Hi

[MichelleF78]

Hi. Michelle here diagnosed T1 week before Christmas. I’m 44 and it’s fair to say it’s so difficult to get used to this. I feel I am starving myself at times and can’t eat the way I used to.

I was on Tresiba daily but now on Levemir twice a day and novo rapid.

Be lovely to hear from you and any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Michelle

 

[Lily123]

Welcome to the forum 🙂

 

[MichelleF78]

Thank you

 

[Lucyr]

Welcome. Are you on fixed doses of novorapid or are you adjusting them to match your food? That’s how you get the flexibility in eating. Do you have a libre to keep an eye on things?

 

[MichelleF78]

Hi Lucy yes I have a libre and I’m adjusting myself. I notice when I take a large amount of insulin it sometimes gets lost. Today I’m going to an Italian and I really fancy a pizza but they can’t tell me how many carbs. I was told to split 100 carbs. I feel when I eat out it messes me up a little!

 

[Lucyr]

Hi Lucy yes I have a libre and I’m adjusting myself. I notice when I take a large amount of insulin it sometimes gets lost. Today I’m going to an Italian and I really fancy a pizza but they can’t tell me how many carbs. I was told to split 100 carbs. I feel when I eat out it messes me up a little!

You could look up the carbs for a similar Italian e.g. pizza express, but for a full pizza I always guess 100g carbs. Assuming you’re not eating out for every meal every day, it doesn’t really matter that bgs won’t be perfect after eating out.

 

[MichelleF78]

Thank you. And do you split the doses?

 

[Lucyr]

I usually bolus any correction needed before i go out, then for half of food when it arrives and half later on before leaving, though the time varies depending on what my bgs are doing.

 

[MichelleF78]

Thank Lucy appreciated. Novo is only dropping my BG by 1 also which is frustrating

 

[SB2015]

Hi @MichelleF78 from another late starter with T1 (53 at diagnosis)
It is still early days for you and there is a lot to get your head round very quickly, so it is no surprise that you are finding things difficult at times.

First things to say is that you will never get your levels perfect. We just don’t have the means of doing this. I tried to do that at the start and drove myself to achieve completely unrealistic targets. All we can do is do the best that we can each day. If your Libre shows that you are achieving a Time in Range of anything over 60% you are doing well, especially at this stage. You will also have days when it may drop below that when dealing with things that just don’t behave, (such as pizza and pasta for me). When on injections I did split my bolus insulin for those. This is because the fat in them slows the release of glucose, so it keeps coming over a longer period after the meal. I also found that if I had a meal with a large number of carbs (and ‘large’ is different for each of us) I needed more insulin to deal with the carbs than usual.

The Libre should help you work out any tweaks you will need for yourself. You can look back at the data you get from your Libre when you do something different and then. Look for patterns in the outcomes Thia may require repeats - so don’t be afraid to go out. Our Diabetes has to fit round us, but things just take a bit more planning and organising.

You are already doing well with all that you have learnt. There is a wealth of experience to tap into on here, and no questions are considered silly. Just ask.

 

[MichelleF78]

Hi thank you for your kind words much appreciated. Well I had pizza and apple crumble in an Italian restaurant and it the pizza didn’t hit for hours. Took too much insulin as a correction hours later and went down to 2.8. I’m only dropping one mmol with one unit of novo rapid also. Ruined my whole day - I am way too tough on myself. Feel like giving up to be honest. I so much miss being able to eat how I used to.

 

[trophywench]

Pizza, lots of pasta and rice dishes don't hit me until 5 hours after I ate em so if that was an evening meal, I'd be asleep in bed on work nights when spike hit. So I gradually worked out - at home - how much of each (approx) I could get away with OK no probs.

And - I've stuck to that amount though it hasn't been very difficult cos the things I have trouble with generally are all the boring bits - not the nice tasty parts. As a child I always ate the boring bits first off my plate so I could take time and enjoy the interesting bits AND avoid my mother cross examining me as to why I hadn't eaten whatever it was, cos we were expected to clear our plates pretty much in the 1950s!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @MichelleF78

I feel your frustration!

Yes it’s not ideal having to double guess how meals out will respond, and how to dose for them appropriately for you (including any splits, and how far apart those need to be). Nothing like when the only problem was deciding which of the lovely things you fancied most!

But…

On the plus side, give yourself HUGE credit for the amazing learning you have already picked up. Some don’t venture into the world of ratios, split doses and those sorts of techniques for years or even decades

Plus…

You are still on that pretty steep learning curve. So you have to commit to quite a bit of trial, and accept a reasonable degree of error. Which means you have to eat out at pizza restaurants A LOT. For Research.

