Hi!! ~Newly Diagnosed Type 1

[negativityyybegone]

Hi everyone! I'm Mel (24) and I just got diagnosed a month ago with diabetes. I was actually originally diagnosed with type 2 but by a surprise turn in events I was told yesterday that I'm actually type 1 instead. I'm not on insulin yet as my glucose levels are pretty decent so far, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on self-administering insulin with a phobia of needles? I'm honestly really nervous for when the day comes that I have to start handling needles on the daily (other than just doing the daily finger prick test ofc).

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @negativityyybegone

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but pleased that you have found the forum.
The needles for the injections are tiny, especially compared to the finger pickers.
So if you are coping with those the injections will be a breeze.

it is not uncommon for adults who develop symptoms to be misdiagnosed as T2, so it is good that they have already picked up the correct diagnosis for you. It may be that they caught your development of T1 early,p so you have enough beta cells remaining to give you enough insulin for now. It tends to develop more slowly the older you get (mine must have been at a snails pace as I was 53 at diagnosis).

keep in touch and fire away with any questions that you have. Nothing is considered silly on here and there is plenty of experience to tap into.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @negativityyybegone

Sounds like you’ve had an interesting start to your diabetes career.

Slightly surprising that you haven’t had to start in insulin yet - that’s quite an unusual start.

How did your diagnosis come about? Was it through a routine check, or were you having some of the common symptoms like unquenchable thirst, increased urination, weight loss and tiredness?

It may be that you have LADA, a slower-onset form of T1, that sometimes looks quite like T2 to begin with, and where the beta cells are attacked by the immune system at a slower rate - so if your diagnosis was caught early, you may still have a reasonable amount of beta cell mass remaining?

Did you have an HbA1c at diagnosis? And what sorts of BG levels are you seeing day-to-day?

Try not to worry about the needles. As @SB2015 says they are tiny and very fine, with generally little or no sensation or discomfort during the delivery of doses. I don’t think many people actually *like* injections before they are diagnosed, but folks soon adapt, and it just becomes part of life.

Depending on how twitchy needles make you feel there are products which conceal the needle itself (autoshield?) which may help.

But rest assured, you are certainly not the only person to have been diagnosed with T1 who has a needle phobia. Help is available, and many people before you have faced this challenge and made it through

 

[negativityyybegone]

Welcome to the forum @negativityyybegone

Sounds like you’ve had an interesting start to your diabetes career.

Slightly surprising that you haven’t had to start in insulin yet - that’s quite an unusual start.

How did your diagnosis come about? Was it through a routine check, or were you having some of the common symptoms like unquenchable thirst, increased urination, weight loss and tiredness?

It may be that you have LADA, a slower-onset form of T1, that sometimes looks quite like T2 to begin with, and where the beta cells are attacked by the immune system at a slower rate - so if your diagnosis was caught early, you may still have a reasonable amount of beta cell mass remaining?

Did you have an HbA1c at diagnosis? And what sorts of BG levels are you seeing day-to-day?

Try not to worry about the needles. As @SB2015 says they are tiny and very fine, with generally little or no sensation or discomfort during the delivery of doses. I don’t think many people actually *like* injections before they are diagnosed, but folks soon adapt, and it just becomes part of life.

Depending on how twitchy needles make you feel there are products which conceal the needle itself (autoshield?) which may help.

But rest assured, you are certainly not the only person to have been diagnosed with T1 who has a needle phobia. Help is available, and many people before you have faced this challenge and made it through

Hi!! To be entirely honest I haven't been told much about my diagnosis and it's all happened relatively quickly.

My original diagnosis came about just over a month ago (September 12th) when I was taken to A&E at the insistence of my mums friend (T1, a nurse and works in T1 research). I essentially had every symptom on the list for T2 except for weight loss. The nurses originally thought I was just dehydrated but my BG was 22 and wasn't coming down fast enough for their liking so they diagnosed me with T2. It wasn't until the results for the T1 antibodies blood test came back did they tell me 2 days ago that I was T1 instead.

My BG is currently in the 5 range (slowly going up from 4.7 to 5.2 now every morning) so I think that's why they don't want to put me on insulin yet as it's still a relatively low number.

Also I'm so sorry but I have no idea what a HbA1c is yet!! I had about 4 or 5 blood tests taken while I was in the hospital and they only told me what one of them was for so I'm guessing that I possibly had that one done but I'm not entirely sure.

Thank you so much for the advice on the injections. I'll admit that I have no problem with how much/little it may hurt or pinch and rather it's the actual sight of the needle that panics me instead so I'll definitely look into autoshield for when the time comes!!

Thank you again for your reply!

 

[negativityyybegone]

Welcome to the forum @negativityyybegone

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but pleased that you have found the forum.
The needles for the injections are tiny, especially compared to the finger pickers.
So if you are coping with those the injections will be a breeze.

it is not uncommon for adults who develop symptoms to be misdiagnosed as T2, so it is good that they have already picked up the correct diagnosis for you. It may be that they caught your development of T1 early,p so you have enough beta cells remaining to give you enough insulin for now. It tends to develop more slowly the older you get (mine must have been at a snails pace as I was 53 at diagnosis).

keep in touch and fire away with any questions that you have. Nothing is considered silly on here and there is plenty of experience to tap into.

Thank you so much!! I definitely think that's what's happening to me so far as I was told in my latest appointment that I was still producing some insulin for now!! I'll admit that the finger prickers weren't a fun experience to start with phobia wise but have become far easier the more I've had to use them so I'm very grateful that you've said that the insulin injections are an easier experience than those! I think I might just be able to face them once the time comes with the knowledge that they can't be worse than the finger pricker

 

[trophywench]

You've clearly never seen an insulin needle, they aren't anything whatever like any other needle used for any other purpose, much much finer and less than half a centimetre long. First jab I ever had I didn't look, nurse swabbed my leg, then I felt her hand on leg, then she swabbed my leg again and I opened my eyes about to tell her to stop mucking about and do the flippin jab for heaven's sake! just as she said 'All over!' and all I could manage was 'Oh!'

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Hi Mel @negativityyybegone and welcome to the forum

I am a needle-phobe too and I use hidden needles - they're called NovoFine Autocover, and I've just been posting about them here - https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/unable-to-inject.96321/#post-1112332

An HbA1c is the blood test which tells what your blood sugar levels have been doing over the last 3 months - it's the one which gives you a diabetes diagnosis in the first place and is the most important one for diabetics to know how they're getting on. So next time you see a consultant or diabetes nurse it's worth asking them what your HbA1c was at diagnosis and then get the number every time it's done again so you can keep track. Under 42 is normal; 42-47 is prediabetic, over 48 is diabetic (though it can be way above that - mine was 103 when I was diagnosed).

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I'm not on insulin yet as my glucose levels are pretty decent so far, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on self-administering insulin with a phobia of needles?

They are needles (and go through the skin) but the modern ones are really amazingly small. 4mm long and very thin. So it's possible you won't find them impossible to use. As others have said there are some gadgets that might help so it's definitely worth talking to your healthcare team and see what they suggest. (It's far from a rare problem so they'll have seen it often.)