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Abner55

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My wife was diagnosed with Type1 a couple of months ago, she is in her mid sixties so it was quite a shock for us both!
We are still coming terms with it all, but hoping to find some answers on the forum
 
Welcome @Abner55 🙂 Sorry to hear about your wife’s Type 1 diagnosis. It does all gradually get easier.

What insulins does she take? Does she have a Libre?

There are a couple of books often recommended for Type 1s on this forum:

Think Like a Pancreas’ by Gary Scheiner.

And Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas (ignore the title - it’s great for adults too).

Think Like A Pancreas is American but I liked the chatty style and it contains some great information, as does the Ragnar Hanas book.
 
Thanks Inka
We shall have a look at the books
Glad to hear it gets easier!
She is on Abasaglar and Novorapid, she also has a Libre (Which we seem to spend most of our day looking at!)
Appreciate the quick reply
 
Welcome to the forum @Abner55

Gosh I can imagine it must have been quite a surprise for you both. Though being diagnosed later in life isn’t as unusual as you might think - just ask the Speaker of the Commons and an ex PM!

We have a number of members diagnosed in their 50s and 60s including @SB2015 @Robin @Pattidevans and many more.

And I agree with @Inka - it’s overwhelming at the start, but it will get easier.
 
Abner55 said:
My wife was diagnosed with Type1 a couple of months ago, she is in her mid sixties so it was quite a shock for us both!
We are still coming terms with it all, but hoping to find some answers on the forum
Click to expand...
I have a friend who was diagnosed at nearly 80 after being told she was Type 2 for 2 years, losing a lot of weight when she didn't need to by any means.
 
Hiya Abner. I was 57 at diagnosis. I am now 77 and frankly quite used to it all now. I also recommend the books mentioned, but do ask away here, everyone is very very helpful 🙂
 
Welcome, @Abner55 , and to your wife. I was 51 when I was diagnosed, I’m now 68, so a few years under my belt. I found 'Think like a pancreas' really useful when I was starting out, now I have most of the information in my head!
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, it feels like a big hug!
Lots of questions coming up, I’m sure, but good to know that help/advice is always available
 
I am sorry to hear that about your wife. I have to confess to knowing nothing about Type 1 but is that classed as a late onset? I think, if I am right, Type I is the genetic one which you cannot avoid.
 
Thanks Maz2
Yes it is classed as late onset, and you are correct, you can’t avoid it as the pancreas stops producing insulin so you have to administer it yourself
Thanks for replying, take care
 
Maz2 said:
I am sorry to hear that about your wife. I have to confess to knowing nothing about Type 1 but is that classed as a late onset? I think, if I am right, Type I is the genetic one which you cannot avoid.
Click to expand...
Type 1 is autoimmune which may or may not be genetic i.e run in families.
 
Welcome to the forum @Abner55 from another late starter (53 at diagnosis)
I am sorry to hear of your wife’s diagnosis, but very pleased that you have found the forum. A wealth of experience to tap into.

I found the Type 1 Diabetes in Children, adolescents and young adults a brilliant book. Regularly updated so worth getting the latest edition. Well indexed and clear explanations.

It is a lot to take in at the start. Like learning to drive there seems to be a lot to think about and then much of it becomes automatic.

Ask any questions that arise, and know that nothing is considered silly on here. Just ask.
 
Maz2 said:
I am sorry to hear that about your wife. I have to confess to knowing nothing about Type 1 but is that classed as a late onset? I think, if I am right, Type I is the genetic one which you cannot avoid.
Click to expand...

No, that’s not right @Maz2 Type 1 is an auto-immune condition where an environmental trigger or triggers causes the immune system to attack the beta cells in the pancreas, ultimately destroying them. 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with Type 1 have no close relatives with it.

Although genes are involved in that there are genes connected to Type 1, most people with those ‘Type 1 genes’ do not develop Type 1. Even in identical twins who share the exact same genes, if one twin develops Type 1, the other twin only has around a 50% chance of developing it too.

