Hi

Status
Not open for further replies.
Inka said:
You don’t need it because the basal insulin is working away in the background to control blood sugar.
Click to expand...

Which is why it’s important to keep your basal dose properly adjusted and tailored to your needs through the course of the year and as the seasons change. 🙂

There’s a method of checking if basal is current set right for his needs described here:
www.mysugr.com

How To Successfully Test Your Basal Rate

Are you looking for basal rate information and testing instructions? Perfect! You're in the right place!
www.mysugr.com www.mysugr.com
 
Last edited:
everydayupsanddowns said:
Which is why it’s important to keep your bolus dose properly adjusted and tailored to your needs through the course of the year and as the seasons change. 🙂
Click to expand...
Just to prevent any/too much confusion, that highlighted word in the sentence above should read basal not bolus I believe.
 
How long does it take to stabilize ? Since yesterday's change of method, it is still roller coaster. Up and down but cant seem to reach the optimal range. Is it suppose to be like this ?
 
This may seem shocking to you but It takes months if not longer to start to gain some control and after that it is about fine tuning it to gain better "control" but you never get it right all the time or even most of the time because there are just too many factors beyond your control which affect BG levels. I am 5 years down the line and have had pretty good results for 4 years since I started using Libre which really helps enormously provided that you understand it's limitation and quirks. Being able to see what your levels are all the time and whether they are going up or down or are steady is just amazing and helps you to make much better decisions or know when to take a particular action or when to wait. Finger pricks just give you a moment in time result but BG levels naturally go up and down even for people without diabetes, but with, especially with insulin therapy, the swings up and down are more volatile, plus every person's body is unique in how it responds to different insulins and different foods and exercise and alcohol and stress and poor sleep etc, so even the experts at the hospital can't know the exact doses that will work for any given patient and it is very much a case of trial and improvement until they find a very rough balance and then they send the patient home but things will almost certainly change for a whole variety of reasons and those doses have to be readjusted.
It is likely that your son will be in for another day or 2 and then he will come home and to be honest that is the start of the real learning process because in hospital, he is not living his real life, with his normal meals and activities and sleep routine etc and these things all impact his insulin doses, so you should get quite a bit of support once you get home. I would hope that you would be able to phone the hospital or a nurse for guidance if you are worried and need some help but you can learn a lot from this forum and we are here to support you and answer your questions most of the time. It is really tough and scary at first but gradually you start to get the hang of it and get more confident of managing different situations..... but it is a life long learning process. Just when you think you have got it all sussed and things are going really smoothly, it changes and the doses and strategies that you used before don't work any more and you have to figure out a new strategy to get back to smooth sailing again. Illness or injury are probably the most challenging things to manage with insulin and diabetes because things can change very suddenly and dramatically, but most of the everyday stuff, you learn because it happens every day. We have people here on the forum with 50 or 60 years with diabetes who still learn something new about it now and again. It is extremely complex, but it is mostly pretty forgiving, so whatever mistakes you make and you will make mistakes and get it wrong, the body is pretty resilient and you will live and learn from them, in fact as with most things in life, you learn ,more from your mistakes than from your successes, so try not to be too worried about making mistakes.... they are part of the process. The key thing is to have plenty of hypo treatments to hand wherever you go when you leave the house and close to hand when at home, especially by the bed and I keep some in the bathroom because a hot bath or shower can drop my levels pretty fast sometimes, especially after exercise. The Libre will help you a lot though so if you are getting that, you should find it reassuring because it has high and more importantly low alarms.

I know it is all really scary, but once you get him home you will start to learn and gradually a lot of it just becomes second nature. I don't know if you drive a car, but when I first started to learn, it all seemed incredibly complicated and I hade to think about every little thing I had to do, but gradually with experience, a lot of it seems to happen self consciously and I don't have to think about dipping the clutch when I change gear or which gear I need to select or where the windscreen wiper control is.... my foot or hand just do it without me consciously having to think and I can actually sing along to the radio or carry on a conversation with my passenger whilst my body does those things. It is only when something out of the ordinary happens that you have to pay close attention and start thinking more. Diabetes becomes like that, just part of your daily routine. I promise it really does get much easier but at the moment, you are at the bottom of a very steep learning curve. We all were and we all got through it. You will too and we are here to support you. The technology available these days is so amazing that our ability to manage our diabetes well is significantly improved from those diagnosed 50 years ago whose parents had to wait for their child to have a wee, collect some of their urine and boil it up in a test tube with a reagent to see what colur it turned to get an ideal of their glucose levels. We have members here who not only survived that primitive testing and the very basic insulin which was available and still lived and flourished and had careers and families and are still fit and healthy today, some with minimal or no complications. My own uncle who was Type 1 and didn't have the benefit of todays technology was still cycling several miles a day on his own at 80 years old so with the modern techlogy available to me, I should be able to do that till at least 100 😉
 
