Diabetes chat - general

[Oblomov]

wow. new topic. cool.
I am a type 1, since aged 1, so 40 years. I have had a pump for the last 10.
Any questions, please ask. I am ALWAYS Happy to help.

I never test in the night either.

It is becoming normal for us now Linzer and is definitely better once you're home. I was very anxious about the first hypo at home but it was fine

I had my first hypo at school!

God I had some cracking hypos at school thinking back! It was always dealt with though!

DD is due to be discharged tomorrow. Still no hypo, but she did have a very low reading at home today (she's been allowed home for at least part of the day since the weekend). She refused to eat any of the foods that have been recommended to us to stave off hypos, however, and insisted on having a wholemeal roll - am not sure she could have chosen anything that would be more slowly absorbed! Her level did gradually go back up, though, and was too high when she got back to the hospital this evening.

What have you been advised to give her to treat a hypo?

Hi everyone
I am a mum with a 20 year old diabetic since 15 months and a 17 year old diabetic since 11
Any questions
Happy to answer
Non compliant kids too!!

That 11 is 11 years old not 11 months
One is a boy and one a girl

Tbh Linzer if she'd had some fast acting sugar first, the wholemeal roll would have been a great choice for a post hypo food. Sometimes when i'm low, I feel absolutely terrible so can't wait to get some juice down me - orange juice I find is the best thing ever for treating a low.

Hospitalworry - that must be pretty rare having 2 kids with type 1. I was the only one in my family for a long time, but then my nephew was diagnosed last year. There MUST be a genetic piece of the jigsaw to find a cure, I think!

Spotty DD has been advised to take dextrose tablets or a glass of orange juice to treat a hypo. If she'd been showing any signs, I probably would have insisted - but she said she felt absolutely fine. In retrospect, I think the ravenous hunger could have been a sign, however.

paddy Yes, will try to get her to have a glass of juice next time. She actually wanted to eat the entire roll, but I was worried it would take her sugar up too much - she said she'd have insulin for half of it but I really didn't want her injecting herself when her glucose was so low.

Hi hospital, DD (13) is newly diagnosed so I'm sure I'll have lots of questions over the coming weeks/months.

Dextrose are OK but they taste crap and you need lots. I find a small carton of apple juice or four jelly babies/wine gums followed by 20g of slow acting carbs like bread, digestives or even chocolate. It is likely her bm will go high after this (known as a liver dump) but also possible she will go low again later in the day due to the liver taking back its sugar. I find it can take a good 24 hours to get back on the right track after a hypo. (Sorry if I'm repeating what you already know!)

DD1 doesn't mind the taste of dextrose tablets - they're quite popular here for some reason (they're known as "grape sugar") and if we go to the chemist's to pick up a prescription, for example, the DC will often be given a tablet each. She only needs two of the brand that we've been given, but they are quite large (we worked out that she'd need 14 or 15 of another brand). I think their main advantage is that they're small, easily transportable and don't go off; she keeps two in the case with her glucose monitor and test strips and I've also put a couple of my bag so that she/we always have something with us.

Good to hear about other people's experiences of hypos; I still don't really know what to expect!

Small cartons of juice or 2 dextrose tablets usually sort me out. Unless I'm much too low and need to be made to deal with it. Dp is great, the kids aren't bad, and I have a very useful friend at work who has a diabetic mum!

Yes juice is a good one for me too. Does anyone else want to stuff their face with anything they can find when they're having a hypo?!

Yes, me!!

Everyone knows calories don't count when you're hypo

That's what I say too

I went to my first pump group yesterday. It doesn't get connected for two weeks but we got to put our cannulas in. I've just removed it and it seems I'm allergic to the plaster not sure what I'm going to do...

Oh no, Spotty, hope you can find a solution. What kind of pump are you getting? DD1 is already getting fed up of the injections and complaining that they hurt, so we've been looking at pumps - she likes the look of the Medtronic that's in the brochure we were given at the hospital, but doesn't like the latest model and said she'd rather have an Omnipod than the 640 (IIRC). We'll just have to ask at the hospital what's available when she goes for her next check-up in a couple of weeks (I know they have four, and almost everyone goes for the Medtronic or Omnipod).

