Wanting advise n stories

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morgie

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Hey i am a newly married woman to a husban i adore!! we got married may last year! we had been together for 10 years! in April he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes! we decided to deal with it best we could until after the wedding and our honeymoon!! we are aproaching our 1 year anniversary and my husband has now lost 2 stone in total!! it is very worrying as we have 3 young children!!! we are concerned but also feel as though we try to avoid it to the point that we have not accepted it completley...but we are aware that we need to adress it asap!! we have 3 young children who are our purpose in life!! i feel that it has got tho the point that maybe some true stories and affects of what this could truley result to might give my husband the kick he needs to start being a bit more serious about his lifestyle choices and what affects it could cause in the future!! he is a doting dad ...but lives for the moment!! i love him so much and am concerned that we take the nurses advice as general nagging and not a true reflection on how people actually deal with it!!!
i really dont want to be 5-10 years down the line n look back n say if only!!! if anyone can help i would b truly grateful!!
thank you in advance for any advice

Morgie :0)
 
Hi Morgie welcome to the forum.

What insulin regime is your husband on? I'm sure he is aware that uncontrolled type 1 diabetes can lead to pretty much every horror story known to man (see: loss of limbs, eyesight, kidney function, heart attack, stroke, etc etc etc).
 
he is using levimer!!! he is well aware of the consequences but dont think he has really accepted it!!! he is more scared of having a hypo and feels mor comfortable staying 11-15...which we know is not good!!!
 
Eeeeep. 11 - 15 is going to lead to complications, sorry to be blunt :(

Has he spoken to his healthcare team? They can work together to get his levels in range whilst working to avoid hypos in a safe way.
 
Hi Morgie, welcome to the forum 🙂 What Shiv says is true, I'm afraid. Having long-term high blood sugar levels carries a great risk of developing a number of very bad complications. The thought of these plays a large part in making me do my very best to try and manage my diabetes well.

Does your husband really want to risk not being able to see your children growing up, or playing with them in the park perhaps? If he develops neuropathy he will not be able to. He may need kidney dialysis several times a week. His autonomic system may fail to work properly, leading to severe problems with his heart, breathing and digestive system. :(

These are real risks. Diabetes is one of those diseases that can sneak up on you over a number of months and years, until suddenly you find yourself in severe difficulty and with many regrets.

These horror stories are real. The good news is that, by taking control now he will immediately begin to reduce those risks. He should be aiming for blood sugar levels below 7 mmol/l on waking and before meals, and keeping below double figures after them. What levels does he currently wake on?If he is above 7 then it is possible that he needs more levemir. Does he inject a different insulin with his meals? It's not clear from what you say, so I'm wondering if he is actually a Type 2 on levemir alone. Knowing exactly what medication he is on will help us help you, as treatments and management strategies can be quite different dependent on the treatment being used.

It's great that you have joined looking for help for your husband - do let us know more so we can help him live a long, happy and healthy life with you and the children 🙂
 
Hi Morgie. Welcome 🙂

It does sound more like he's a type 2 and maybe you've been slightly misled by someone with outdated ideas. It does happen.🙂

Bear in mind that many diabetics, especially type 2s, can be suffering from diabetes for years before diagnosis and can already be suffering some minor complications. If there are problems, they are often reversible if control is improved soon enough. So it's more a case of trying to hang on to what you have than risk losing any more. There are many on the forum who have complications through lack of information and education than through any fault of their own. You've taken the steps to join and find out what you need to do to which will hopefully save your OH a lot of problems down the line.🙂

Rob
 
Morgie - welcome. Firstly, congratulations for your recent marriage and for your husband's weight loss, which is very impressive and will help his control.

Next time you or your husband see any of his diabetes team, try to pre-empt the nagging, by asking "what can we do to get good blood glucose levels without hypos?" What is his fear of hypos? While they can be dangerous, they can also be prevented in most cases and easily thwarted / stopped at an early stage with a couple of jelly babies.
 
Welocome to the forum hope we can help you and your husband cope with his Diabetes🙂
 
Hi Morgie

Welcome! Hope you and your husband find support and encouragement here. There's lots of experience, so ask away... No question will be thought too silly to ask!

One thing that occurs to me, given that you say your husband is afraid of hypos (and rightly so). Are you aware that if you consistently run at high levels it is not uncommon to experience hypo-like symptoms at perfectly safe levels. Your brain has a 'switch' which triggers the symptoms, and since your husband frequently has 2x the healthy BG level that switch may need resetting, otherwise it will make him feel distinctly wobbly when BGs are in a 'good' range. Often the switch can take a week or two of 'normal' range to reset.

Do you have a BG meter? Next time he feels hypo, do a quick test to confirm that his BG is below 4.0mmol/L (the recommended min level)

M
 
Hi Morgie

I did that to my husband. He married a fit, healthy, active woman and one day soon after, she went and got diagnosed with T1 diabetes. She had to inject in public, kept having to stop to sort out blood sugars (even half-way up mountains), and had a few scary hypos on him in the night, fell over hypoglycaemic more than once while walking in the street.....

It can be a really dramatic disease and it's difficult to deal with, so he's going to need lots of support (and it sounds like you, just like my bloke, intend to give just that).

There's no doubt about it though, hypos are embarrassing, feel horrible and can lead to total loss of control, like being drunk - and unless he understands the very real risks of running too high (which in the short-term feels relatively ok), the temptation is to keep doing that because it's easier. It seems easier for the patient, and easier for those around you (you'll rarely risk falling over in the street if your BG averages 11!)

BUT If diabetes is well controlled, falling over in the street doesn't have to happen (and for most people, I think doesn't happen at all - I was just rubbish at controlling it at first) and while it's very hard work to have well controlled diabetes, the long-term outlook is definitely MUCH less hard - for himself, for you and the children. Hypos are only short-term, you learn to recognise them and they can be corrected. Long-term hypers are more serious.

I think the first step is for him (and yourself) to understand the risks and control of the condition - this may involve going back to the hospital and asking a lot of questions, esp. about the risks. I have never heard of type 1 diabetes being controlled with just long-acting insulin so may be worth your asking about this, too (unless there's a second pen for meal-times that you haven't told us about?). A good diabetic team will support you in getting his diabetes as well controlled as possible and these days, you can choose your diabetic team so make sure you feel confident in the advice you're getting.

Would your partner join us on the talk-boards? - we're very friendly.
 
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Hi Morgie and welcome 🙂

I was diagnosed T1 at the age of 18 and enjoyed excellent control for about the first 10 years (being a scientist by nature, I took very easily to the testing, insulin doses, learning about food etc).
However, when children came into the family, I let my attention to diabetes stray and ran on auto-pilot for the next 10 years - I guess I had more interesting things to occupy my mind (being a hands-on dad to 2 gorgeous kids). My problem was eating what the rest of the family ate (cakes, biscuits, ice creams etc.) and hoovering up what the kids left, not wanting it to go to waste.
Crunch time came for me when I started needing laser treatment to correct retinopathy. It's a hell of a lot scarier to face the prospect of losing your site than any fear of hypos and so the road began back to good control.
As others have already said, the long term complications of consistently high blood sugar can be devastating and I desperately wish I could have my time over again and manage my condition better. I urge your OH to take some time to have a long, hard think about his future and tackle the diabetes head on. It is manageable and you can live a long and healthy life with it - you just have to work at it. Remember, it isn't going away!
Good luck to you both.
Cheers, Chris.
 
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