Newbie type 2 taking insulin

[moomoo'smom]

Hi all

I'm type 2 diabetic was very well controlled..my hba1c last year was down into to 50's. Last week I had a routine blood test and found my hba1c had doubled!! Doctors appointment later that week showed ketones in my blood and was rushed off to hospital to have i.v fluids and monitoring. Now on insulin. A fast acting one with meals and a slow release one at night along with metaformin twice aday.
Been a bit of a shock to say the least.
Watching my carb intake now.
Just really want to say don't put off having your hba1c done,I did by 6 months.. Thinking because I was losing weight and my numbers were low on the last one I had done but really looking back the signs were there.. I was drinking 3-4 litres of sugar free squash a day plus all my hot drinks too but was told some new medication I had started could increase your thirst and I put it down to that.

 

[helli]

Welcome @moomoo'smom
Have you been tested for Type 1 diabetes?
I ask because weight loss is a common symptom and may explain your sudden rise in HBA1c.

Although the treatment is the same - insulin - it will be easier to get access to technology such as CGM if you have the correct diagnosis.

 

[moomoo'smom]

Hi helli
Hospital diabetic nurse said I'm still type 2. The weight loss last year was intentional with healthy eating and excercise.

 

[JimmyBlue]

Hi @moomoo'smom I had issues with weight loss and highish ketones shortly after my diagnosis. The cause was a huge reduction in carbs and inadvertently eating way less than the 130g I was targetting while not increasing the protein and fats side of the meal triangle. You haven't done something similar have you? It doesn't sound like it, but I felt guilty telling the DN that I wasn't on a keto diet only to realise after a couple of days that I had actually probably been on one.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @moomoo'smom

Goodness! That was a rapid turnaround for you. Must have come as quite a shock 😱

There are forms of T1 that come on quite slowly later in life, and are often muddled with T2 (and even respond to T2 meds to begin with). The beta-cell destruction is slower and more gradual, so there are still a few beta cells to tickle into responding. But as the destruction continues… there reaches a tipping point where injected insulin is needed.

Not saying that is what has happened for you, but if things feel a bit weird, getting autoantibodies checked earlier is more likely to give an accurate result. After the beta cells have all been splatted the antibodies can sometimes disappear.

 

[PattiEvans]

I'd also advise you to ask for tests, rather than just accept the fact that you are T2. I fell foul of the same misdiagnosis and as a result I was denied all manner of things that as an actual T1 I should have been eligible for. In the end I had to insist and the difference in treatment once I had tests and a correct diagnosis was amazing.

 

[goodybags]

as others have suggested @moomoo'smom ask for further tests, I think I was put on insulin quite a few years before I had a c-peptide test to confirm i am producing some insulin

Plus
did they offer CGM (it’s not a automatic entitlement)
but very useful

 

[Lucyr]

I'd also advise you to ask for tests, rather than just accept the fact that you are T2.

It sounds like the OP was on a flozin from the being told new medication could make you pee a lot. So the ketones could have been caused by the flozin rather than by a misdiagnosis too.

 

[PattiEvans]

It sounds like the OP was on a flozin from the being told new medication could make you pee a lot. So the ketones could have been caused by the flozin rather than by a misdiagnosis too.

Could have, but without tests she will never know and it may well be to her disadvantage.

 

[moomoo'smom]

Hi @moomoo'smom I had issues with weight loss and highish ketones shortly after my diagnosis. The cause was a huge reduction in carbs and inadvertently eating way less than the 130g I was targetting while not increasing the protein and fats side of the meal triangle. You haven't done something similar have you? It doesn't sound like it, but I felt guilty telling the DN that I wasn't on a keto diet only to realise after a couple of days that I had actually probably been on one.

Hi Jimmyblue. I didn't realise doing keto could do that! I was having small portions due to medication reducing my appetite.
I came off that medication 5 weeks ago due to how rough I was feeling .
I have been looking into doing keto but don't think I will unroll things settle down and I clear it with my diabetic nurse.

 

[moomoo'smom]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm going to see my diabetic nurse next week so will ask her again about the diagnosis. I've got to have some fasting bloods done due to some markers being high to do with my liver and have a scan done on my liver.my gp rang me last night telling me this and did say the name of the markers but I can't remember it. I'm a bit worried over it all ,tbh. I can ask the nurse to do some extra tests hopefully.