Me and My Type 1 Diabetes

[Ali11782]

Hi,
I wouldn't know where to start with a blog so I am starting a new thread that will document me and my diabetes journey so that others can read to help themselves and to help me.
So a wee bit about me, 38 (soon to be 39), three kids, 13, 11 and almost 17months. Diagnosed type 1 a few weeks into my third pregnancy. Just got on with it during those 9months, thought very little about it. After pregnancy I thought I wonder if I am still diabetic (wee bit of denial setting in) so tried without insulin....nope definitely diabetic lol.
Walked a lot after giving birth due to mental health issues to try to cope. Really wasn't paying attention to my diabetes. Not taking bolus when eating, believing my blood sugar would come down with exercise (nope remember I am type 1, it may help with insulin sensitivity but that's it). Stopped taking evening levemir, for fear I was going to put on weight after I lost the baby weight.
Quite simply was all over the place with diabetes and food, not taking it seriously, could not adjust. I've always had issues with food. Always been a coping mechanism with periods of not eating much at all in a day for months on end and then having cycles of binge eating. Now my problems with food are just because of more indepth issues. I've suffered from dissociative disorders.
It's has taken me a long time to work out my mental health issues and how to change my mind and ways. I am much much better than I ever was. And I cope pretty well these day when life stresses me out.
However diabetes, just wasn't accepting it was part of my life. I was in a bad cycle of binging in the evening on bad foods and not taking my levemir. In April I had my consultant appointment and a good heart to heart with her. She recommended Tresiba so it is just a once a day job and the Freestyle libre 2. Now for what ever reason I havent yet got my Tresiba but am getting libre 2 end of this week.
I am taking good control of me and diabetes from now on, I don't deny there will be blips but I am prepared to accept I am diabetic and my life relationship with food has to change. To help that I have to have coping mechanisms that help my mental health. It is all connected.
Now what has helped me get to this point is this forum. It is keeping me focused so here we go.

Me and My Diabetes.
Alison

 

[Ali11782]

Well breakfast was rather annoying. Spiked then right down low.

 

[Ali11782]

It's less bad on this graph. Some lovely raspberries and a couple of satsumas saved me from going hypo.

 

[rebrascora]

What a wonderfully honest and positive post. I am sure it will give hope and inspiration to others and help with your focus too to document your progress here. I find it amazing how quickly you regain control after you have had the minor blips you have posted about when you don't take your Levemir and your general control when you are taking the Levemir is brilliant. That breakfast blip is nothing to worry about but taking your bolus insulin a little earlier might have helped prevent it going that bit out of range, but we all have peaks like that and you came straight back down again so really nothing to concern yourself with.

 

[Paulbreen]

Looks like a little too much insulin before breaki, the hiccup spike I wouldn’t worry too much about, you can straight down, happens to me most days, you could try a unit less taken 10-15 mins earlier than you are now.
Touching story and I imagine cathartic well done!!

 

[Ali11782]

What a wonderfully honest and positive post. I am sure it will give hope and inspiration to others and help with your focus too to document your progress here. I find it amazing how quickly you regain control after you have had the minor blips you have posted about when you don't take your Levemir and your general control when you are taking the Levemir is brilliant. That breakfast blip is nothing to worry about but taking your bolus insulin a little earlier might have helped prevent it going that bit out of range, but we all have peaks like that and you came straight back down again so really nothing to concern yourself with.

@rebrascora i had good control during pregnancy so I suppose I do know what I doing, have lost a lot of confidence in myself since letting is all go.
I haven't been binging which is half my problem. So like my high over night is due to overeating and not taking insulin. If I overeat but take insulin I sit about 10 to 15 in the morning but if I don't take insulin I sit anywhere above 20.
I was trying to wait for my blood sugar to come to 5 before I started eating but I got impatient after 30mins and was still 6.5 lol.

 

[Ali11782]

Looks like a little too much insulin before breaki, the hiccup spike I wouldn’t worry too much about, you can straight down, happens to me most days, you could try a unit less taken 10-15 mins earlier than you are now.
Touching story and I imagine cathartic well done!!

What do mean too much insulin before breakfast?
I def think I should have waiting another 10 to 15min to eat. Just got impatient and mayb a little worried I would wait to long and go hypo.

 

[Paulbreen]

What do mean too much insulin before breakfast?
I def think I should have waiting another 10 to 15min to eat. Just got impatient and mayb a little worried I would wait to long and go hypo.

Hi Ali, I would have a similar spike quite often after breakfast especially if I changed what I was eating from the normal tea and toast and cheese, I normally give my insulin based on the carbs I'm going to eat about 25-30 minutes before eating breakfast, Lunch and dinner are shorter about 10-15 mins seem to work. I have been carb counting for many years so about 85% off the time I get it right. as you are quite new to the T1 world I would suspect you are on defined insulin doses given from your support team, this will change as you get more experience under your belt and you start counting carbs you will be able to adjust the bolus insulin to match your meal. I'm sure it feels like juggling about 20 balls in the air at the moment, which in reality it is but the good thing it becomes much easier once you get in tune with what works for you with the emphasis on YOU

 

[Ali11782]

Hi Ali, I would have a similar spike quite often after breakfast especially if I changed what I was eating from the normal tea and toast and cheese, I normally give my insulin based on the carbs I'm going to eat about 25-30 minutes before eating breakfast, Lunch and dinner are shorter about 10-15 mins seem to work. I have been carb counting for many years so about 85% off the time I get it right. as you are quite new to the T1 world I would suspect you are on defined insulin doses given from your support team, this will change as you get more experience under your belt and you start counting carbs you will be able to adjust the bolus insulin to match your meal. I'm sure it feels like juggling about 20 balls in the air at the moment, which in reality it is but the good thing it becomes much easier once you get in tune with what works for you with the emphasis on YOU

