• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

New diagnosed with type 1

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.

Yarp56

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hello I have just been diagnosed with type one diabetes at the end of June struggling trying to get used to all of the changes as affected my eyesight which is led me to be unable to work and on sick leave as I work on a pc for 8 hours a day
 
Welcome @Yarp56 🙂 A Type 1 diagnosis is a big shock and a big change to your routines at first. It’s also an emotional burden. It does gradually get easier though, even though it might not seem like it now.

It’s very normal to have eyesight issues. These gradually settle over a few weeks or months as your body returns to a more normal state. Have you tried cheap reading glasses? Not so much for work if you’re off sick but just in your daily life.

What insulins are you on? Are you carb counting?


Two great books about Type 1 are

Think Like a Pancreas’ by Gary Scheiner.

And Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas (ignore the title - it’s great for adults too)
 
Hi @Yarp56 - Welcome to the club nobody ever wanted to join!

I had exactly the same problem in 1972 before they invented home computing or the interwebnet - I was a clerk at an insurance company, so it was all readin writin and 'rithmetic the old fashioned way. Took approx 6 -8 weeks before I could go back to work by which time I was so bored I was more than ready to scream.

But - providing you do OK with your treatment of your diabetes - your eyes WILL definitely recover to their previous health. Just be a patient patient !

How's it going? Are you getting all the help you need from your medical team?

Never stop asking questions cos believe me - I've been learning for 49 years longer than you so far and no way Pedro do I know 'everything' - yet !

Jolly good luck to you.
 
Hi and welcome from me too.

I'm just 2.5 years down the road from you and I can assure you that it does get a lot easier! It is totally normal to feel overwhelmed in those first few weeks and months but you will get into a routine with it and a lot of it will become second nature, but that doesn't mean that it won't be frustrating and mind boggling and tedious some of the time. The good news is that we have access to some great technology to help us these days and modern insulin regimes enable us to have a much more flexible diet and lifestyle. Talking of which.... would you like to tell us which insulins they have given you and do you have Freestyle Libre sensors or are you finger pricking to check your levels?

In a lot of respects it is good that you have a decent spell of time off work to get your head around the basics of your diabetes management because it is a huge amount to take in. You can learn a massive amount from this forum but do ask to be put forward for DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) training or whatever your local equivalent is. It is an intensive 5 day course but so worth the time and just spending 5 days with other diabetics is amazing as it helps you to feel more normal and you can learn such a lot from each other.

Anyway, we are here to help if you have any particular problems so just ask. I hope you have a good clinical team supporting you and I would second getting a cheap pair of (pound shop) reading glasses (or several pairs of different strengths for reading and screenwork, until your BG levels and eyes settle down.
 
It is an intensive 5 day course but so worth the time and just spending 5 days with other diabetics is amazing as it helps you to feel more normal and you can learn such a lot from each other.
Different courses can be done differently. The local course to me was 4 Wednesday evenings, so an hour and a half or so once a week. (An advantage of that is you get a week of trying whatever they suggested and can ask questions the next week, and it gives more time for the stuff to sink in.)
 
Hi and welcome @Yarp56

If your area aren’t offering any formal course in the near future then try the BERTIE online course https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/ which is very good. I second the book recommendations given by @Inka too.
 
Welcome to the forum @Yarp56

The diagnosis is a shock at any age, but it does definitely get easier. The best analogy I had was that it is like driving. It all seems complicated at the start, but then becomes pretty automatic and your delaying with the unplanned events and looking for obstacles.
 
Hi Yarp56, welcome to the forum.

As others have mentioned, your eyesight should go back to some form of normality so I hope that happens soon for you.

Do you have any particular concerns? We've got a wealth of info on the site and we're all too happy to help where possible so do feel free to ask any questions you may have.
 
Hi Yarp56, welcome to the forum.

As others have mentioned, your eyesight should go back to some form of normality so I hope that happens soon for you.

Do you have any particular concerns? We've got a wealth of info on the site and we're all too happy to help where possible so do feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Just work with computer all day and I can’t see the screen the glasses I do have I should of used for pc work but I need to ware all the time but no good for reading or pc work so can’t work on ssp as I have used up my csp as I had a kidney removed in 2019 Just so feed up
 
Hi @Yarp56 - Welcome to the club nobody ever wanted to join!

I had exactly the same problem in 1972 before they invented home computing or the interwebnet - I was a clerk at an insurance company, so it was all readin writin and 'rithmetic the old fashioned way. Took approx 6 -8 weeks before I could go back to work by which time I was so bored I was more than ready to scream.

But - providing you do OK with your treatment of your diabetes - your eyes WILL definitely recover to their previous health. Just be a patient patient !

How's it going? Are you getting all the help you need from your medical team?

Never stop asking questions cos believe me - I've been learning for 49 years longer than you so far and no way Pedro do I know 'everything' - yet !

Jolly good luck to you.
Thanks been over 6 weeks now and I can read my screen having to use my pc glasses just to see and drive but can’t see the pc or do my craft which I do when upset and help me chill but I can’t do that so feed up
 
Thanks for all your messages just overwhelmed just now
Yes - you will be! If you weren't, that would tell me you're not normal. So - relax, mate - slow but sure gets you there cos this time, you're the tortoise, not the hare.
 
Thanks been over 6 weeks now and I can read my screen having to use my pc glasses just to see and drive but can’t see the pc or do my craft which I do when upset and help me chill but I can’t do that so feed up
It sounds as if you are similar to myself in that my distance vision was OK but the close vision was awful and I struggled to do my craft work (stained glass work as you can perhaps tell from my avatar), it has taken quite a long time, several months, to settle down but I have still needed a prescription change. I hope yours will not be that long.
Please do be careful of driving if your vision is less than par.
 
Welcome to the forum @Yarp56

Sorry to hear what a tough time you have been having in recent years. How are your BGs doing? Have you been able to get them to settle a little over the past 6 weeks? Or are things still settling (not that they ever truly ‘settle’ with T1… but some phases are wobblier than others).

Hope you can find a short term fix (perhaps off the shelf ‘ready readers’) for close work, or that your eyes return towards normal so that you can return to work and to the crafting that you so enjoy.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top