.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Dot89
Lovely to have you with us, and very kind of you to want to be able to learning more about diabetes and wanting to be able to support your partner.
Diabetes can be a swine, and some experience of hypoglycaemia is almost inevitable with T1.
Do you know what proportion of time he is spending below 4.0? (Dexcom Clarity can give details of Time in Range). The international consensus on Time in Range suggests that most people with T1 should be aiming for less that 4% of time below 4. Long night time hypos can add quite a bit to that total.
My own experience was that a lot of my hypos were driven by my ‘preferring to run on the low side’ and wanting to avoid high BGs (with an eye on long-term complications). Interestingly when I started comparing notes with others here and elsewhere online, I discovered that surprisingly one of the best ways to get rid of highs was for me to focus on trying to avoid hypos!
Best of luck with your gentle persuasion to get him to join, and keep asking any questions you have 🙂
Lovely to have you with us, and very kind of you to want to be able to learning more about diabetes and wanting to be able to support your partner.
Diabetes can be a swine, and some experience of hypoglycaemia is almost inevitable with T1.
Do you know what proportion of time he is spending below 4.0? (Dexcom Clarity can give details of Time in Range). The international consensus on Time in Range suggests that most people with T1 should be aiming for less that 4% of time below 4. Long night time hypos can add quite a bit to that total.
My own experience was that a lot of my hypos were driven by my ‘preferring to run on the low side’ and wanting to avoid high BGs (with an eye on long-term complications). Interestingly when I started comparing notes with others here and elsewhere online, I discovered that surprisingly one of the best ways to get rid of highs was for me to focus on trying to avoid hypos!
Best of luck with your gentle persuasion to get him to join, and keep asking any questions you have 🙂
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