Last edited:
rebrascora said:
This may seem shocking to you but It takes months if not longer to start to gain some control and after that it is about fine tuning it to gain better "control" but you never get it right all the time or even most of the time because there are just too many factors beyond your control which affect BG levels. I am 5 years down the line and have had pretty good results for 4 years since I started using Libre which really helps enormously provided that you understand it's limitation and quirks. Being able to see what your levels are all the time and whether they are going up or down or are steady is just amazing and helps you to make much better decisions or know when to take a particular action or when to wait. Finger pricks just give you a moment in time result but BG levels naturally go up and down even for people without diabetes, but with, especially with insulin therapy, the swings up and down are more volatile, plus every person's body is unique in how it responds to different insulins and different foods and exercise and alcohol and stress and poor sleep etc, so even the experts at the hospital can't know the exact doses that will work for any given patient and it is very much a case of trial and improvement until they find a very rough balance and then they send the patient home but things will almost certainly change for a whole variety of reasons and those doses have to be readjusted.
It is likely that your son will be in for another day or 2 and then he will come home and to be honest that is the start of the real learning process because in hospital, he is not living his real life, with his normal meals and activities and sleep routine etc and these things all impact his insulin doses, so you should get quite a bit of support once you get home. I would hope that you would be able to phone the hospital or a nurse for guidance if you are worried and need some help but you can learn a lot from this forum and we are here to support you and answer your questions most of the time. It is really tough and scary at first but gradually you start to get the hang of it and get more confident of managing different situations..... but it is a life long learning process. Just when you think you have got it all sussed and things are going really smoothly, it changes and the doses and strategies that you used before don't work any more and you have to figure out a new strategy to get back to smooth sailing again. Illness or injury are probably the most challenging things to manage with insulin and diabetes because things can change very suddenly and dramatically, but most of the everyday stuff, you learn because it happens every day. We have people here on the forum with 50 or 60 years with diabetes who still learn something new about it now and again. It is extremely complex, but it is mostly pretty forgiving, so whatever mistakes you make and you will make mistakes and get it wrong, the body is pretty resilient and you will live and learn from them, in fact as with most things in life, you learn ,more from your mistakes than from your successes, so try not to be too worried about making mistakes.... they are part of the process. The key thing is to have plenty of hypo treatments to hand wherever you go when you leave the house and close to hand when at home, especially by the bed and I keep some in the bathroom because a hot bath or shower can drop my levels pretty fast sometimes, especially after exercise. The Libre will help you a lot though so if you are getting that, you should find it reassuring because it has high and more importantly low alarms.

I know it is all really scary, but once you get him home you will start to learn and gradually a lot of it just becomes second nature. I don't know if you drive a car, but when I first started to learn, it all seemed incredibly complicated and I hade to think about every little thing I had to do, but gradually with experience, a lot of it seems to happen self consciously and I don't have to think about dipping the clutch when I change gear or which gear I need to select or where the windscreen wiper control is.... my foot or hand just do it without me consciously having to think and I can actually sing along to the radio or carry on a conversation with my passenger whilst my body does those things. It is only when something out of the ordinary happens that you have to pay close attention and start thinking more. Diabetes becomes like that, just part of your daily routine. I promise it really does get much easier but at the moment, you are at the bottom of a very steep learning curve. We all were and we all got through it. You will too and we are here to support you. The technology available these days is so amazing that our ability to manage our diabetes well is significantly improved from those diagnosed 50 years ago whose parents had to wait for their child to have a wee, collect some of their urine and boil it up in a test tube with a reagent to see what colur it turned to get an ideal of their glucose levels. We have members here who not only survived that primitive testing and the very basic insulin which was available and still lived and flourished and had careers and families and are still fit and healthy today, some with minimal or no complications. My own uncle who was Type 1 and didn't have the benefit of todays technology was still cycling several miles a day on his own at 80 years old so with the modern techlogy available to me, I should be able to do that till at least 100 😉
Click to expand...
Ok. Still hanging there. Thanks for the encouragement. I need to calm myself and be patient I guess.
 
rebrascora said:
Just to prevent any/too much confusion, that highlighted word in the sentence above should read basal not bolus I believe.
Click to expand...

Doh! Good spot @rebrascora - glad someone was paying attention!

Duly corrected above. 0/10 for me. Please stay behind after class etc.
 
How do you confirm that you are a Type 1 ? Is there a specific thing that appears in the blood test ? Autoantibodies or something like that.
 
Mom of Type 1 said:
How do you confirm that you are a Type 1 ? Is there a specific thing that appears in the blood test ? Autoantibodies or something like that.
Click to expand...

