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Type 1.5 LADA

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
I have never heard or anyone using their toes or being recommended to do so! It isn't exactly convenient and as diabetic, we probably should not be deliberately breaking the skin on our toes as they are more prone to infection.
Your fingers really shouldn't get sore if you are doing it right. At one stage I was finger pricking well over 10x a day and never had sore fingers. There is a thread somewhere about "Painless Pricks" which I will try to find for you...
Getting yourself a good lancing device would be a good idea. I use a bog standard one without problems but most people here highly recommend the AccuChek FastClix lancing device as being painless and reliable.
 
Maybe I need a new lancing device as I need it on 5 or sometimes 6 to get blood and that does hurt.
 
Hi, you do have to be so careful when adjusting your doses even 0.5 can make a big difference. They told me if you change your dosage you need to do really good checking of glucose and give it a couple of days, so monitor it. I was also told not to get hung up about blood sugar's after meals, they're always going to be high it's 2 to 21/2 hours later when your blood sugar will dip. If you go ahead after a meal and give a correction your bloods will plummet later!!
 
Hi @Southerngirl64 I was diagnosed as T2 22 years ago. 5 years after that diagnosis I was put on insulin and no Metformin (as that did absolutely nothing for me and by then my HbA1C was poor). Then this year I was rediagnosed as T1. So I appreciate how you feel you are starting over and having to learn a load once again. It was a bit of a shock, but I guess I knew all along that I wasn’t really T2 and even all the DSNs I saw over the years said that I behaved more like a T1.

Do ask about the Libre, it is a real game changer and has helped me so much since starting last summer on it.
 
When you say you were started on 2 units 4 times a day, was that a typo and it should have been 3x a day ie before each meal?
If your levels are persistently high then it is more likely that your Lantus needs increasing. How much of that do you take? It is important to bring levels down into range slowly and steadily when they have been very high for a long time, so don't be in too much of a rush to get down into range ASAP. The fine blood vessels in the retina are particularly vulnerable to dramatic changes in BG levels so it is important to adjust things slowly.
Can I ask is this nurse who is supporting you a practice nurse at your GP surgery or a qualified DSN (Diabetes Specialist Nurse) who works from a hospital clinic under a consultant, but may visit the GP practice once a month or so to provide support and training to the practice nurse. There is a big difference between the two and if you actually are LADA then you should be under a consultant/DSN at the hospital clinic.
 
rebrascora said:
When you say you were started on 2 units 4 times a day, was that a typo and it should have been 3x a day ie before each meal?
If your levels are persistently high then it is more likely that your Lantus needs increasing. How much of that do you take? It is important to bring levels down into range slowly and steadily when they have been very high for a long time, so don't be in too much of a rush to get down into range ASAP. The fine blood vessels in the retina are particularly vulnerable to dramatic changes in BG levels so it is important to adjust things slowly.
Can I ask is this nurse who is supporting you a practice nurse at your GP surgery or a qualified DSN (Diabetes Specialist Nurse) who works from a hospital clinic under a consultant, but may visit the GP practice once a month or so to provide support and training to the practice nurse. There is a big difference between the two and if you actually are LADA then you should be under a consultant/DSN at the hospital clinic.
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Not a typo but 2 units before meals and 2 units before bed but over the month I have upped it to 10 units before meals and 8 or 10 before bed (depending on BS). The nurse is a DSN who works at a diabetic clinic in a hospital and that’s where I go. I was transferred there from my doctors surgery when they decided I needed to go on insulin.
 
Eternal422 said:
Hi @Southerngirl64 I was diagnosed as T2 22 years ago. 5 years after that diagnosis I was put on insulin and no Metformin (as that did absolutely nothing for me and by then my HbA1C was poor). Then this year I was rediagnosed as T1. So I appreciate how you feel you are starting over and having to learn a load once again. It was a bit of a shock, but I guess I knew all along that I wasn’t really T2 and even all the DSNs I saw over the years said that I behaved more like a T1.

Do ask about the Libre, it is a real game changer and has helped me so much since starting last summer on it.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will definitely ask about the Libra. When I was diagnosed T2 I was really poorly and had been off work for 2 weeks. At first they put me on Metformin but this made me very sick and I lost 1 stone in a month so they changed me to Glicazide and that really did work for about 4 years but then my numbers slowly started to creep up, I tried everything in my diet to change it but it just got worse, now I understand why.
 
