Newly diagnosed diabetic

joshbarker1988 · 10-13-2008, 05:07

Hi everyone. I am a student, 20 years old, and was diagnosed with type one diabetes 3 months ago. My parents have just moved abroad (Abu Dhabi) around the same time as i was diangnosed, so dealing with it has been made that little bit more difficult on my own.

I am on 2 doses of insulini a day.

I think i am doing ok, but my sugar levels tend to be between 6 and 10 sometimes?

Its getting me pretty depressed at the minute, as it only really "hit me" of the severity of the matter. I am finding it all very scary at the minute, and wondered whether there was anybody else in a similar siuation as a newly diagnosed diabetic, and for those who have dealt with this for some time, whether there is any specific advice or tips you have for dealing with it?

Any information at all would be appreciated beyond measure. Thankyou.

Anthill · 10-14-2008, 13:36

Hello and welcome to DF. How many times do you test? Testing is a great guide to see that what you eat and how that affect your BG and there is the morning problem as you will find that your body just creates it's own glucose out of thin air!!!
I test 10 to 12 times a day.

joshbarker1988 · 10-14-2008, 14:55

Thanks for your reply.

I havent been testing as much as i should have been but my sugars seem to be normal most of the time. I think i have got confused on the carb intake i should be eating? Should i not be eating a lot of carbs (potatos, rice etc) , as i had a large bowl of potatos yesterday and noticed my sugar rose?

Do you have troubles with the accuracy of your testing kit? My kit read readings between 15 and 21 each time over around 6 readings and it confused ?x

Anthill · 10-15-2008, 04:04

I have done that whare you test over many sites say three different places and I just round the results off by add them up and divide it buy three.

Terrie · 10-16-2008, 11:03

Hello Josh:

Gee, I’m sorry that you are doing this without support. Well, you have it here now. You could also phone your nearest Diabetes UK branch. They probably have meetings and get togethers where you could meet People with Diabetes, your own age.

I wish you weren’t feeling down about this but I can certainly understand why you are. Many newly diagnosed Diabetes go through denial and depression for years. Maybe that is where I got off “lucky”. I was diagnosed(dxd) at age 3 and at about age 6-8, I was more or less told this is what you have, this is what will happen, here are some pointers, get on with Life. I didn’t know there was a choice of accepting Diabetes or not.

Certainly there was no time for pampering. It will be 47 years of Diabetes for me in Dec/08. I did have a couple complications that could have gone bad but I started learning about Diabetes and turned then ariound.

You have a lot more information, newer meds., better tests, technical gadgets to help you. Go through what you feel that you need to until you accept this disease and learn all you can. Don’t sit back. You have to control it. You have youth on your side, that’s a plus but it won't take you past too many years of uncontrolled Diabetes.

As Peter(a cool Diabetic for 37 years

) mentioned, testing is Very important. I test 7-9 times a day. That’s how you know how foods(and different amounts of), stress, exercise, alcohol and other beverges, weather, etc. are affecting your blood sugar. You need to talk to your Dietician about how many carbs that you should be eating. Eating too many carbs are NOT good for you. White foods like potatoes(like a medium potato), pasta, bread should be consumed in smaller anounts. You should eat a balance of most foods. Sugary foods should be excluded totally unless you have a low blood sugar episode. Meats , small amounts of dairy products and most vegetables are Good. Whole grain breads, whole wheat pasta(Dreamfields pasta also), brown rice, etc. are acceptable.

Fruits are Good for you to tame the free radicals but in small amounts like 1 medium apple, 12 grapes, I medium banana for dessert or a snack until you figure out your system. Fruits are supposed to be Good for your brain also. The results aren’t in on mine yet.

Drink your 6-8 glasses of water a day to get rid of some toxins, to get rid of some of the sugar in your blood, to keep your kidneys flushed, to keep you Good looking, etc.

You should test when you get up. Knowing and/or correcting that number can make or break your day. Test before and after each meal, before bedtime and when you are ill or feeling weird.

You are in the “honeymoon” phase right now so it my be harder to get your numbers exactly where you want them. Of course, it can be difficult other times since so many things effect our blood sugars.

Disagreements go on about sugar numbers but keeping them between 4 and 7 most of the time is what works for me. Some can tolerate a bit higher sugar levels due to their genes. You may need to be between 4 and 6, I can't say. Try not to stress out about it. Many stress out when they don’t have a Perfect number and don’t realize that they are sometimes raising their sugars themselves by stressing out about getting that Perfect number.

You didn’t say the types or amounts of Insulin that you are on or what your A1c was.

As far as meters go, they usually differ in accuracy. They can be 10%-20% off. I have tested 3 or 4 times in a row and I picked the number in the middle. This rocedure would not be feasible to do often however unless you can have as many strips as you want. The blood in your body is continually moving that is one reason why the numbers will change within minutes.