It's the accu-chek insight. We don't get a choice

Could there be a reason why she's finding the injections painful? Obviously sometimes they do hurt but if she's hesitating it'll be worse and obviously ensure regular needle changes and rotation of injection sites (I can send you photos of my lumpy stomach to deter her ) I assume she's on 4mm needles? Is she coping ok otherwise?

My sisters nephew is two and he's just been diagnosed.

She uses a new needle every time and does rotate the injection sites, but I have no idea about the size of the needles - will check. She was fine with the injections for the first couple of weeks and said she could hardly feel them; it's only the last few weeks that she's started complaining. We've already been shown photos of lumpy stomachs to underline the importance of rotating sites!

Sorry to hear about your sister's nephew; I imagine it must have come as quite a shock. DD is coping OK I think, but doesn't really talk a lot about how she's feeling so I hope she isn't bottling everything up. She seems to be needing less and less insulin, so I'm assuming this is the honeymoon period I keep hearing about.

I wonder if she had a painful injection and it's made her anxious. Sounds like she's doing well though

Anyone else here really frustrated with their GP/care. I need some advice.

I was diagnosed at 10 with t1, now 26. I used to have really good control, went through a rebellious phase in my early twenties as I couldn't take being diabetic anymore, and am now trying to get back on track again.

My problem is I feel really negative towards testing. Alongside the usual morning/pre meal testing (between 4 and 8 usually) I also test if I feel I've not worked something out correctly and feel high to work out how much extra I need to correct by, or if I've had say a bit of cake someone has bought into work. My GP just picks up on these high readings and lectures me about them. I am trying to do the right thing by testing and correcting if it's new food or whatever, but all the 11s - 14s which I correct with insulin are the only thing they pick up on.

I feel like I need support and help and a little motivation that I am making a step in the right direction, not put down. These are baby steps for me, but I don't know where else to turn for support and am worried about slipping back into the not much care, infrequent testing and just getting by and getting depressed about my condition again. All the morning levels around 5 are not mentioned at all, just the 'wrong' ones.

I never see my GP about my diabetes. Your doctors surgery should have a nurse who specialises in diabetes and a diabetes nurse specialist who probably visits once a month in a joint clinic with the practice nurse. Are you not under a consultant at the hospital?

Also, it's great that you're trying to get on top of things now but you probably feel like you're continually chasing the highs. Is there a reason for these highs? Correcting is ok occasionally but if you're doing it constantly maybe you need a refresher on carb counting or to look at your basal dose. Have you been on a daphne/Desmond/image course?

I have a diabetes clinic at held my GP surgery but it is run by the diabetes nurse from the hospital. She scares me. I don't have a hospital consultant here. I had one where I used to live but moved about 2 hours away 2 years ago. I get panic attacks going to the doctors and have had to work really hard to get to the clinic in the first place. I don't really have any other support. I have regular contact with a podiatrist who is the only medical professional I don't find extremely patronising and negative. (Existing sporting foot injury not related to diabetes and he specialises in sports so I feel we have things in common)

I am looking for help with the reasons for them. I have limited my meals to the same things for lunch each day and the same meals each week and these high days are probably one day a week/10days where it starts highish around 6 and gets higher. It's not the same day each time so I don't think it is particularly food/meals related.

I am finding the whole thing very stressful at the moment. It could be that or exercise levels. My job is varied, some days at my desk all day, some days doing slightly more physical work (think painting or light woodwork, not heavy machinery/building type physical). I train a few times a week and cycle to and from work but these haven't been a dramatic change over the last year or so. What I want and ask for at my clinic is things I could try to identify any patterns. To me it just seems random. I'm frustrated because I just get told 'those days need to be better' or 'we need to try and cut those days down to less than one a month' rather than adding ...by trying xyz or whatever. I guess I feel like I'm asking for help and just being told I need help rather than help actually being provided.

I went on a dafne course a couple of years ago, but as it was when I was trying to get out of the denial phase I did find it quite overwhelming.