It’s confirmed by pieces of evidence, like a jigsaw. Yes, there are blood tests: the C Peptide test, which looks to see how much insulin you’re making, and the Type 1 Antibodies test that looks for the antibodies connected to Type 1. Also, age, weight and presentation (how someone came to be diagnosed) is used. Together these things help the doctors make a diagnosis. The blood tests aren’t usually done unless there’s doubt about the diagnosis.
 
Inka said:
It’s confirmed by pieces of evidence, like a jigsaw. Yes, there are blood tests: the C Peptide test, which looks to see how much insulin you’re making, and the Type 1 Antibodies test that looks for the antibodies connected to Type 1. Also, age, weight and presentation (how someone came to be diagnosed) is used. Together these things help the doctors make a diagnosis. The blood tests aren’t usually done unless there’s doubt about the diagnosis.
Click to expand...
Oh. The doctor did a blood test in parallel and I am interested to see the results...will see, hopefully tomorrow..by the way, what do you normally use as bolus ? Is Novorapid a good choice ?
 
If the blood test will be back tomorrow, it’s unlikely to be the C Peptide and Type 1 antibodies. In the U.K. they take a few weeks to come back.

Novorapid is a commonly used bolus insulin 🙂 Different insulins suit different people, so it’s good to have a choice.
 
Inka said:
If the blood test will be back tomorrow, it’s unlikely to be the C Peptide and Type 1 antibodies. In the U.K. they take a few weeks to come back.

Novorapid is a commonly used bolus insulin 🙂 Different insulins suit different people, so it’s good to have a choice.
Click to expand...
The doctor took the blood test on last Wednesday...not today..sorry, was not clear...tomorrow would be Tuesday for me. Almost a week...the results will take more than that ?
 
My kid is getting discharged today. The glucose is still not optimal, but I guess it is another adventure for us to journey upon. Thank you to all of you who kept me strong and motivated and well-informed. I appreciate the support and advice...
 
Inka said:
Let us know how things are going @Mom of Type 1 Wishing you both all the best x
Click to expand...
Yes, i definitely will keep all of you informed. A little bit anxious, mixed feelings...dont know the exact feeling, but, am glad to have him back at home...and adapting to the change...
 
Great to hear he is coming home. We are here to support you, when you have any wobbles or concerns.as we all do from time to time but understandably more so in the first few days and weeks, so do continue to ask any questions you have or reach out here for reassurance.
 
First Day at home, his glucose level seem to be in Optimal range. Might be due to him back to normal activity and moving around. It helps i guess. When he is late coming home for dinner, i get anxious. I might still have the protective behaviour over him. I will try to give him some space. But he'll be going back to his college end of next week. Hopefully it gives him enough time to get used to the change..
 
Delighted to hear he is home and starting to get back to normal. How is he coping with injecting himself? Is he/you carb counting or is he still on fixed doses of insulin for each meal?
Great to hear that his levels are mostly in range, especially after such a short time!
Does he have Libre or other CGM (Constant Glucose Monitor) yet or are you still totally reliant on finger prick tests?

I can totally understand you being anxious about him going back to college. I think you can get a "follower app" for the Libre so that you can see what his levels are doing when he is away.... not sure if your son would feel that was intrusive or be happy for you to involved. It must be really tough being a parent when offspring reach this age and start becoming independent. You still care and want to keep them safe but have to let them make their own decisions and assess their own risks for the things they decide to do. Hopefully this week will give you some confidence that he can manage this well but also that he will turn to you when he needs some advice or support.
Good luck and keep us posted.
 
rebrascora said:
Delighted to hear he is home and starting to get back to normal. How is he coping with injecting himself? Is he/you carb counting or is he still on fixed doses of insulin for each meal?
Great to hear that his levels are mostly in range, especially after such a short time!
Does he have Libre or other CGM (Constant Glucose Monitor) yet or are you still totally reliant on finger prick tests?

I can totally understand you being anxious about him going back to college. I think you can get a "follower app" for the Libre so that you can see what his levels are doing when he is away.... not sure if your son would feel that was intrusive or be happy for you to involved. It must be really tough being a parent when offspring reach this age and start becoming independent. You still care and want to keep them safe but have to let them make their own decisions and assess their own risks for the things they decide to do. Hopefully this week will give you some confidence that he can manage this well but also that he will turn to you when he needs some advice or support.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Click to expand...
On Libre CGM. It helps a lot. He is carb counting and before he inject, we discussed first. Putting our analysis skill and trends into play 🙂 what is a follower app ? Right now, his CGM still require a scanner to read the numbers. It is not automatically uploaded into an app. Will the follower app still works ?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top