Testing

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Amy ordinaire

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Type 1
Hi Everyone,

I was diagnosed on Wednesday with Type 1 diabetes (now taking novo rapid 4 units 3 times a day with meals and levemeir 10 units once a day) I also have cerebral palsy down my right side which doesn't help when checking my sugar level count.... I'm in shock and scared at the moment of how much I can eat with how much insulin I'm injecting. I've got the carbs and Cals app but I was never good at knowing what I'm eating and how much sugar and carbs I should eating. I've also lost a stone as I didn't know I had type 1 for a couolr of months and I'm already a size 8 so need to try and gain a little weight.

Does anyone have any tips or just basic rules with the insulin I'm injecting at the moment with how many carbs I need to eat with meals ?

Does anyone also have any tips on a easier ways to check your sugar count as I'm one handing im finding it hard juggling the needles, pen and just Getting blood on the strip to test my sugar?

Thanks so much
Amy
 
Amy ordinaire said:
Hi Everyone,

I was diagnosed on Wednesday with Type 1 diabetes (now taking novo rapid 4 units 3 times a day with meals and levemeir 10 units once a day) I also have cerebral palsy down my right side which doesn't help when checking my sugar level count.... I'm in shock and scared at the moment of how much I can eat with how much insulin I'm injecting. I've got the carbs and Cals app but I was never good at knowing what I'm eating and how much sugar and carbs I should eating. I've also lost a stone as I didn't know I had type 1 for a couolr of months and I'm already a size 8 so need to try and gain a little weight.

Does anyone have any tips or just basic rules with the insulin I'm injecting at the moment with how many carbs I need to eat with meals ?

Does anyone also have any tips on a easier ways to check your sugar count as I'm one handing im finding it hard juggling the needles, pen and just Getting blood on the strip to test my sugar?

Thanks so much
Amy
Click to expand...
Hi Amy, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did it come about? Regarding the carbs you need to eat, has your DSN (Diabetes Specialist Nurse) explained why they have chosen the doses they have asked you to inject? Usually, they will initially choose doses that will avoid your levels dropping too low, and then fine tune them according to your readings. Eventually you will be able to work out a ratio so that you know that, for example, if you intend to eat a sandwich with 40g carbs then how much novorapid you will need to 'cover' that. This will give you a lot more confidence and flexibility in your food choices as you can adjust the dose to suit the food 🙂 I'd suggest downloading the 'Carbs Count' free booklet from Diabetes UK - information here. Are you in regular contact with your team? When I started I would take a reading before eating/injecting, then readings at 1, 2 and 4 hours after so I could familiarise myself with how my body responded to the food/insulin (record doses and carb amounts in a diary, alongside the readings. Pretty soon you will see a pattern and this will help you to adjust the doses. Don't worry that you have to get everything right all the time, that's pretty much impossible - the key thing is to learn from each experience and always be prepared with your hypo treatment of choice close to hand (I choose jelly babies 🙂)

I'm not sure if there may be aids to help you with the testing/injecting, I appreciate it must be difficult :( A former member here was born with only one arm, but has learned to manage - I'm not sure what she does, I'm afraid. It might be worth contacting the Diabetes UK Helpline to see if they know of anything. There is a 'flash glucose monitor' called the Freestyle Libre that a lot of people use, which involves wearing a sensor on your arm that you can then just scan without needing a fingerprick every time (although you still need to do some fingerpricks). They aren't cheap - around £50 per fortnight and currently not available on prescription, although it is being assessed by the NHS. You may be able to get one specially funded in light of your cerebral palsy, so worth asking for, I would have thought - part of the cost will be met by savings on test strips. I've been using the system for a few months and hardly do any fingerpricks when I have a sensor on 🙂

Another thing that would help with the insulin would be an insulin pump - these can deliver insulin at the press of a button, and again you may be considered a suitable candidate. More information about pumps on the INPUT website.

I'd also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas. It's not cheap, but it is a really excellent resource that covers all aspects of living with Type 1 (whatever your age - don't be misled by the title, I was 49!).
It's still very early days for you, so I'm glad you joined us here! There are lots of knowledgeable people with many years of experience who will be able to answer pretty much all your questions, so do ask if anything confuses or causes you concern 🙂
 
Hi, everything that Northerner said!
When I started a carb counting course they asked us all to start with a ratio of 1 unit to 20g carbs just as a starting point and then we had to keep a record of our readings before eating and at the next meal in order to work out whether the insulin was matching the carbs, in which case the level at the next meal would be within 2 mmol of what it was before eating. If it wasn't we would repeat it before changing our ratios.
As Northerner said, your medical team should be advising you on this, although I had type 1 for more than 15 years before I learnt to match my insulin to my carbs!
 
Hello and welcome Amy 🙂

Some glucose meter have the strips in a cassette so you don't need to get a new strip into the meter each time, likewise some lancing devices use a drum of lancets. The Accu Chek Mobile has both these features I believe. I realise that doesn't overcome the challenge of testing and getting the blood on to the strip but it is one less thing to do. Ask your diabetes team for advice on which meter would be the least fiddly to use.

