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Hi everyone

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J

Jenjen

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi everyone. Im jenny. New to all this, up until tuesday afternoon all was ok until yesterday hubby was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I had concerns especially as he had lost alot of weight in the last 4-6weeks. (Now underweight) Been a tough couple of days, lots to try & understand/get head around. Been very scary, hes 28 & a HGV driver so a very quick turn around. So thought i would join for some advice. Although he isnt out of hospital as yet (fingers crossed today) but more information/advice for us the better. We have a little girl who we will need to help understand this too. So whatever support we can get the more the better.
 
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Hello Jenny and welcome to forum. You will get lots of support here so ask questions, no question is a daft one, and sometimes the one others are reluctant to ask. Look after yourself as well. Carol
 
Jenjen said:
Hi everyone. Im jenny. New to all this, up until tuesday afternoon all was ok until yesterday hubby was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I had concerns especially as he had lost alot of weight in the last 4-6weeks. (Now underweight) Been a tough couple of days, lots to try & understand/get head around. Been very scary, hes 28 & a HGV driver so a very quick turn around. So thought i would join for some advice. Although he isnt out of hospital as yet (fingers crossed today) but more information/advice for us the better. We have a little girl who we will need to help understand this too. So whatever support we can get the more the better.
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Welcome Jenjen to the forum that no one wants to have to join. Diabetes is a serious condition BUT it is manageable, and the equipment that we have access to now makes things a lot easier than it used to be.

There is a lot to learn at the start and a very steep learning curve, but at the hospital the Diabetes Specialist team will help you all through each stage. At present you probably don’t even know what questions to ask, but just to reiterate that no question is considered silly. just ask. We are here to help.

Keep in touch, and there is plenty of support available on here from people who do understand what you are all giong through.
 
Hi Jenny

Sounds like I was in the same type of postion as your husband 25 years ago when I was diagnosed as type 1 just before my 30th birthday - also following a large chunk of weight loss. Looking back I think I'd been suffering ill effects for quite a while but it was really the few weeks before diagnosis where the problems really kicked in.

Once diagnosed - and put onto an insulin regime - the health benefits became apparent to me very very quickly and a small price to pay for having to inject. The needles are tiny and really don't hurt at all. Just a bit of a psychological hurdle the first few times.

After that, it's a case of adjusting to the new reality - and that's not a great deal different to your current version. Hopefully the hospital and your GP will cover all of that.

All the very best to your and your family. As others say, feel free to ask any questions you have, the bunch here are very good.
 
Hi Jenny, I’m glad your husband is getting sorted, and hope he will soon be feeling much better. ( sometimes you don’t notice how bad you were feeling before, until you get treatment)
I know it’s early days, but I noticed you said he’s an HGV driver. Have you been alerted to the DVLA rules for insulin controlled diabetes and HGV driving? They are a lot more stringent than rules for car drivers, including having to provide three months worth of blood glucose monitoring records, which will mean there will be a gap while he establishes the readings and reapplies for his licence.
 
Hi Jenny welcome to the forum 🙂, I read your post this morning but decided to wait to reply. Quite a lot to contend with in these early days, thankyou for finding the forum and ask any or as many questions as you like, we also quite like rants :D. Robin brought up the DVLA topic which will affect hubby`s employment status, strict rules apply but not to be concerned at the moment. He/you will be advised at the hospital after his treatment has finished and you know what medication i.e. insulin etc. he is on. Please keep us up to date on his progress and yours, take care kindest regards.
 
Hi all thanks for all ur replies. Feeling a little overwhelmed & also abit useless now we are home. He is doing ok. we had about a 10minute chat with a dietician yesterday she didnt seem to be very helpful & apart from docs making sure he could self medicate before letting him go & given a handful of leaflets & told to ring GP....feeling quite uncertain. I have however arranged an appointment with diabectic nurse next week which i hope will give us some more guidance. Regards to his HGV doc has taken that off him for 3months. But work have reassured us they will find him something to do so fingers crossed that will still bring in a stable wage. Hes seems to be handling it all very well. (Or trying not to worry me) without sounding shelfish im feeling abit like a spare part with continuous questions. Hes resting at the moment with about 3days worth of sleep to catch up on. But my brain is in overdrive. Not quite over the shock of being told he was very close to either going into a coma or dying had i not pushed to see doctors asap. Should of nagged abit more lol also one of the questions i cant quite get my head around is meals. Now dietician just said eat as normal just within moderation. So i asked how is the safest way to get his weight back up? As Hes less than 10.5 stone & 6ft tall. I follow slimming world & have done for the past 16months with a 3stone weight loss, so what i make or buy in he eats. (So i dont want to make him something & it be my fault it sends his blood sugars high) he had very little portions in hospital & said he was starving. Hes not binge eater or massive sweet eater but enjoys a good mans size portion lol. I dont expect to get it all right straight away but with christmas coming up dont want to be spending it at hospital. In leaflets she gave us nothing says about food. Other than sugar free drinks. :/
 
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Type 1s can eat more or less anything we fancy on the basis that the things our bodies can no longer cope with - carbohydrates - should now be dealt with by injected fast acting insulin which we inject before meals.

Every other second of the day and night, all the insulin we use (cos the body can't function at all if we have none - and you already unfortunately both know what happens then) is supplied by the long acting insulin we inject once or twice a day. Can take quite a while to get the dose(s) right for that, because your husband might still be producing some of his own insulin, but just not enough to be that useful on its own. However - he could equally as well not be producing any at all. Until he's lived with it for a bit, nobody (however well qualified they are) will be able to tell - it just becomes apparent over a time with each individual and that's that.

Is he on fixed doses for his insulins at the moment? and, which insulins has he been prescribed?
 
So more reassuring that there's people who understand. Probably worrying way to much & overthinking it all. So thank you all. He is on 4 units of novorapid 3 times a day & 12 units of lantus 1 every 24hrs.
 
Jenjen said:
So more reassuring that there's people who understand. Probably worrying way to much & overthinking it all. So thank you all. He is on 4 units of novorapid 3 times a day & 12 units of lantus 1 every 24hrs.
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That sounds quite usual for starting off. Eventually, he should be offered a course, or a session with a diabetic nurse, to learn how to carb count, that is, learning to adjust his mealtime novorapid insulin to match how much carbohydrate he is eating at each meal, which makes eating much more flexible. But it’s early days yet, so carry on with what the hospital have told you for now. I found once I started on insulin, I gradually regained the lost weight, now that my body could use the glucose in my body for energy again, and I gradually settled down to my natural weight.
 
Robin said:
That sounds quite usual for starting off. Eventually, he should be offered a course, or a session with a diabetic nurse, to learn how to carb count, that is, learning to adjust his mealtime novorapid insulin to match how much carbohydrate he is eating at each meal, which makes eating much more flexible. But it’s early days yet, so carry on with what the hospital have told you for now. I found once I started on insulin, I gradually regained the lost weight, now that my body could use the glucose in my body for energy again, and I gradually settled down to my natural weight.
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Thanks robin. Feeling more postive the morning. 🙂
 
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