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Helzbelz

Helzbelz

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Not new to diabetes but new to posting in this forum!
hi everyone! Look forward to getting to know you all!

Helz
 
Helzbelz said:
Not new to diabetes but new to posting in this forum!
hi everyone! Look forward to getting to know you all!

Helz
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Hello @Helzbelz ,

Welcome to the DUK forum! when were you diagnosed?would you like to share a bit about yourself?
 
Thank you!
I am type 1 and have been for 39 years. I was diagnosed age 6.
I am currently on lantus and humalog (looking to change these soon) and use freestyle libre 2 for monitoring.
I have had a pump but didn’t continue with it, prefer the old injections after a bad experience with it.
I live in Edinburgh with my biker husband Jim.
Kind regards
Helz
 
Hello and welcome young @Helzbelz so lovely to see you here! Glad you found it as DSF unfortunately closed. I well remember the incident you had with your pump when it malfunctioned and nearly killed you! What insulins are you hoping to change to?
 
Hiya Helzie! I typed a reply to you last night but couldn't post it, supposed to delete cookies when you close the internet but doesn't until you close and restart the puter. (Note to self - Must look at the settings, ruddy thing) We're both still OK (give or take) and very pleased to hear that you and Jim are too - I have wondered about you over the intervening years!

Pete's bikes are gathering dust and frankly if he got his leg over either, there'd be no room for a pillion except Olive Oyl ...... we bought a motorhome to go camping in instead of a tent on the bike!
 
Welcome to the forum @Helzbelz

Good to see you here 🙂
 
Pattidevans said:
Hello and welcome young @Helzbelz so lovely to see you here! Glad you found it as DSF unfortunately closed. I well remember the incident you had with your pump when it malfunctioned and nearly killed you! What insulins are you hoping to change to?
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Yes! That was one of the most terryfiying experiences of my life!
Pity about DSF we were like a wee family in there!
I'm not sure about the insulin changes yet, my nurse is trying lots of things first but I'm confident they will change because nothing is really happening lol

how you been?
 
trophywench said:
Hiya Helzie! I typed a reply to you last night but couldn't post it, supposed to delete cookies when you close the internet but doesn't until you close and restart the puter. (Note to self - Must look at the settings, ruddy thing) We're both still OK (give or take) and very pleased to hear that you and Jim are too - I have wondered about you over the intervening years!

Pete's bikes are gathering dust and frankly if he got his leg over either, there'd be no room for a pillion except Olive Oyl ...... we bought a motorhome to go camping in instead of a tent on the bike!
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Aww! He will hold onto the bikes until they are old and dusty 😉, one a biker, always a biker and all that!

Yeah it took us a long time to get up on our feet after what happened but we are doing ok...I don't bike anymore either since I got my car license and learnt that a skoda yeti with music blaring was a much more comfortable ride lol

I would love a motorhome, where have you travelled too? (I know covid will have affected many plans but great to have it!)

Really is lovely to see you both as you were often in my mind also, and it's taken me a while as I was never sure how to come back in as 'me now' if you know what I mean xxx
 
We have kept in touch via FB so I knew more or less what you were up to. May I ask though, what you mean by "nothing is really happening" as far as insulin is concerned?
 
Pattidevans said:
We have kept in touch via FB so I knew more or less what you were up to. May I ask though, what you mean by "nothing is really happening" as far as insulin is concerned?
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My bloods have been steadily rising and I put it down to stress because of Mum etc but my nurse is changing about doses to see the impact but I am still getting very sudden highs.
I'm convinced my insulins are less effective than they used to be.
 
Hello Helz,
it's lovely to see you again, I remember well the incident with your pump :( and can not blame you for not wanting to use one again.

It would be a complete pain in the article doing so but would you consider a pump again and only putting say half a day's insulin in the pump or or perhaps just your basal, and bolus with a syringe.
 
Hi and welcome from me too.

Could it be a case of your basal insulin needs increasing rather than the insulin becoming less effective.
My basal insulin needs gradually doubled after I had my first Covid jab. I kept resisting increasing it and using more QA insulin to do corrections to firefight the highs but once I started to (reluctantly) increase my basal insulin things started to settle down a bit. Over a period of 3 months I had to increase it and then one day I had 7 hypoes and needed to start decreasing it, but I am still using a lot more than I did before the jab. When my basal insulin dose is correct, it is bliss because everything makes sense and works as it should but I find that I have to make very frequent adjustments to it to keep at the right dose for my body. I can sometimes go weeks or if I am very lucky, months, with the same basal dose and then it will change almost every day until it settles again. I would recommend a change to Levemir if you think this might be the case for you as it enables you to make adjustments to your daytime and night time doses independently and it can be adjusted much more frequently than most other insulins to give almost instant results. It gives you so much more flexibility to fine tune the doses to suit your body. Obviously not as good as a pump by a long chalk but from your experience, that is clearly not something you want to go back to, but Levemir gives you the best control in that respect that can be achieved with MDI, so I would recommend trying that if a change of insulin is on the cards.
 