I echo all that Northener says too 🙂

This is an introduction to carb counting.https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...and-diabetes/nuts-and-bolts-of-carb-counting/
 
Welcome to the forum Amy ordinaire.
Different meters have different sizes / shapes of strips, and different fingerpricking devices have different methods for changing lancets, so you might find one model easier than another to use effectively one handed.
Do you have a diabetes specialist nurse, who could let you experiment with different meters and finger pricking devices? Do you have any follow up for your cerebral palsy? Eg could you ask an occupational therapist for help with getting to grips with blood testing and injecting?
It might help to lay meter on a table, so you could use weaker hand to stop it moving as you insert strip.
Regarding finger pricking devices, while it is recommended to change lancet every time, many of us don't, and have not come to any harm. So, you can make your own decision about how often to change lancets.
 
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Northerner said:
Hi Amy, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did it come about? Regarding the carbs you need to eat, has your DSN (Diabetes Specialist Nurse) explained why they have chosen the doses they have asked you to inject? Usually, they will initially choose doses that will avoid your levels dropping too low, and then fine tune them according to your readings. Eventually you will be able to work out a ratio so that you know that, for example, if you intend to eat a sandwich with 40g carbs then how much novorapid you will need to 'cover' that. This will give you a lot more confidence and flexibility in your food choices as you can adjust the dose to suit the food 🙂 I'd suggest downloading the 'Carbs Count' free booklet from Diabetes UK - information here. Are you in regular contact with your team? When I started I would take a reading before eating/injecting, then readings at 1, 2 and 4 hours after so I could familiarise myself with how my body responded to the food/insulin (record doses and carb amounts in a diary, alongside the readings. Pretty soon you will see a pattern and this will help you to adjust the doses. Don't worry that you have to get everything right all the time, that's pretty much impossible - the key thing is to learn from each experience and always be prepared with your hypo treatment of choice close to hand (I choose jelly babies 🙂)

I'm not sure if there may be aids to help you with the testing/injecting, I appreciate it must be difficult :( A former member here was born with only one arm, but has learned to manage - I'm not sure what she does, I'm afraid. It might be worth contacting the Diabetes UK Helpline to see if they know of anything. There is a 'flash glucose monitor' called the Freestyle Libre that a lot of people use, which involves wearing a sensor on your arm that you can then just scan without needing a fingerprick every time (although you still need to do some fingerpricks). They aren't cheap - around £50 per fortnight and currently not available on prescription, although it is being assessed by the NHS. You may be able to get one specially funded in light of your cerebral palsy, so worth asking for, I would have thought - part of the cost will be met by savings on test strips. I've been using the system for a few months and hardly do any fingerpricks when I have a sensor on 🙂

Another thing that would help with the insulin would be an insulin pump - these can deliver insulin at the press of a button, and again you may be considered a suitable candidate. More information about pumps on the INPUT website.

I'd also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas. It's not cheap, but it is a really excellent resource that covers all aspects of living with Type 1 (whatever your age - don't be misled by the title, I was 49!).
It's still very early days for you, so I'm glad you joined us here! There are lots of knowledgeable people with many years of experience who will be able to answer pretty much all your questions, so do ask if anything confuses or causes you concern 🙂
Click to expand...

Hi Northerner

Thanks so much for the advice. I dont really know how it came about but I have had it a while without actually knowing. To be honest they didn't tell me why they were giving me the units they have to inject, however I think as you said to help me from going into hyppo. My sugar level at the moment is still high and hasn't really come down below 12 so I do need to speak to my DSN tomorrow because I might need to increase my dose. It's just so hard as I have an incredibly sweet tooth! I just need to get used to measuring out everything and not being so care fee. Is there any really easy maybe sweet alternative snacks that you know of.

I will look into the things above about pricking myself, it's just a bit more painful as my right arm is also hyper sensitive so it hurts quiet a lot more when checking my sugar. Do you know if anywhere else that I could prick myself that's not the fingertips ?
 
@Amy ordinaire - you mention pricking your fingertips. Do you mean pads of fingers or sides of top part of fingers? You will probably find that pricking side of finger is slightly less painful than pricking the pad. It's also best to avoid index fingers and thumbs, as you use those most for most tasks, so feel the effects of pricks more than on lesser used digits. Also, adjust lancet depth to the least possible to obtain enough blood. If that doesn't work, you can use earlobes, but that's fiddly and often messy, unlessyou use a mirror.
Insulin doses always start low and build up, so that your blood glucose level reduces gradually to minimise the chance of "false hypos", as your body has got used to higher than usual levels, so reducing it means you could feel hypo at levels that are lower than previous (for you), but above normal levels.
Regarding carefreeness - make life as easy as possible for yourself by keeping kit ready to go. I findit easiest to have a short acting insulin pen in my kitchen, a long acting pen (with short acting cartridge and spare long acting cartridge and a few spare needles) plus blood glucose meter (with a few spare lancets and lots of strips) in a bumbag which hangs from my bed frame at home and is always ready for nights / weekends away. I have a pencil case containing my short acting pen (with long acting cartridge and spare short acting cartridge) and a blood glucose meter (with a few spare lancets and lots of strips), which can be moved between whichever rucksack, work bag etc I am using out of house. With each set of kit, I also have a packet of sweets and a muesli bar, in case of needing hypo treatment or emergency food.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum Amy 🙂
 
Hello and welcome to the forum Amy I have struggled myself over the years knowing how much to inject recently tho I have been using the Dario app meter which you can use on your phone and it has carb counting option on it to and has helped me a lot but still get tricky moments where I get it wrong but definitely improved
 
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