T1 - Day #4 newbie - so many questions...

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BW74

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Type 1
Hello All,

Diagnosed type 1 end of last week. Still getting my head around it all to be honest. Scared to eat, scared when I don't... numbers all over the place, acronym hell, and that was just the first day!!

I'm glad I'm not alone (but I'm sorry you're here!). Please excuse the stupid questions, I'll have a few no doubt!!

Two burning questions;
1. How/where do I get more supplies?? needles, lancets and test strips running low already.

2. What is 'Bolus'???

Thanks.
B.
 
Hi @BW74 and welcome to the club nobody wants to join. I'll leave it at that knowing that some of our experienced T1's will be along soon to help you sort it all out!
 
BW74 said:
Hello All,

Diagnosed type 1 end of last week. Still getting my head around it all to be honest. Scared to eat, scared when I don't... numbers all over the place, acronym hell, and that was just the first day!!

I'm glad I'm not alone (but I'm sorry you're here!). Please excuse the stupid questions, I'll have a few no doubt!!

Two burning questions;
1. How/where do I get more supplies?? needles, lancets and test strips running low already.

2. What is 'Bolus'???

Thanks.
B.
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome to the club! Ask away, and it does get easier!
Were you diagnosed in hospital? If so, the hospital should send a report through to your GP telling them what to put in a repeat prescription, so chase your GP to find out if it’s been done.

Bolus is the proper name for the short acting insulin you take before a meal. Basal is the long acting one you take once or twice a day to keep you steady during the night and when you’re eating. (This is assuming you are on a regime where you take two different sorts of insulin a day. There is another old fashioned regime of taking a mixed insulin twice a day, I hope you haven’t been put on that, it’s very restricting).
Have you been told about
-Telling the DVLA (you will be restricted to a three year licence)
-Applying for a Prescription exemption certificate so you get all your prescriptions free. If you haven’t got one yet, ask the Pharmacist for an official receipt when you pickup supplies, if you have to pay, and you can claim it back later.

I can still remember being diagnosed, and not having a clue about any of this!
 
Hi and welcome

Yes, sorry you quality to be here too but I can say that you have absolutely come to the right place for help and support and knowledge. I am just over 2 years down the line from you so I can assure you it does get easier but those first few months are pretty overwhelming. Eventually things start to make more sense, but there is a huge amount to take in so just muddle along as best you can until you start to get the hang of it.

As regards your questions....
1. You should get supplies on prescription from your GP, so get in tough with them pronto if you haven't already. Were you diagnosed at hospital? The diabetes clinic staff should have sent through information to your GP as to what you need. If your GP surgery haven't received anything yet, then ask for an appointment with the Diabetes trained nurse at the surgery and he/she should be able to sort all this out. If you have an online emailing system, you could email them and explain you are getting low on supplies and need an urgent prescription. It is sometimes easier to do that than to try to go through the switch board/reception.... I actually got diagnosed via the online reporting system and never needed to see the GP. They made an appointment for me to get bloods taken and then I saw the nurse 2 days later when results came back.

2. Bolus is an amount of Quick Acting (QA) insulin used to deal with your meals. Hopefully you have been started on a basal/bolus insulin regime which is a long acting insulin (possibly Lantus or Tresiba or Levemir probably being the most common) which you inject once or twice a day to deal with the glucose your liver trickles out day and night to keep your vital organs fueled) The QA insulin is the bolus insulin usually injected a short time before each meal to cope with the glucose released into the blood stream by the food you eat. The most common are probably NovoRapid and Humalog.

Hopefully that answers your questions, but if I haven't explained it well enough just ask again.
 
Hiya, and welcome to the club no-one wanted to join! - but once you get to know one or two people, you will realise that none of us grew another head and we aren't all that scary, truly. (well - no more scary or weird than we were before diagnosis - anyway!)

Not one of us knew any more than you do now about diabetes generally or about how our body actually reacts to this that or the other, a few days after we were diagnosed - these things take time the sink in - and nobody expects you to know stuff. Plus as one of our number usually tells the newly diagnosed, the only 'silly' question is the one you did not ask - because asking them is the only way we ever find anything out! Ask, ask, ask, as many times as you want or need to. If you 'just wonder what would happen if ...' - ASK!

Acronyms - https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/acronyms-and-abbreviations.16567/
 
Welcome to the forum @BW74
Sorry you have had this diagnosis but very pleased that you have found us.

Others have already answered your first two questions. Just keep the questions coming. No one minds. We have all been there and remember how confusing it can seem at the start.

A good book I was recommended is Type 1 Diabetes in Children, adolescents and young adults by Ragnar Hanas. Ignore the age reference I was 53 at diagnosis and still found it useful. Just ignore the bit about starting school.

it definitely gets easier but seems very complicated at first. The best analogy I was given is that it was like learning to drive. It seems difficult and then much of it becomes automati.

Any questions, just ask.
 
Hi BW74, welcome to the forum.

Just popping in to highlight some of the very useful bits of info that we have on the site.

This page share more about insulin pumps which might be handy https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...diabetes/treating-your-diabetes/insulin-pumps.

We've also got a Learning Zone which will tailor the info around diabetes to your needs. Do have a look if you get the chance and let us know if there's anything else we can help with. https://learningzone.diabetes.org.uk/?_ga=2.239174208.274182585.1624276913-340228507.1611583699
 
Hello and welcome!

I went through a whirlwind of emotions when first diagnosed - and I’m still picking up the detritus! More relevantly to your post, I also had so many questions. This forum and the internet were a great help - but when getting serious about learning I like paper books. The books that gave me the most were:

Take Control of Type 1 Diabetes - Dr David Cavan, 2018

Think Like a Pancreas (Third Edition) - Gary Scheiner, 2020

Both of these gave me the information I feIt and still feel I needed - both to deal with my diagnosis and also to chat with my medical team.

The only thing I would add, and one I felt less emphasised, is that your journey
not over - not only the learning journey about diabetes in general or your diabetes specifically, or even the journey that is living with T1- I foresee myself being in these journeys for the rest of my life. But rather the psychological journey - make sure you take the time and space to mentally adjust, talk it out with your family and friends - on this site, and others like it, the tone is positive - which is good - but this is still as mentioned in a post above - a club that no one wants to be a member of. So in the next days and weeks (or however long it takes) take the time to come to terms with that… and whilst you do, always remember - it’s not the end of the world!


My, so far, brief journey with diabetes tells me it’s a rollercoaster - sugar levels going up and down, your emotions too as you confront and surmount new obstacles and challenges. My rookie advice is to be open to frustrations and change - accept each new challenge - accept that your levels will occasionally being weird - but don’t give up! and, whilst striving to keep them in the recommended range, strive also to keep a positive attitude.

I can’t speak from experience (also having been recently diagnosed) but I’m told things get better, or at least easier, and if not… then we’re lucky to be able to live with this - and I’m dammed if I’m going to let it bring me down!

Finally, once things settle down and if you can, get a libre2 or other device (Flash GM/CGM) that will give you more granularity on your sugar levels and the effects of various things (food/exercise etc.) blood glucose monitoring is ok - but i felt…liberated once I got a device!
 
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Welcome to the forum @BW74

Sorry you’ve had to join our club :(

It can feel overwhelming to begin with but things WILL get easier.

Hope you manage to sort your repeat prescriptions without too much faff.

And ‘bolus’ is just a term for a lump. Most often in T1 it’s used for a lump of insulin delivered to cover the carbs in a meal or snack, but I first heard it referring to the lump of food that you swallow when studying biology waaaaaay back in school. 🙂
 
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