Type 2 and insulin

[happyloser]

I have been very poorly and, unfortunately, my boold sugars are not being controlled despite my and the Nusres efforts. It has now been decided I will have to have insulin. the Nurse is very supportive and is arranging a long appointment to show me what to do, what may or may not happen and help me with administering. I am very upset and scared that things have reached this point as previous to this setback was managing it all very well and slightly noncholantly. Any words of encouragement or advice welcome

 

[Lucyr]

Insulin was the best thing I ever did, I only wish it hadn’t taken a year or so from being diagnosed to starting it. What are you upset and scared about?

 

[rebrascora]

Great to hear that you have a sympathetic and supportive nurse. Using insulin is a bit like learning to drive. It all seems very complicated at first and you have to think about every little detail, but gradually it just becomes second nature and you will inject insulin and then a minute later you can't actually remember doing it because you did it on autopilot. Needle are absolutely tiny... less than quarter of an inch long and not much thicker than a human hair. Pens are really easy to use. Mostly it is painless but occasionally you hit a sensitive spot and sometimes you get a bit of bruising at the injection site but really the injecting has been made very easy for us.
The important thing is to keep hypo treatments with you at all times and stash them in different parts of the house, particularly by the bed and I keep some in the bathroom because a hot shower after exercise can cause my levels to drop rapidly and in my pockets and bags for when I am out of the house and in the car. I use jelly babies as 1 JB is about 5g carbs and the initial advice is to treat a hypo with 15g of fast acting carbs so 3 JBs. In reality, I rarely need more than 2 these days, so I have them divided into little portions of 2.
Hopefully they will start you off on conservative doses so that you won't have a hypo for some considerable time but do be aware that exercise can drop your levels and I am not necessarily talking about pumping iron or jogging or playing a sport, but doing a bit of gardening or sometimes a trip to the supermarket will drop me. I blame the mental effort of resisting temptation and decision making rather than physical effort of walking around the aisles pushing a trolley.

Anyway, just wanted to reassure you that is is far easier than you will imagine and we are here to answer any questions you have. I certainly found that there was stuff the nurse said that went in one ear and out the other, but the experienced people here on the forum kept me right, so do ask if you can't remembers something or just need a bit of reassurance.

 

[silentsquirrel]

Agree with everything above, its not something to be worried about, for me it improved my management hugely.

 

[happyloser]

Great to hear that you have a sympathetic and supportive nurse. Using insulin is a bit like learning to drive. It all seems very complicated at first and you have to think about every little detail, but gradually it just becomes second nature and you will inject insulin and then a minute later you can't actually remember doing it because you did it on autopilot. Needle are absolutely tiny... less than quarter of an inch long and not much thicker than a human hair. Pens are really easy to use. Mostly it is painless but occasionally you hit a sensitive spot and sometimes you get a bit of bruising at the injection site but really the injecting has been made very easy for us.
The important thing is to keep hypo treatments with you at all times and stash them in different parts of the house, particularly by the bed and I keep some in the bathroom because a hot shower after exercise can cause my levels to drop rapidly and in my pockets and bags for when I am out of the house and in the car. I use jelly babies as 1 JB is about 5g carbs and the initial advice is to treat a hypo with 15g of fast acting carbs so 3 JBs. In reality, I rarely need more than 2 these days, so I have them divided into little portions of 2.
Hopefully they will start you off on conservative doses so that you won't have a hypo for some considerable time but do be aware that exercise can drop your levels and I am not necessarily talking about pumping iron or jogging or playing a sport, but doing a bit of gardening or sometimes a trip to the supermarket will drop me. I blame the mental effort of resisting temptation and decision making rather than physical effort of walking around the aisles pushing a trolley.

Anyway, just wanted to reassure you that is is far easier than you will imagine and we are here to answer any questions you have. I certainly found that there was stuff the nurse said that went in one ear and out the other, but the experienced people here on the forum kept me right, so do ask if you can't remembers something or just need a bit of reassurance.

thank you for the reassuring post!!

 

[happyloser]

Insulin was the best thing I ever did, I only wish it hadn’t taken a year or so from being diagnosed to starting it. What are you upset and scared about?

Thank you. I have rather a lot on recently with many big changes in medicine. It just feels like the last straw. I can use the tester OK despite my phobia so am sure I will cope. It is just all new. It is always worse in your head

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, definitely much worse in your head than reality, so I expect/hope you will come away from the appointment somewhat relieved, but the forum and it's members are here anytime you need some reassurance.