Hi, I am the wife of a type 1 diabetic. Hubby has had diabetes for 38 years and is now on an insulin pump. I have been looking for a site than can give support to us carers of diabetics who often face a very difficult job looking after our partners and also need support in our daily task. Hope this site can give me some ideas and support particularly in dealing with hypos especially severe ones.
-
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.
-
Learn more about joining the Diabetes UK Support Forum team here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/volunteering-opportunities-why-dont-you-join-us.112862/
Newbie
- Thread starter sunjean
- Start date
- Status
AlisonM
Much missed Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1.5 LADA
Welcome to the forum sunjean. We have a number of members who are carers and also quite a few folk using pumps so I'm sure you'll find the support you're after.
Does your husband get a lot of Hypos? I know very little about pumps but it sounds as though his insulin may need adjusting. I'm sure one of our resident pumpers will be able to advise.
Does your husband get a lot of Hypos? I know very little about pumps but it sounds as though his insulin may need adjusting. I'm sure one of our resident pumpers will be able to advise.
Hello Sunjean and welcome 🙂
There is a lovely mix of people on this forum (type 1's, type 2's, parents, partners etc) so I'm sure you'll find the right kind of support here 🙂
Cleo x
Ps there is also a separate pumping section if you have specific pump related Qs
There is a lovely mix of people on this forum (type 1's, type 2's, parents, partners etc) so I'm sure you'll find the right kind of support here 🙂
Cleo x
Ps there is also a separate pumping section if you have specific pump related Qs
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hiya!
I'm not a carer - I, like your husband, am a Type 1.
It was very interesting on the Carb Counting course I went on a few years ago, as unbeknown to the rest of us they had asked one lady to deliberately go hypo and see how everyone else reacted.
I thought, What's wrong with her today? - she's never been this stroppy before, plus she understood this whatever it was, last week, so why on earth is she arguing about it this week?
The only patient who actually recognised it for what it was, was another T1 lady, who also happens to have two T1 children!
That was a sobering lesson for me at least - we know not what we do, because we never actually see ourselves do it.
I find if I get my 'marvellous' A1c of 6.5 ish, I do lose the top edge of my hypo symptoms - they've never disappeared completely but I may not actually FEEL hypo until I'm under 3 and that's NBG to anyone. I'm better running BGs to give me an A1c around 7 (last one was 7.2, would refer in in the high 6's cos that's the optimum for me) which guarantees I'll feel it by at the lowest 3.8, when I can easily nip it in the bud with a very small amount of Lucozade.
Plus I stopped disagreeing with my DSN - she has always said, you must treat anything under 4. I always thought this was well over the top, frankly - after all you aren't even clinically hypo until you are 3.3 or under, therefore I was right and she was wrong. Obviously ......
Well no actually! for me, I NEED to treat anything under 4, even though my dinner may well already be on the plate. Otherwise, I will suffer the consequences. And it has now been well over 5 years since anyone's had to break open the Hypokit pack in the fridge.
And that's the trick really - catch Hypos as early as possible, before they get to the stage (under 3.3) where they REALLY affect your brain, and the most mild mannered person may morph into a wild animal. (Although I don't actually fight, well not up to now anyway, except if anyone tries to give me that awful oral Glucose stuff - has the consistency of wallpaper paste and tastes utterly disgusting - then I definitely do)
I also lose the ability to chew when I'm very low so it's no good giving me biscuits or sugar sandwiches - orange flavour Lucozade gets there quickest for me. You start absorbing it through your cheeks even before you swallow it, so it's a really good option. Well any Lucozade, but 'original' isn't a taste I enjoy .....
Does any of this ring any bells or help in the slightest?
It doesn't have to BE like it is - but you BOTH have to embrace this, you can't do it on your own and hubby shouldn't expect you to.
I'm not a carer - I, like your husband, am a Type 1.
It was very interesting on the Carb Counting course I went on a few years ago, as unbeknown to the rest of us they had asked one lady to deliberately go hypo and see how everyone else reacted.
