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Hi I’m Kim and a newbie
- Thread starter Kimwillis
- Start date
nonethewiser
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome @Kimwillis 🙂 When were you diagnosed? I found the first few months I had to take things easier than usual as I was still recovering from the physical effects of the Type 1, but then I got back to normal. It does all take a lot more thought with Type 1.
What sports do you do?
What sports do you do?
stephenS50
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hello there @Kimwillis and welcome to the forum.
I know exactly how you feel. Very recently diagnosed with type 1 at the grand old age of 75 and no family history. Keep thinking they must have made a mistake.
Thanks Inka
May officially.
Climbing is my main passion when out doors it’s a long day often with a treck into the climbing area, it’s just remembering to keep drip feeding myself and checking my levels too which I never had to think about before, winter I ski tour and cold water swimming plus regularly going to the gym ( which I don’t have any problems with) it’s more the endurance sports, I’m also not entirely confident with the Libre Link readings they seem to not be very accurate. This evening my alarm went of saying onward 3.2 so I checked doings blood prick test which was 4.9! Is anyone else having problems with its reliability?
Thanks Phoebe
How do you control your glucose levels during a match?
I’ve been keeping levels higher to start with to prevent a sudden drop, I’m finding intense exercise doesn’t have a dramatic effect on lowering glucose levels if anything they tend to spike initially!
Gosh yes I can well believe that.
How are you coping?
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
@helli is a Type 1 here who enjoys climbing. She might have some tips.
I didn’t find the Libre very accurate but my readings were way off, ie by a number of m/mol. 3.2 v. 4.9 isn’t too bad. You should always fingerprick to check lows anyway. I now have a Dexcom G7 which is amazingly accurate.
PhoebeC
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
It’s depends as training is more cardio it tends to make me go low unless I really monitor my levels. I find a low carb protein snack is a good idea before training and I might tune my insulin off.
Matches are completely different. As its full contact adrenaline actually sends my levels crazy high. So I will have a normal breakfast then low carb snack before we warm up. Then it will be warm up at least half an hour, excitement and nerves, so at this point my levels will start to go out, then during the match my levels will be higher, I try and not over correct the highs to much. After I will be lower than usuals for at least 12 hours. I actually have a different background insulin for match days, on my Onnipod but this wasn’t possible with MDI. So it’s less insulin just before matches, then it slowly increases to combat the adrenaline rise. Afterwards until the next morning it’s less background insulin as hypos do like to creep in the hours afterwards. I can’t say I fully mastered it but I only had 10ish games with my pump. This was loads easier than with my MDI regime.
I’ve never had a hypo on match days and I have only had a few during training. It doesn’t stop you doing anything but you will need to adjust how you do it.
I always had a bumbag pitch side with my phone (libre 2) and my pump device (pdm) and sweets so I could check levels and treat if needed each time our water came on. Rugby is very stop start with penalties, try’s and conversions so that helps.
SB2015
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome to the forum @Kimwillis from another late starter (aged 53 at diagnosis)
You have already seen that there are ways to manage whatever sport you want to do, and @helli will no doubt have some tips for you. It will take a bit of time to get used to all that we need to do and your body will need to recover and get used to you now having insulin injected. You are likely to feel a lot better than before diagnosis and now will need to gradually work out what adjustments you need to make for whatever you want to do.
I don’t climb but we do full days of walking and I find that for me having a drip feed of glucose (wurthers) throughout the day helps me to keep my levels up. On injections I used to adjust my insulin before I set off. You will find what works for you, and remember to take whatever you need plus some spares on each trip.
Pleased that you have found the forum. There is plenty of experience to tap into on here, so keep the questions coming.
You have already seen that there are ways to manage whatever sport you want to do, and @helli will no doubt have some tips for you. It will take a bit of time to get used to all that we need to do and your body will need to recover and get used to you now having insulin injected. You are likely to feel a lot better than before diagnosis and now will need to gradually work out what adjustments you need to make for whatever you want to do.
I don’t climb but we do full days of walking and I find that for me having a drip feed of glucose (wurthers) throughout the day helps me to keep my levels up. On injections I used to adjust my insulin before I set off. You will find what works for you, and remember to take whatever you need plus some spares on each trip.
Pleased that you have found the forum. There is plenty of experience to tap into on here, so keep the questions coming.
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Getting used to the new routine - still struggling to inject myself but luckily husband happy to do it. I think I’m just annoyed - it’s come out of nowhere and as I have no family history I wasn’t expecting it. How on earth did I manage to skip type 2 and go straight to type 1. I’m not overweight, I eat healthily. It’s a mystery to me.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Type 1 is a completely different condition from Type 2. One doesn't develop into the other.
Type 1 is an autoimmune condition caused by your immune system attacking and killing your insulin producing beta cells. The trigger of this attack is not always known, but a virus or possibly a vaccination can cause it or perhaps even a sudden change in hormones or severe shock.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by metabolic issues like a build up of visceral fat in and around the pancreas and liver and/or insulin resistance.
