Hello again @ Jenny33; well I was correct about one thing: lots of people able to share their experiences have stepped up.
One thing about diabetes in general: whatever the rules are for D, it doesn't know those rules exist! In his book Think Like a Pancreas, early on the author Gary Scheiner tells his readers that Diabetes is Complicated, Confusing and Contradictory. I am in no doubt that this has been my experience; I also found it at first to be frightening; discharged from Hospital with no pancreas at the start of lockdown, a GP Surgery that had barricaded itself in, only a test meter and finger pricks to help explain that I was seriously hypo - frequently and frighteningly. It was not fun, nor easy. My 1st breakthrough came with Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) being prescribed exactly 12 months on (Feb 21) in the form of Abbott's Freestyle Libre 2.
That was an eye opener and a huge help. Since 2022, after a major amendment and improvement of availability of the NICE Guidance Note NG17 (for T1 diabetics) CGM has become readily available to T1s and that has greatly helped as a precedent for those T3cs who are using Multiple Daily Injections (MDI). Which basically means several injection a day, including both the basal (=background, slower acting) insulin such as your Lantus and my Tresiba PLUS bolus (=faster acting for meals and corrections) such as my NovoRapid insulin. Since you currently are only using Lantus you could "fall between the cracks" and be considered more like a T2 diabetic, which means it is still very difficult to be considered eligible for CGM. NG28 is the NICE Guidance Note for T2s and CGM. Are you directly under a Hospital Team or has your Hospital Discharge notes referred you back to your GP? This is a deceptively important question.
Do you have a direct link back to your Hospital Team? Has anyone mentioned providing you with CGM, probably Libre 2 or possibly Dexcom One?
As a T3c you have potentially very complex diabetic needs; your care, for pancreatitis alone never mind your rare type of diabetes, is in principle outside the scope or knowledge of almost any GP. But T3cs are such a small community (certainly less than 1% of all those with any diabetes diagnosis) that there is very little guidance from NICE about treatment paths for T3c and still very few Heealth Care Practioners (HCPs) who have even heard of T3c. There does not appear to be definitive guidance about the availability about CGM for T3cs. HOWEVER, the update of NG17 gave GPs the authority to prescribe CGM in their own right using their medical judgement; so there is a door that can now be pushed to get it open. Previously GPs needed a directive from a Consultant before they could write that script.
In my opinion you will always need CGM from now on. Historically before CGM became available insulin dependent diabetics had no choice but to cope by fps and meter testing; and they did and they survived. But that is not a reasonable argument to deny this basic and simple bit of technology to any insulin dependent person today. So if you already do have some sort of opening for CGM do take advantage of that as quickly as possible. If you don't have an 'opening' start clamouring - today. I appreciate that several T3cs from necrotitis have already replied to you in a positive and upbeat manner and rightly so; your T3c is not a death sentence! It can be managed satisfactorily - with the right support. That support must include appropriate medications, tech and wider guidance; this Forum is great for the last aspect.
One reason for anyone's D being Complicated and Contradictory is because we are all different. Sounds obvious enough, different finger prints, different DNA. But much less obvious: different metabolic response to any one food type. For example, some people get a small response to eating peas, some find that all legumes, including peas, create far more glucose than the nutrition statistics suggest. Similarly Porridge (which the NHS suggest is a near ideal food source with lots of nutrition content and slow glycaemic release) some find porridge is rocket fuel for them. Everyone has to find what works for them, invariably by trial and learning. But they have to do this within Guidance that assumes one size fits all and Guidance that barely recognises that anyone with a diagnosis of T3c is already managing 2 distinct ailments: in your case diabetes and pancreatitis. As you've already alluded to earlier there are noticeable conflicts in your diet choices; those conflicts are not well allowed for in the medical Guidance for GPs. You will encounter this challenge more than anyone would wish and I don't want to distress or upset you but hope at least to manage your expectations. None of this is easy, certainly not at first. But it certainly can be managed - even with those contrary moments when your body isn't behaving as you wish or expect.
@cupcakequeen71 touched on this; when you have a rotten day try to stay calm, get into tomorrow and learn what you reasonably can from yesterday - but don't dwell on that bad day. Sometimes the explanation is just not apparent and might never become clear.
There are a huge number of factors that can affect our blood glucose, this is something for another day.