Anyways, I hope that this helps a bit. The world is in your grasp. Eventually Accept and Learn about your Diabetes. Go out and conquer.

More questions? Just ask. Good luck in your studies.

joshbarker1988 · 10-18-2008, 02:47

Thanks guys. I didnt think I was in the denial stage, and i was taking my insulin, but not testing (thinking if i took the insulin the rest would look after itself). I now realise there is more in carb counting, blood sugar testing, excercise, you know the rest.

Im currently on 22ml of humilin twice daily. Ive been told to test 4 times a day from my diabetes nurse, who i have great confidence in and confide in, but she doesnt have diabetes, so i think i might listen to you guys and test a bit more through the day!

Terrie · 10-18-2008, 14:23

Hello:

Oh okay sorry. I wasn't sure if you were going into denial. Many Diabetics go through denial, depression or depression and denial. It's unfortunate when People go through either. I didn't go through either because of Diabetes, just teenage rebellion because I was a teenager. I always took my Insulin also(except the odd times that I forgot to take it). I did not like having it though, of course plus I wasn't taught about it properly which resulted in many seizures and highs.

How do you know that your sugars are okay if you are not testing more often? Diabetes is a 24/7 disease. Sugar levels can change often. We wish just taking the Insulin would make everything okay. This disease may be more complicated for you to figure out than your hardest job after you graduate from Uni, since it is affected by so many things. Then again you may have an easy time of it as a minority do, after your honeymoon phase is over. I wish you that.

But meantime if you are not already, get all your ducks in a row by testing more often especially 1 1/2 to 2 hours after eating foods/beverages(separately if possible) to see how they affect your sugars. And before and after exercising sometimes. Keep a log of what you eat and drink(how much/what time), exercise(when/for how long) and all of your blood glucose tests(time and result). This is a Good way to see what trends your blood sugars are on.

I'm Very Happy that you have confidence in and are confiding in your Diabetic Nurse. That is important. Just understand that she is going by the book and training that goes by the book. Unfortunately Diabetics don't come with instructions

so the book is wrong on occasion. No 2 Diabetics are the same either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshbarker1988

My kit read readings between 15 and 21 each time over around 6 readings and it confused ?x

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are those your sugar levels at some point? Since you are in England- 15.0 mmol/l and 21.0 mmol/l ? If so, those are too high.

Are you a Type 1, 1.5 or 2? Type 1's and type 1.5, actually anyone on insulin should test more than 4 times a day to see where their sugars stand and/or to correct. Sorry about all the preaching about testing. Off my soapbox and have a great week-end.

MissMeg · 10-20-2008, 13:37

Hi and Welcome.. First off let me say that I am what I consider newly diagnosed (less than a year).. I will say that EVERYONE here is so right about testing, testing and more testing.. It will help you figure out how your body feels during your lovely highs and lows. I use to test at least 8 times a day when I was first diagnosed.. It really helped me realize how I was feeling and why I was feeling that way. I have had a very stressful year and I am sure that has played a HUGE role in how my sugars have reacted.. Things have settled down a bit for me and so now they seem to fall in line and taking my insulin has helped.. Don't miss a dose and stay on top of things and you will feel the difference.. and remember never let anyone make you feel down for how your feeling. Good Luck to you ..

Anthill · 10-20-2008, 14:14

I can remember the day that I walked out of the hospital back in '71 and I just wanted some real food!!! Something that I can enjoy and back then we don't have these fabulous meters that we have today. So I went to the Fish "N" Chip shop and I had a ball!! And learned later how those chips were so high in carbs and BG's were in the stratosphere, I didn't care what's what I was in Fish & Chip heaven. Then get told off in the test tube and it's not the royal blue that we like to see. Yeah we know that we shouldn't but there are way's to get around that and back then there is no short acting insulin so we or I learned to do some exercise and that proved to be a winner. So having this disease is not the end, It's the beginning of a new experience and better foods too.

MissMeg · 10-20-2008, 16:48

Anthill I have not been diabetic very long but my first big "outing" mistake with food was chinese.. OMG DO I LOVE THE BUFFETS.. lol yeah I learned really fast that even though it tasted sooooo yummy.. it was NO good for me!!! On the 10 minute car ride home I fell asleep and barely made it into the house to the couch and fell asleep for 4 hrs(which at that time I should have tested myself but) after 4 hrs of sleeping on the couch I was still 480.. ouchie! This of course was when my Dr. still thought there was NO way I was a type I.. so I had no insulin. Yeah you just learn to live with it and learn how to eat again.. I thought at first that there was ONLY a bad side to diabetes but am slowly learning that I will never let it bring me down and that I will make it learn to live with me NOT the other way around..