Otherwise how can you expect to gather sufficient data?? 😛

For what it’s worth, like @SB2015 I also tend to find those larger-than-normal meals are more art than science. I seem to need a different meal ratio when the carb load goes over a certain point. And I’ve got to a point now where I can just guess the amount of insulin I generally need by the time I get full and can dose that without particularly having to attempt too much in the way of Diabetes Maths.

And mostly, that works out very acceptably well. Sometimes spookily so!

Good luck with your selfless ongoing experiments.

 

[Tdm]

I perfect pizza bolus, i understand, is like the holy grail. Pretty unattainable.
I was diagnosed the xmas before you and still haven't sorted out how to make pasta and tice work. I cheated with cauli- rice ( low carb, easy to bolus for) and shredded cougette (padta substitute)
Low carb is easier to deal with at first BUT i found it increased insulin resistance. Plus i missed bread!
I still do low carb / keto snacks as i can eat then with no insulin. I like to snack, it makes me feel mormal

 

[MichelleF78]

Welcome to the forum @MichelleF78

I feel your frustration!

Yes it’s not ideal having to double guess how meals out will respond, and how to dose for them appropriately for you (including any splits, and how far apart those need to be). Nothing like when the only problem was deciding which of the lovely things you fancied most!

But…

On the plus side, give yourself HUGE credit for the amazing learning you have already picked up. Some don’t venture into the world of ratios, split doses and those sorts of techniques for years or even decades

Plus…

You are still on that pretty steep learning curve. So you have to commit to quite a bit of trial, and accept a reasonable degree of error. Which means you have to eat out at pizza restaurants A LOT. For Research.

Otherwise how can you expect to gather sufficient data?? 😛

For what it’s worth, like @SB2015 I also tend to find those larger-than-normal meals are more art than science. I seem to need a different meal ratio when the carb load goes over a certain point. And I’ve got to a point now where I can just guess the amount of insulin I generally need by the time I get full and can dose that without particularly having to attempt too much in the way of Diabetes Maths.

And mostly, that works out very acceptably well. Sometimes spookily so!

Good luck with your selfless ongoing experiments.

Bless you thank you I am a complete mess with all this. It’s very overwhelming

 

[MichelleF78]

I perfect pizza bolus, i understand, is like the holy grail. Pretty unattainable.
I was diagnosed the xmas before you and still haven't sorted out how to make pasta and tice work. I cheated with cauli- rice ( low carb, easy to bolus for) and shredded cougette (padta substitute)
Low carb is easier to deal with at first BUT i found it increased insulin resistance. Plus i missed bread!
I still do low carb / keto snacks as i can eat then with no insulin. I like to snack, it makes me feel mormal

I am struggling with novo it ain’t so rapid for me! Waiting 4/5 hours to eat again is killing me as I am a grazer. I’m pretty much starving CONSTANTLY. I just feel this is the worst thing ever to happen

 

[MichelleF78]

Hi @MichelleF78 from another late starter with T1 (53 at diagnosis)
It is still early days for you and there is a lot to get your head round very quickly, so it is no surprise that you are finding things difficult at times.

First things to say is that you will never get your levels perfect. We just don’t have the means of doing this. I tried to do that at the start and drove myself to achieve completely unrealistic targets. All we can do is do the best that we can each day. If your Libre shows that you are achieving a Time in Range of anything over 60% you are doing well, especially at this stage. You will also have days when it may drop below that when dealing with things that just don’t behave, (such as pizza and pasta for me). When on injections I did split my bolus insulin for those. This is because the fat in them slows the release of glucose, so it keeps coming over a longer period after the meal. I also found that if I had a meal with a large number of carbs (and ‘large’ is different for each of us) I needed more insulin to deal with the carbs than usual.

The Libre should help you work out any tweaks you will need for yourself. You can look back at the data you get from your Libre when you do something different and then. Look for patterns in the outcomes Thia may require repeats - so don’t be afraid to go out. Our Diabetes has to fit round us, but things just take a bit more planning and organising.

You are already doing well with all that you have learnt. There is a wealth of experience to tap into on here, and no questions are considered silly. Just ask.

Many thanks

 

[Lucyr]

I am struggling with novo it ain’t so rapid for me!

there's a reason some people call it novoslow!

 

[MichelleF78]

Have asked to be out on something faster Lucy, what’s the fastest? I can’t bear this not eating 4/5 hours after a meal. I am miserable

 

[Lucyr]

Have asked to be out on something faster Lucy, what’s the fastest? I can’t bear this not eating 4/5 hours after a meal. I am miserable

They all last about 4/5 hours. I'm on apidra which is 3.5-4 hrs duration, fiasp works a bit quicker but it can be a bit useless when you're high. You can eat within 4-5 hours of your previous novorapid dose though. Just take another dose it you're eating carbs - once you know how to do that, or eat something low carb if you dont want an extra dose