Newie

[BUSYBEE26]

Hi Everyone,

I am a newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic on Insulin 4 times aday, found it really hard at first was getting a bit better with the first couple of weeks blood sugars started to level out nicely being 6 before meals and 10 ish after. But recently have been having some real varied levels from 2.0 to 12.1 all over the place am eating all the right things and checking levels but still mad just feel a bit fed up with the whole thing am doing everything right but body just not agreeing? is this normal also eyes after two weeks have never been so good could see without glasses and were amazing notice how I said were now bad again what is going on any advice would be warmly received



Thank you in anticpation,

Busy-Bee

from West Sussex

 

[Mark T]

Welcome to the forums Busy-Bee 🙂

Hopefully one of the Type 1's will be along shortly to offer some advice.

Have you got a cold, or under stress? - since that can do strange things to blood sugar readings.

 

[Copepod]

Welcome Buzybee.

Yes, variability of blood glucose levels is very normal, particularly in early days after diagnosis, due to honeymoon effect when your pancreas has purts of producing irregular amounts of insulin.

The other aspect to consider is the need to attempt to match your insulin to carbohydrate content of meals, plus activity, stree etc. It's not necessarily, or even desirable, to have the same doses of short acting / bolus insulin and eat the same things each meal. However, it's very difficult to "carb count" successfully during honeymoon phase.

Are you still in regular contact with your diabetes team to monitor / adjust your insulin doses? Best to ask them for better explanations, but hopefully this will give you some pointers.

Speaking from personal experience, getting used to life with type 1 diabetes, as an adult, is a marathon, not a sprint. So, be easy on yourself, and ask away here. 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Hi Busy-Bee, welcome to the forum 🙂 What you are experiencing is not unusual for the first few weeks. Learning to manage your blood sugars well can take time as you gradually build up experience of how different foods in different quantities affect you personally - people can have varying tolerances to the same food e.g. one person may eat weetabix and their levels will shoot up, but another may be able to keep quite stable levels eating the same thing.

I would recommend having a look at the Useful links thread, and would particularly recommend the book Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults by Ragnar Hanas - an indispensable guide to Type 1 diabetes whatever your age 🙂

Have you been offered any education courses yet? These courses will instruct you on how to adjust your insulin doses to match the carbohydrate content of your meals and also to take account of different activity levels, time of day, what to do when you are ill etc. Popular courses are DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating) and BERTIE (not sure what that stands for!), but your PCT may offer their own variation.

If you haven't yet been taught how to vary your doses according to carb content (carb counting) and other factors like exercise then it is almost inevitable that your levels will swing. I was talking to someone recently who hadn't been made aware that it was the carbohydrate content of meals was important in determining doses, so would give a big dose for a big meal and a small dose for a small meal even if the big meal had few or even no carbs.

Your eyesight should settle down once your levels become more stable - mine took about 6 weeks before my eyesight returned to normal, and it is important not to get new glasses until levels settle otherwise you may need new ones a few weeks later!

Please ask anything you are unsure of, there are lots of friendly people here with a wealth of knowledge and experience, so someone can usually help out - no question is regarded as 'silly', so if it is bothering or confsing you, please ask! 🙂

 

[Steff]

Hi Busy-bee and a warm welcome to this wonderful forum from me

 

[teapot8910]

Welcome to the forum BusyBee 🙂

 

[daisymoo84]

Welcome to the forum Busybee- love the username

 

[Robster65]

Hi Busybee. Welcome 🙂

Still a few bees busy around these parts. No sign of winter yet. 🙂

Rob

 

[Blythespirit]

Hi Busybee and welcome to the forums. I see you've had some excellent advice and information already. They're like that on here. 🙂 Good luck on getting your levels stable, and I look forward to hearing more from you. XXXXX

 

[margie]

Welcome Buzybee - fluctuating blood sugars can affect eye sight so it is best to wait until you have some kind of stability before getting new glasses. Keep going and things will start to fall in place - it may not seem like it right now but it will. Remember that your DSN is there to help you so if you need help just ask.