There is a form of genetic diabetes called MODY.
 
Abner55 said:
Hi all.. First question on the Forum..
My Wife is finding that she has to eat something every hour and a quarter to boost her levels as they drop at that time quite quickly, is this a usual occurrence, if not, is there a particular snack that’s recommended to keep levels up for longer?
Thank you
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It sounds like she is using too much insulin if she is needing to snack to keep her levels up. This is how sometimes how insulin gets a reputation for causing weight gain. However if she has lost weight prior to or during the early stages of diagnosis and now needs to put a bit back on then this is fine short term, but she needs to contact her nurse to see about adjusting her doses if it is a regular trend. In the meantime if she is not confident of adjusting her own doses, then snacking on something is necessary and ideally something quite carb rich if levels are dropping fast. Things like dried fruit work for me as long as I am not too low to start with. So if my levels are in the 5s or above a dried apricot/prune or fig works quite well. If levels are below 5, then I generally have a jelly baby as that works quicker than the dried fruit. After I have that, I keep a close eye on things and am prepared to have a second item if the drop doesn't slow down. You have to remember however that Libre will be about 20-30 mins behind BG when levels are changing direction, so it willl show your levels continuing to drop 15 mins after you ate whatever you did to stop the drop but this is not a true reflection of her actual levels and just an anomaly of the algorithm used in the Libre to try to convert the interstitial fluid reading to a blood glucose reading. Often at the 40 min post snack point the Libre algorithm will have caught on and the previous low reading will have been corrected and the graph will show levels coming back up. You can finger prick at the 15 min post snack point, especially if Libre suggests you are hypo to double check and obviously treat as a hypo if it is below 4 but otherwise, hold your nerve and test again in 15 mins. Hope that makes sense. So if I am 5.2 and a downward sloping arrow I will have a dried apricot. Libre might show me as 3.8 15 mins later but a finger prick may show me as 4.3, so I hang on another 15 mins and Libre shows me as 4.7 and there is no indication on the graph that I dropped below 4 at all. If I was 5.2 with a vertical downward arrow to start with, I would have a jelly baby, maybe 2 to slow the drop and turn things around, because my levels are dropping very fast and I need something to work quicker. Chewing sweet foods really well will get the glucose into your blood stream faster by absorbing through the cells inside your mouth, than just a couple of chews and swallowing down, so encourage your wife to chew well and enjoy the sweet treat and try to relax rather than panic. Gradually you build confidence in the speed at which different foods and drink absorb and raise your levels and that helps to prevent the horribly panic that levels dropping can cause.
 
Hi @rebrascora
Thank you so much for your detailed reply
You are right about the horrible panic! We seem to do that most days at the moment!
Your explanation of the libre result differing from the blood glucose monitor helps a lot
Being anxious about hypo’s we try to keep her levels over 8.0, so maybe we shall have to be braver
and lower the number a bit too
Thanks again
 
The early days/weeks/months are tough. It is very easy to panic and overtreat a drop and I think in some respects it was easier when we didn't have Libre straight away and couldn't see them happening. I had a year of just finger pricking before I got Libre and I think it teaches you to listen to your body a bit more rather than look at the Libre and panic. Remember that the insulin the body used to produce drops your levels like that too and indeed it is what the insulin is supposed to do although often we go higher first because we are not able to time the insulin as well as our pancreas used to do, so you get a higher spike and then of course it needs to come down so you get more of a drop. Take your time with gaining confidence and maybe hold your nerve till you get to 7 before you have a very small snack rather than 8 and then maybe in a month's time, make it 6 instead of 7. Gradually you will gain confidence in whatever small carb snack you use kicking in in a reasonable time period and learn when you need something quicker or something a bit slower. The key is not to have too much of a snack and give it time to work. It is all too easy to overtreat that drop so that levels go back up and so your body doesn't get the chance to get used to normal "in range" numbers.
 
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