Hello, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 2 years ago and was getting along quite happily with metformin (apart from the obvious tummy trouble!) The initial diagnosis caused me a good deal of anxiety which took a while to overcome (I'm generally quite an anxious person anyway). However last week I was taken in to hospital with suspected DKA and was diagnosed with type 1. The injections are now 5x day which is a bit of an adjustment, and emotionally I feel quite down in the dumps. I'm just wondering whether anyone else felt this way and has any words of wisdom? Did you soon adjust to your new way of life? Thank you for reading.
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Newly diagnosed, feeling blue :(
- Thread starter Roisin
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Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Roisin, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear you have had a difficult time of things. It sounds like you have been through an experience shared by quite a few of our members, of being diagnosed Type 2 when in fact you were a 'Type 1.5', or slow-onset Type 1. I followed a similar path, although in my case I was undiagnosed but with symptoms for 18 months before ending up in hospital with DKA and put onto insulin.
It is quite an adjustment, particularly if you have got used to the idea that you are Type 2 and then suddenly needing insulin. It's a steep learning curve, but hopefully you have a good healthcare team to back you up and help you get used to your new regime, including any dose adjustments you might need to make. Have you been booked on a diabetes education course, like DAFNE or XPert? If not, do ask to go on one. I'm presuming from your 5 injections that you are on two injections of a slow-acting insulin and the remainder of a fast-acting insulin whenever you eat? If so, this is a good, flexible regime. It takes a bit of getting used to, but do plenty of testing to find out the effects of your various food choices and insulin doses on your blood sugar levels, and you will gradually build up good experience so you know what to expect and can plan with more confidence 🙂 I would highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - whatever your age! I was 49 and have found it very useful right from the start (8 years ago for me), as it covers all aspects of living with Type 1.
Let us know if you have any questions and we will be happy to help out. Hopefully, the new diagnosis will really help you to gain good control - something that must have become increasingly difficult if your pancreas was gradually failing.
Hi, thanks very much for your reply, it's really helpful to hear from someone who's been through a similar experience. I met with the diabetic specialist nurse yesterday and have been reserved a space on the Dafne course in April, she also mentioned a week's training in the future (although I'm not sure what that's for). The diabetic nurses have been really good, they're very patient (especially as I was probably being fairly overemotional about the whole thing). The insulin regime is as you've said, but blood sugars are still quite high at the moment (tend to be about 28 after eating) and I still feel very tired. Thanks for the book recommendation, i will get myself a copy. Kind regards, Roisin
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Early days, and those numbers will come down as you get the doses closer to your requirements 🙂 Better to be cautious at first rather than bring things down too quickly 🙂 Great news a bout DAFNE and glad to hear you have a good DSN! 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Thank you
Thanks 🙂
mikeyB
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Roisin. Like Northerner, I came to T1 after being treated as T2 just on the basis of age. It's hard to say when you become truly adapted. It comes after the DAFNE course, when you learn how to count carbs in a normal plate of food, and learn how to balance your insulin to the amount of carbs. Gradually, you learn how to do that by eye, and experience. It's when you can do that almost without thinking that you can say you are truly adapted. There are many traps and errors along the road before you get there, but each is a learning experience, and won't do any long term damage. It's a long, long road, and nobody gets it perfect - or even close- in the first few months. Most importantly, learn to enjoy the learning, it makes every little triumph so much more enjoyable. There will be tears, anger, frustration on the way as well, but that is perfectly normal.
The first of these triumphs is joining the forum. Whatever worries you have, any time from early morning to quite late, there will be someone here to answer any questions you have.
Welcome to the club (that nobody wants to join!)
The first of these triumphs is joining the forum. Whatever worries you have, any time from early morning to quite late, there will be someone here to answer any questions you have.
Welcome to the club (that nobody wants to join!)
Mike, thank you for taking the time to reply and for your words of encouragement 🙂 I like your approach about enjoying the learning, although things went a bit wrong today and I felt quite rubbish this afternoon (bs was 29, does this normally make you feel worse for wear?) I'm looking forward to being able to take control of my own doses of Novorapid as the current set dose isn't really doing the trick, is this a case of the healthcare professionals being over cautious to begin with? Even though I only joined the forum yesterday, I have to say it's a great support, knowing there are others out there who are have been or are going through the same thing as you (although like you said, it is the club no one wants to join, haha) Thanks again, Roisin
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