Hi

[sarah87]

Hi everyone.

I'm 35 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just before Christmas.

Tbh the diagnose really shocked me and also frightened me. I have never had any health problems in my life so becoming unwell and being took to hospital was a very upsetting experience for me.

I have slowly started to accept my new condition and getting my head around it. I really don't like having to I heat myself everyday especially when I am out and about. I also suffer with anxiety and at times can feel very fed up if my sugars are high or low.

I am pleased to hear that I am not alone out there with this and trying to talk to people that have the same condition as me makes me feel better.

It's been a scary time and I just hope I can manage this without it disrupting my life too much.

I do find as much as I've tried to eat healthier I'm not loosing any weight. Does anyone else have this difficulty?

Looking forward to making some friends in here and supporting each other xx

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Hello @sarah87 , and welcome to the forum.

I came to Diabetes after major surgery and total removal of my pancreas, so I'm a rare Type 3c, but wholly insulin dependent and treated as if T1. Like yourself, until my illness from a tumour, preceding my surgery I'd had 70 very uneventful (in health terms) years and have found the last 35 months challenging! It does all become clearer and more manageable.

I made it my business to "own" my new status. Before finding this forum I stumbled into Gary Scheiner's book "Think Like a Pancreas" - which seemed apt and proved to be, for me, most helpful. I used it to help me start carb counting - an ESSENTIAL part of the process for helping one to live a relatively normal life, as well as getting a great understanding of one's metabolism and thus some of the peculiarities of diabetes. I subsequently bought a copy of Dr Ragnar Hanas' book "Type 1 Diabetes in children, adolescents and young adults"; despite the title it is fine for all ages and is a bit more of a reference book for dipping into, rather than a cover to cover read.

Gary Scheiner states that "Diabetes is Confusing, Complicated and Contradictory" (all true) and at first very frightening. The fear lessens and I was strongly influenced during my working life by the 'mantra' that Knowledge Dispels Fear. Hence my efforts to own and do my best to understand my diabetes. The fear for me has become rather more 'frustrations' - I know what should happen, but all too often it doesn't quite work that way!

This forum has a huge wealth of material and information, created from the equivalent of centuries of experience. Because Type 1, c.10% of people with D in UK, has quite different characteristics to Type 2, c.90% of Ds, you might find it helpful initially to just look at postings from people with T1 and not get distracted or confused by dialogue from T2s.

Anyway, well done for at least accepting your diabetes and you have now started a marathon - so help yourself to manage your expectations and thus your completely understandable anxiety. Do accept that you won't (can't) manage everything immediately: there is a lot to learn about your metabolism and your management of your D. It can be disrupting, particularly at first, but you should find ways of stepping around or over those disruptions - with a little time.

I personally still have lots of highs, but these days very few lows - totally thanks to the CGM sensor and its alerts (alarms) that I was prescribed after 12 months. As a new T1, under the revised rules from last year, you should now have Libre 2 made available to you. Do you already have Libre or any other CGM?

Also, (sorry to bombard you with questions):
It would help us to help you, if you you wish, to tell us a little more about what insulins you are on, along with any other medications.
Do you know about the initial, immediate, response to hypos and to have hypo response snacks with you at all times?
Has anyone mentioned timings of taking insulin vs eating, or explained the concept of pre-bolusing?
Are you in direct contact with a Hospital based Diabetes Team and do you have the name, email address and phone no of a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN) [normally part of the Hospital team]?

Anyway, welcome. I feel sure other T1s will be along soon to give you better advice about T1 specifics; I'm flagging @Inka, @helli and @rebrascora who generally respond to newcomers. Momentarily I can't recall the name of a member who is, like yourself, much newer to D and experiencing all those uncertainties that are almost certainly in front of you right now. Do feel free to ask questions; any questions! We were all new to this once and NO question is stupid. Good luck.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @sarah87 🙂 Everyone here is friendly and supportive, so I hope you find the forum as helpful as I have. It’s so comforting to not feel alone.

I felt exactly like you when I developed Type 1. I hated having to go to the doctors all the time as I hardly ever went before. It’s all a big change and quite overwhelming to begin with. It does gradually get easier though.

What insulins do you take? Do you have a Libre?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome from me too.

So pleased you have found the forum as it is a goldmine of practical experience, knowledge and friendly support. The benefit of being able to compare notes and discuss the real life issues of Type 1 with others here has been immense and it has given me enormous confidence in dealing with my diabetes. I am now nearly 4 years down the line and I can assure you that it does get easier with time and modern technology really is a wonder, so if you don't yet have Libre sensors to help you manage your levels, do push for them on prescription.

 

[helli]

Welcome @sarah87
I was diagnosed at about your age (albeit a few years ago) so can totally empathise with all you are feeling. Someone told me to think of it as grief and allow myself to go through the 5 stages of grief which are something like denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It helped me to know that what I felt was reasonable as I am an engineer so usually very rational.

The others have all given you fantastic advice. So there is little for me to add especially as I don't like to bombard you with questions rather than answers and reassurance.

And it is on the point of reassurance that I want to finish my ramblings:
A diagnosis of diabetes is tough but it is possible to get out the other side. My diaversary is next Friday. I will be celebrating (yes, celebrating) 19 years since my diagnosis. It will be a celebration because without that diagnosis, I would not be here. But also because it has not held me back. I continue to live a very full life of travel, challenging, sometimes stressful but usually rewarding work, a great social life, an active social life with lots of exercise (spin classes, hiking, rock climbing, ...), a very varied diet (diabetes has never stopped me trying something new whether it is a spicy curry or a sticky cake) and all without any health issues.
As @rebrascora mentioned technical is great nowadays. Whilst we are not lucky to have diabetes, we are lucky to have it when all this technology is available to make it easier to manage our condition. And I see this forum as part of that technology.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @sarah87

Sorry to hear about your unwanted Christmas gift! I was diagnosed just around my 21st birthday, which has always tickled me slightly.

I guess that means that by next year you’ll be rocking and rolling for the festive season 😎

Fire away with any questions you have. We have literally centuries of lived diabetes experience on the forum, and all sorts of people using all sorts of approaches and tech to try to keep their glucose levels more or less on the straight and narrow (most of the time), so ask away, rant, moan, wail, or tell us about your moments of
Diabetes Genius (even if more by luck than judgement!)

 

[Tdm]

I was put onto insulin 20th dec 21 and am t1. It was overwhelming at first, but you gradually work out how best to deal with it for you, and whilst i still have aways to go, its no longer scary anymore...after all, you are either too low (and get to eat, which i like) or too high, and insulin will deal with that. Eventually....

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @sarah87 from another late starter with T1.

It is a shock at any age, but does not need to stop you do anything once you get your head round it. The best analogy I was given is that it is like learning to drive. It all seems complicated to start with but then a lot of what we have to do becomes automatic, and you are just dealing with the unexpected.

I am nearly 15 years into this now and have learnt so much from others on here, and seen so many changes in the tech available to us as @helli says.

Keep in touch and keep the questions coming. Plenty of help available on here.

 

[JohnnyRam]

Welcome @sarah87 - I joined this forum very recently after being diagnosed in November (T1, but question marks remain), and I can confirm that people on here are supportive, friendly and have lots of help and empathy to offer that comes from their first-hand knowledge of this condition.