I thought, What's wrong with her today? - she's never been this stroppy before, plus she understood this whatever it was, last week, so why on earth is she arguing about it this week?
The only patient who actually recognised it for what it was, was another T1 lady, who also happens to have two T1 children!
That was a sobering lesson for me at least - we know not what we do, because we never actually see ourselves do it.
I find if I get my 'marvellous' A1c of 6.5 ish, I do lose the top edge of my hypo symptoms - they've never disappeared completely but I may not actually FEEL hypo until I'm under 3 and that's NBG to anyone. I'm better running BGs to give me an A1c around 7 (last one was 7.2, would refer in in the high 6's cos that's the optimum for me) which guarantees I'll feel it by at the lowest 3.8, when I can easily nip it in the bud with a very small amount of Lucozade.
Plus I stopped disagreeing with my DSN - she has always said, you must treat anything under 4. I always thought this was well over the top, frankly - after all you aren't even clinically hypo until you are 3.3 or under, therefore I was right and she was wrong. Obviously ......
Well no actually! for me, I NEED to treat anything under 4, even though my dinner may well already be on the plate. Otherwise, I will suffer the consequences. And it has now been well over 5 years since anyone's had to break open the Hypokit pack in the fridge.
And that's the trick really - catch Hypos as early as possible, before they get to the stage (under 3.3) where they REALLY affect your brain, and the most mild mannered person may morph into a wild animal. (Although I don't actually fight, well not up to now anyway, except if anyone tries to give me that awful oral Glucose stuff - has the consistency of wallpaper paste and tastes utterly disgusting - then I definitely do)
I also lose the ability to chew when I'm very low so it's no good giving me biscuits or sugar sandwiches - orange flavour Lucozade gets there quickest for me. You start absorbing it through your cheeks even before you swallow it, so it's a really good option. Well any Lucozade, but 'original' isn't a taste I enjoy .....
Does any of this ring any bells or help in the slightest?
It doesn't have to BE like it is - but you BOTH have to embrace this, you can't do it on your own and hubby shouldn't expect you to.
Hi Trophywench
Thanks for your reply. Even though hubby does not know what he is like during his hypo he does understand and sympathise what it was like for me. We do embrace his diabetes together and always have done but I just get very frustrated sometimes when we can't find the reason or the answer to the hypos.
He seems to do the same as you and tries to keep blood sugars around 6-8 and does treat a 4 before it gets worse. The problem is when he goes down he goes very quickly and we sometimes can't understand the reason for it. We always try to work out what went wrong afterwards and he will make adjustments to his pump to prevent a repeat but sometimes we don't know why it happens. (These are usually the severe ones ) He also is not always aware of the hypo symptoms now so can't always treat the hypo himself.
We seem to be going through a bit of a bad patch hypo wise at the moment but he is now wearing a blood glucose sensor alongside his pump to see if we can see a pattern. Unfortunately they cost ?50 a time and last for only a week so can't afford to use one all the time!!
Thanks for your reply. Even though hubby does not know what he is like during his hypo he does understand and sympathise what it was like for me. We do embrace his diabetes together and always have done but I just get very frustrated sometimes when we can't find the reason or the answer to the hypos.
He seems to do the same as you and tries to keep blood sugars around 6-8 and does treat a 4 before it gets worse. The problem is when he goes down he goes very quickly and we sometimes can't understand the reason for it. We always try to work out what went wrong afterwards and he will make adjustments to his pump to prevent a repeat but sometimes we don't know why it happens. (These are usually the severe ones ) He also is not always aware of the hypo symptoms now so can't always treat the hypo himself.
We seem to be going through a bit of a bad patch hypo wise at the moment but he is now wearing a blood glucose sensor alongside his pump to see if we can see a pattern. Unfortunately they cost ?50 a time and last for only a week so can't afford to use one all the time!!
Last edited by a moderator:
made me go hypo. Sometimes you just dont know why ? Good luck - Status