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Newbie Type 1

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Pattidevans said:
Hi there

I am not surprised that you were unable to contact 111. My own experience with them has been dismal as has that of a person I know.

I think that so far you've been given some good guidelines by @rebrascora and @Inka. However I think it would be very very helpful for you to understand the basics of MDI (Multiple Dose Injections) as to which insulin does what and how both will affect you. This is usually done by the diabetes specialist nurse at a hospital clinic, but it seems you have fallen through the cracks. I'd suggest a couple of really good books which would help you no end. The first is "Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and young adults" by Ragnar Hanas (I don't have it but members here speak highly of it) the second is "Think like a Pancreas" by Gary Scheiner - I do have that book and it was absolutely indispensible for me.

If you don't hear anything about a carb counting course, there is a free online course you can do called "Bertie" which was written by the Diabetes and Endocrine team at Bournemouth hospital. Do have a go at that. Keep in touch and ask as many questions as you can think of! 🙂
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Thank you
 
The other major piece of advice is to test more frequently when you are adjusting your insulin. If you decide to stick with 15 units of Lantus again tonight then it would be a good idea to set an alarm for 2am is and test your levels. If your BG was 24 last night at bedtime (I don't know what it was but that was the last reading you gave) and it brought you down to 9 this morning, that would be a drop of 15 mmols. If you went to bed on a BG of 15 tonight with the same Lantus dose, it could drop you into a hypo, especially if you have used your NovoRapid more today as a result of the guidance we have given you. As @Pattidevans mentions the two insulins work differently but can have a combined effect which is much more than you expect and a 50% increase in basal at one go is quite significant, so please do be very careful tonight and have plenty of hypo treatments by your bed along with your test kit and set an alarm. Test kit and hypo treatments should always be within reach day or night. Hopefully you have been given advice on hypos and how to treat them and what to look out for as regards signs of them. If not please ask us. Keeping yourself safe is the highest priority.
 
rebrascora said:
The other major piece of advice is to test more frequently when you are adjusting your insulin. If you decide to stick with 15 units of Lantus again tonight then it would be a good idea to set an alarm for 2am is and test your levels. If your BG was 24 last night at bedtime (I don't know what it was but that was the last reading you gave) and it brought you down to 9 this morning, that would be a drop of 15 mmols. If you went to bed on a BG of 15 tonight with the same Lantus dose, it could drop you into a hypo, especially if you have used your NovoRapid more today as a result of the guidance we have given you. As @Pattidevans mentions the two insulins work differently but can have a combined effect which is much more than you expect and a 50% increase in basal at one go is quite significant, so please do be very careful tonight and have plenty of hypo treatments by your bed along with your test kit and set an alarm. Test kit and hypo treatments should always be within reach day or night. Hopefully you have been given advice on hypos and how to treat them and what to look out for as regards signs of them. If not please ask us. Keeping yourself safe is the highest priority.
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Thanks! Yes I will keep an eye on that. I have been contacted by my sisters friend they have a friend who is a diabetic specialist from another area of the country, who is going to call me this evening after their clinic and give me some help and advice.
 
So sorry to hear about the complete lack of care, information and support you have received following your diagnosis @Cazer

I really hope you can get a referral to the hospital clinic and begin to be seen by a specialist team.

In a sense T1 is always a matter of “each person, their own doctor” as Prof RD Lawrence (one of the founders of DUK) once phrased it. So your thirst for knowledge, and your comparing notes with others will be very helpful, but it’s also really important to have a good working relationship with your diabetes specialists and your GP surgery - and in your case this currently feels like the pandemic has completely mangled that part of your care :(
 
Thank you. I am happy to say that I am having some help and no longer feel abandoned. Advised to increase Lantus and now carb counting and injecting accordingly. I feel so much more in control and much happier. I am sure I will continue to get used to life with diabetes.
I have to say how grateful I was and still am, to have the help and support from this site. Thank you to everyone who has helped me. Xx
 
So pleased you have now had some better support and feel like you are making progress and able to take more control. That is so important with diabetes, even if it can be like herding kittens sometimes. 🙄
 
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