newly diagnosed with type 1.5 can someone help me out

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fey75752

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Type 1.5 LADA
I can't figure out all this information my Dr. is giving me which isn't much the person at the pharmacy wasn't much better and what I have been reading on the net isn't making any sense to me either. The moron of a Dr. I have said here take 2 units at bed time and over 8.0 take an additional 2 units but my sugars are 14.2 and it is a long lasting insulin I am on and I don't know if I am just suppose to take 4 units of my insulin or what I do take if it is that high :confused:
 
Hi, welcome to the forum 🙂 How long have you been taking the insulin, and what type is it? I'm afraid we can't give medical advice, only your doctor or nurse can do that. Has your doctor explained that Type 1.5 is a slow-onset type of diabetes where your pancreas is gradually losing the ability to produce its own insulin? You therefore need to supplement this by injecting. How much is injected will vary from person to person, so has to be determined on an individual basis. Two units of a long-acting insulin such as lantus or levemir is not a large dose, in fact it is close to the smallest dose that can be delivered with most pen devices. If the 14.2 is your waking/fasting number, then this is high, hence your doctor's advice that you would need to increase the dose to bring the levels down closer to 8.0. Ideally, you need to be waking in the 4-7 mmol/l range, but this should be achieved by altering doses gradually so that you avoid the possibilities of a low blood sugar level as you sleep.

I would get back in touch with your doctor and ask for clarification. How did you come to be diagnosed?
 
Welcome to the forum, Fey75752.

Long acting insulins are just that - long acting, so changes in doses take a while to take effect. However, as you're newly diagnosed, you are probably still in honeymoon phase, so your pancreas is probably still producing some insulin, irregularly. So, if your blood glucose is over 8.0mmol/l, then 4 units sounds right. Are you taking a short acting insulin with meals, as well?

Make sure you record all blood glucose readings, insulin doses, plus food eaten, activity done, stress, infection etc, so that you can review doses when you next see doctor. Is doctor a GP or diabetes specialist in hospital clinic? Do you have a diabetes specialist nurse with whom you can discuss things?
 
Hiya, Fey.🙂 Welcome to our cosy little forum.
 
Welcome Fey.

Like you I'm a 1.5 but on a medium acting insulin and currently taking 3 x 10 units per day, although that varies according to what my pancreas is producing, if I'm low I take less and if high, more. With our form of Diabetes especially, flexibility is key and your dosage should reflect what your numbers are doing. As others have said the long acting will take time to filter into your system and you need to take that into account. I suggest you test, inject and then keep testing every hour or so in order to work out when the insulin hits, and how long it lasts for you, that may make it easier for you to work out what you need. Keep notes of the results to show your medial team.

By the way, as a T1.5 you should be seen at your local Diabetic Clinic rather than leave it to a GP who won't have the expertise to handle your needs. Actually, if I had my way we'd all be seen by the experts, no matter what label we wear. If you haven't been referred already, I suggest you get your GP to do so as soon as possible.
 
Hi Fey75752

As the others have said they start you out with a low dose and then adjust up or down based on what numbers you get, it usually takes some days to see what the change in dosage does to your numbers. I'm quite new to this (month 4) and I remember how confusing all the jargon was from the doctors, and usually they tell you there's something wrong and give you a course of tablets at a fixed dose and off you pop. I didn't quite compute that with insulin everyone needs a different dose, I for example need quite a lot of long term insulin, but smaller amounts of fast acting at meals than they would have guessed initially, but it doesn't matter because that works for me. I second getting referred to a specialist Diabetes clinic, mine has been great. Also it does start to make sense quite quickly, promise!

Welcome to the forum.
 
Well if Fey has actually been diagnosed properly as a T1.5, then she must be at the hospital as no GP - surely - would have that expertise? They aren't THAT good with dead normal T1, let's face it.

That being the case, there should be a DSN and they are worth more than their combined weights in gold for day to day management.

Fey - what's happening, who are you seeing and what have you read?
 
Ohh, it's a weird system depending on what state you live in.

One of our Moderators lives in a large city in French Canada (she's from USA) and she has had some difficulties even finding a GP. And then persuading the GP to refer her to a diabetes clinic. Then persuading the clinic to prescribe Levemir instead of Lantus ......
 
Thanks Trophy. I have pals living in Cannuckistan but none are diabetic so I wasn't sure how it might work.
 
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