Southerngirl64 said:
Not a typo but 2 units before meals and 2 units before bed but over the month I have upped it to 10 units before meals and 8 or 10 before bed (depending on BS). The nurse is a DSN who works at a diabetic clinic in a hospital and that’s where I go. I was transferred there from my doctors surgery when they decided I needed to go on insulin.
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Have they mentioned about the ratio of carbs to the units of your Novorapid bolus insulin on which to base your meal dose for the carbs you are going to have? The Lantus is your basal which I believe does not cover 24 hours which is why some people take it morning and evening splitting the dose.
There are courses to help with carb counting and managing insulin DAFNE or your area equivalent is one and BERTIE is an on-line course
I also have never heard of suggesting toes for sampling, ear lobe maybe. Finger pricking should not hurt in the least, a paper cut will hurt 10x more so your technique may be the problem. I just hold the lancet in my fingers and give a quick stab just to the side of the pad, make sure your hands are warm and massage the finger towards the tip.
 
Southerngirl64 said:
Not a typo but 2 units before meals and 2 units before bed but over the month I have upped it to 10 units before meals and 8 or 10 before bed (depending on BS). The nurse is a DSN who works at a diabetic clinic in a hospital and that’s where I go. I was transferred there from my doctors surgery when they decided I needed to go on insulin.
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So just to be clear, the 4th injection, the one before bed is your Lantus injection, not more NovoRapid? The Lantus has a very different job to the NovoRapid that deals with meals and the dose is not related to those meal time doses. I would be very concerned if you were injecting 8 or 10 units of NovoRapid at bedtime, so I hope I have misunderstood you.
 
Southerngirl64 said:
I have tried my other lancet and on 2 it works a dream
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I wonder if you have a lancet device that just doesn't work that well? Like many, I like the Accu-Chek FastClix which is pleasantly idiot-proof: you insert a little cartridge of lancets and there's not really any way to get it wrong.
 
Southerngirl64 said:
Had the GAD test and not Type 1, numbers still up and down but better than they were
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Your LADA diagnosis is equivalent to Type1 but will have developed more slowly, which is why you have managed on meds so far. It sounds like you have now run out of beta cells to make your insulin, hence the weight loss. Many doctors assume that you cannot be T1/LADA and misdiagnose As T2 initially.

It is good that you now have the correct diagnosis, and have been started on basal/ Bolus regime. it is a lot to get used to at the start but it does get easier, and will become your ‘new normal’. There is plenty of support on here and practical tips. Fire away with any questions that arise, and know that nothing is considered silly on here.
 
SB2015 said:
Your LADA diagnosis is equivalent to Type1 but will have developed more slowly, which is why you have managed on meds so far. It sounds like you have now run out of beta cells to make your insulin, hence the weight loss. Many doctors assume that you cannot be T1/LADA and misdiagnose As T2 initially.

It is good that you now have the correct diagnosis, and have been started on basal/ Bolus regime. it is a lot to get used to at the start but it does get easier, and will become your ‘new normal’. There is plenty of support on here and practical tips. Fire away with any questions that arise, and know that nothing is considered silly on here.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much, having only been on here for just over 24 hours I have learnt so much more than what I have been told at the diabetic clinic. I really appreciate all the help and tips I have received.
 
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Bruce Stephens said:
As the link explains, there's more you can do to help: make sure to wash with hot water, for example. Once you've got the technique OK it's mostly practice. (After a few decades you won't need to think about it at all.)
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Yes I do the hot water wash, what does not help is I suffer from Raynauds so hands and fingers permanently cold.
 
Southerngirl64 said:
Yes I do the hot water wash, what does not help is I suffer from Raynauds so hands and fingers permanently cold.
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I too have Raynauds and find it best to "cuddle a cuppa" before pricking and, for when it is not appropriate to boil the kettle, I use USM charged hand warmers that I bought from Amazon a few years ago.

It is important for me to have a technique for handling Raynauds as a hypo can trigger a Raynaud's "attack" and CGM are less reliable at lower levels so I still need to finger prick in those situations.
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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