Thanks. So I'm not on defined doses, just got to carb count, ratio is 1 to 20. I've been having 40g carbs porridge and find I normally need 1.5units but this morning I'm not sure if I needed that 2. I've been trying to keep my carbs to 30 to 40g per meal so I know it's about 1.5 and 2. I know I need a little less when I've walked. I've just had an Abernethy and ginger nut as thought I was going low, reading was 4.8 so not sure if I have done the right thing but I didn't think I'd last until dinner. Will be a good experiment anyway to see what they do to my blood sugar

 

[admc26]

This was really lovely and heartfelt to read @Ali11782! It sounds like you're getting the hang of it too and are aware of how your body reacts to different foods and meal times! Please keep us updated! 🙂

 

[Ali11782]

Ah

This was really lovely and heartfelt to read @Ali11782! It sounds like you're getting the hang of it too and are aware of how your body reacts to different foods and meal times! Please keep us updated! 🙂

Thank you.
I feel for me it is all about keeping grounded and calm and not let my mind go into a spin because once that happens I've lost control.
So it is the same with the diabetes. Seems to be working so far.

 

[Paulbreen]

Thanks. So I'm not on defined doses, just got to carb count, ratio is 1 to 20. I've been having 40g carbs porridge and find I normally need 1.5units but this morning I'm not sure if I needed that 2. I've been trying to keep my carbs to 30 to 40g per meal so I know it's about 1.5 and 2. I know I need a little less when I've walked. I've just had an Abernethy and ginger nut as thought I was going low, reading was 4.8 so not sure if I have done the right thing but I didn't think I'd last until dinner. Will be a good experiment anyway to see what they do to my blood sugar

If that's the meal you see the blip with try keeping the 1.5 units but move your time from injecting until you eat back about 5 mins for a few days and see how you get on, mornings are always difficult because of our bodies trying to mess us up with the DP and foot on the floor events where glucose dumps by our livers are messing up our plans, like I said juggling 20 balls lol
Don't forget what you shared about the "spikes" is actually not that bad, non diabetic people can often hit the same numbers!

 

[Ali11782]

Did my ginger biscuit and Abernethy biscuit, plus 3.9g carb cashew nuts which equals 18. 9 really do that? Should I have taken a unit? My ratio is 1 to 20 so thought I'd get away with it

 

[SB2015]

The Libre certainly shows what happens with each intake of carbs. I know when I was on injections with a 1:10 g carb ratio I was told if my snack was less than 10 g I could leave out the insulin. However they are still carbs and when I got a half unit pen I if I had any more than 4 g of carbs I delivered insulin. Less than 4g I left the insulin dose as a correction at the next meal to counter the inevitable rise if I ate snacks.

Once on a pump I was able to deliver for all carbs which made more sense.

 

[PhoebeC]

@rebrascora i had good control during pregnancy so I suppose I do know what I doing, have lost a lot of confidence in myself since letting is all go.
I haven't been binging which is half my problem. So like my high over night is due to overeating and not taking insulin. If I overeat but take insulin I sit about 10 to 15 in the morning but if I don't take insulin I sit anywhere above 20.
I was trying to wait for my blood sugar to come to 5 before I started eating but I got impatient after 30mins and was still 6.5 lol.

Tell me to butt out of you like, but I imagine when you where pregnant your main concern was baby. You just need to remind yourself that it’s the same situation now, you are still that important to your babies.
Sounds like your in a good place now. So keep it up and try not to let the little blips freak you out.

the Libre is amazing for learning how your food and insulin work together, and your results looks really good! Well done

 

[Ali11782]

So not such a good night on the blood sugar front.
Took kids to beach so was later home and not organised for dinner... Well that threw me. I landed up eating too much, but not focusing on blood sugar and insulin. Not the attitude I am aware but head was in a spin with kids. So I sat high all night and woke up at 13.
Been and done my 10000 steps, brought blood sugar down to 4 with corrective dose then had my breakfast with 1.5units of humalog so now back on track for a good 25hours.

 

[Inka]

@Ali11782 That’s normal - I’ve done the same myself. It’s hard sometimes fitting Type 1 in. It’s even harder if it’s late and you’re tired and hungry. Don’t beat yourself up about that. You sorted it 🙂

 

[PhoebeC]

It’s so key to your happiness and mental health that you give yourself allowances for life and just do your best next time.

 

[helli]

It can be very easy to get bogged down into little "mistakes" - miscalculating the carbs in one meal or taking basal a bit late, for example.
Rather than beating myself up, I learn from it and move on.

@Ali11782 I love that you are taking charge of your diabetes, But please take care that it does not become too big a part of your life and you end up with diabetes burn out.

Over time, I recommend looking at the graphs like this on LibreView


For me, this is great for looking at trends - did I take my bolus too late for breakfast one day or do I see a peak which suggests I always take it too late?

Look after yourself and your family and have fun!

 

[Ali11782]

It can be very easy to get bogged down into little "mistakes" - miscalculating the carbs in one meal or taking basal a bit late, for example.
Rather than beating myself up, I learn from it and move on.

@Ali11782 I love that you are taking charge of your diabetes, But please take care that it does not become too big a part of your life and you end up with diabetes burn out.

Over time, I recommend looking at the graphs like this on LibreView
View attachment 17700

For me, this is great for looking at trends - did I take my bolus too late for breakfast one day or do I see a peak which suggests I always take it too late?

Look after yourself and your family and have fun!

Thanks I had a look at libre view. Looks at good tool.
I get what mean about taking over you life. But for me I have to throw myself in to something to get it to work. If that makes any sense.