Do you have any autoimmune conditions in your family. My sister developed a different autoimmune condition PMR around the same time I developed Type 1 and out mother got Rheumatoid Arthritis about the same age.... all around menopause which makes me suspect a change in hormones could play a part in it too..... plus pregnant women sometimes develop diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) but recover afterwards and then go on to develop Type 1 later in life. Everyone's experience is different and it can be really difficult to pin down the actual cause. I also had an uncle (my mother's brother) who was Type 1 and a cousin and half cousin who are Type 1 all on my mother's side. I suspect there will also be cousins with other autoimmune conditions.
There are also other forms of diabetes than just Type 1 or Type 2, like MODY which is genetic and Type 3c which is related to pancreatic damage.
Thanks for the tags @SB2015 and @Inka .
Welcome to the "World of planning" @Kimwillis
Yep, basically we need a little advanced planning for exercise.
I hike which is typically long days of walking up and down hills. When I was injecting (I use a pump now which makes a bit of difference), I would carry snacks with me. Usually trail mix type of thing so I could grab and handful every so often rather than something larger less often. One option is to add some juice to your water bottle. It will take some trial and error how much to dilute it but, again, it is about a constant top up rather than fewer big ones.
However, my climbing is slightly different as it is a few hours of indoor routes. Although the time between first and last climb is 2 to 3 hours, it is not constant. And it each climb is 10 minutes: nothing multi-pitch indoors. And I push myself both physically and mentally. Therefore, my BG climbs rather than falls. I overcome this with extra insulin. Again, it is different with a pump but when I was on injections, I would start the evening with enough bolus which, without climbing, would drop me to around 3mmol/l. But, with the extra liver dump of glucose, this would keep me steady.
After both long days of hiking and shorter evenings of climbing (and any other exercise), I reduce my basal by about 15% because I find I hypo afterwards, otherwise
It all takes trial and error and never leaving home without hypo treatment.
Welcome to the "World of planning" @Kimwillis
Yep, basically we need a little advanced planning for exercise.
I hike which is typically long days of walking up and down hills. When I was injecting (I use a pump now which makes a bit of difference), I would carry snacks with me. Usually trail mix type of thing so I could grab and handful every so often rather than something larger less often. One option is to add some juice to your water bottle. It will take some trial and error how much to dilute it but, again, it is about a constant top up rather than fewer big ones.
However, my climbing is slightly different as it is a few hours of indoor routes. Although the time between first and last climb is 2 to 3 hours, it is not constant. And it each climb is 10 minutes: nothing multi-pitch indoors. And I push myself both physically and mentally. Therefore, my BG climbs rather than falls. I overcome this with extra insulin. Again, it is different with a pump but when I was on injections, I would start the evening with enough bolus which, without climbing, would drop me to around 3mmol/l. But, with the extra liver dump of glucose, this would keep me steady.
After both long days of hiking and shorter evenings of climbing (and any other exercise), I reduce my basal by about 15% because I find I hypo afterwards, otherwise
It all takes trial and error and never leaving home without hypo treatment.
Nope - I have no other autoimmune conditions at all and no family history at all. That’s why this diagnosis is a complete mystery to me. Three children and didn’t develop diabetes during any of the pregnancies. They have taken blood for an antibody test so maybe they suspect LADA.
Lucyr
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Type 2 diabetes does not develop into type 1. They are completely different conditions with different causes, just like Type 3c or Cystic Fibrosis related diabetes are each different conditions with a different cause as are the hundreds of other types of diabetes.
SB2015
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
My Type 1 (or LADA which is just the slower onset later in life) came from nowhere. No history that I knew of in the family, but I have since discovered that a second cousin once removed on my fathers side has T1. The difficulty looking further back in family history is that go back more than 100 years and people would have just died since there was no insulin available.
Type 1 is due to the antibodies getting active and destroying our beta cells. Nothing to do with lifestyle, different from Gestational, Type 2, …. It just happens out of the blue. In those of us that are older when it starts the destruction of the beta cells is slower, and the diagnosis is often triggered by some other illness or stress, since when we then need more insulin and the final few cells that we have working give up the ghost.
Lots to get your head round at the start, like learning to drive, but then much of it becomes automatic. We just need to plan ahead and ALWAYS HAVE YOUR HYPO TREATMENT WITH YOU. It does get easier, and you will find what works for you to deal with each situation. The equipment and insulins available to us now are so much better, such as sensors. They are not perfect but they show us trends, and unlike just a finger prick test they show the direction of travel of your BG.
Keep asking questions.
Thanks everyone for your replies what a great platform this is it’s fascinating and very helpful indeed to have hear your experiences and advice.
I assume those of you who have the pumps are self funding?
My nephew who is 20 has a pump that is nhs funded.
I assume those of you who have the pumps are self funding?
My nephew who is 20 has a pump that is nhs funded.