Portugal is about the furthest we've been, mainly France, and of course all over England and Wales. Only used it for a week, this year so far. Pete's had more health probs than me for the last 18 months - that's an entirely different story, but has restricted what he does cos of waiting for appts/phone calls/tests one dare not miss, etc - so not being able to 'just get on with it' and book stuff up!
 
@rebrascora is right about Levemir - both Patti and I loved it to pieces when we were on it, before we both had pumps, it really is the next best thing to a pump IMHO. Nobody on earth has a flat basal profile 24/24 so it is easier to fit normal life in, around Lev, than it is any other basal insulin we know about! I have always and still do, described it as 'more biddable' than any other basal insulins, because it's 2 jabs a day and you usually know within 12 hours whether whatever adjustment you made to the dose when you had the immediately preceding jab of it, whether that worked, or not. None of this hanging around for 3 days to find out ......
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Hello Helz,
it's lovely to see you again, I remember well the incident with your pump :( and can not blame you for not wanting to use one again.

It would be a complete pain in the article doing so but would you consider a pump again and only putting say half a day's insulin in the pump or or perhaps just your basal, and bolus with a syringe.
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Hello Sue!! Nice to see you again!
No, I wouldn't try a pump again that experience left me so shaken and I've felt safer with the devil I know. When using my pump my bloods were amazing, but I couldn't risk it again my anxiety would be too much. x
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome from me too.

Could it be a case of your basal insulin needs increasing rather than the insulin becoming less effective.
My basal insulin needs gradually doubled after I had my first Covid jab. I kept resisting increasing it and using more QA insulin to do corrections to firefight the highs but once I started to (reluctantly) increase my basal insulin things started to settle down a bit. Over a period of 3 months I had to increase it and then one day I had 7 hypoes and needed to start decreasing it, but I am still using a lot more than I did before the jab. When my basal insulin dose is correct, it is bliss because everything makes sense and works as it should but I find that I have to make very frequent adjustments to it to keep at the right dose for my body. I can sometimes go weeks or if I am very lucky, months, with the same basal dose and then it will change almost every day until it settles again. I would recommend a change to Levemir if you think this might be the case for you as it enables you to make adjustments to your daytime and night time doses independently and it can be adjusted much more frequently than most other insulins to give almost instant results. It gives you so much more flexibility to fine tune the doses to suit your body. Obviously not as good as a pump by a long chalk but from your experience, that is clearly not something you want to go back to, but Levemir gives you the best control in that respect that can be achieved with MDI, so I would recommend trying that if a change of insulin is on the cards.
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WOW! this is exactly what I have been experiencing hence thinking my insulins were less effective! My basal insulin has been increased SO MUCH and I was anxious about it!! If this is something you have experienced then I shall go with the changes and see what happens, it's just really bizarre!!
Thank you! If this trend continues then I will consider Levemir but for now I will keep on increasing and see if it's the same as yourself! I do still experience dawn phenomenon so I may need to use levemir from that respect to make sure i'm good through the day. Appreciate your input! thank you!
 
trophywench said:
Portugal is about the furthest we've been, mainly France, and of course all over England and Wales. Only used it for a week, this year so far. Pete's had more health probs than me for the last 18 months - that's an entirely different story, but has restricted what he does cos of waiting for appts/phone calls/tests one dare not miss, etc - so not being able to 'just get on with it' and book stuff up!
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Great that you have travelled a bit but not so great about Pete's health!
Nice to know you have it there though for last minute options and respite. Hope he is keeping better now xx
 
trophywench said:
@rebrascora is right about Levemir - both Patti and I loved it to pieces when we were on it, before we both had pumps, it really is the next best thing to a pump IMHO. Nobody on earth has a flat basal profile 24/24 so it is easier to fit normal life in, around Lev, than it is any other basal insulin we know about! I have always and still do, described it as 'more biddable' than any other basal insulins, because it's 2 jabs a day and you usually know within 12 hours whether whatever adjustment you made to the dose when you had the immediately preceding jab of it, whether that worked, or not. None of this hanging around for 3 days to find out ......
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I am giving lots of consideration to Levemir and will discuss this with my nurse if her suggestions make no difference...I am doing as @rebrascora was doing and increasing by a huge whack and it is slowly coming down.....I hadn't considered my vaccines as a potential influence!
Man, I feel so much better already...it's a lonely fight on your own and I appreciate you all xxx
 
I had a few days of erratic readings up and down after my first vaccine which is not totally unusual for me anyway but then the days when I was needing to use increasing numbers of corrections added together until I upped my basal and then a few days later I would need to up it again until I gradually stopped resisting and made progressive increases.

Covid infection has caused many peoples' basal needs to increase as well as one or two like myself who have noticed an increase since the vaccine. My feeling is that it may have triggered my immune system to kill off some more of my remaining beta cells.

Whatever the cause, you need as much insulin as you need and resisting increasing your dose doesn't do you any favours and in many respects having the correct basal dose often means I need less total units of insulin a day than I was using to firefight the high BG levels with a reduced basal dose.... if you know what I mean.

So pleased you are feeling better just by catching up with old friends and perhaps making some new ones and sharing problems and ideas with others who have been in similar circumstances.
 
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