Diagnosed with T1 last week - feeling overwhelmed!

Hello and welcome!!!
First of all, take a deep breath! Everything is gonna be fine. Many of us on this page and elsewhere are living proof of that! Diabetes can get messy at times, but if you learn about it and your body, it is totally doable.

You have a lot of questions, and that’s great! Keep asking them! Learning is the best way of dealing with this condition.
First of all i allow myself to remark that the treatment you are receiving at the moment seems pretty weird to me. that is for a lot of reasons:

  1. you are on Metformin. While this is not totally off standard treatment and i understand you have been on it for a while, T1s usually are not treated with it, as it does not treat the source of the problem, which is no insulin production. it lowers the glucose production by the liver, and while this lowers your insulin requirements, there is actually not really a reason for you to want that. your insulin requirements are healthy, just the supply is off.
    does this make sense?

  2. you are on a sliding scale, which is pretty outdated in modern Diabetes treatment. Most people nowadays who are not on a pump are on MDI, which means Multiple Daily Injections. The word already says it, it calls for multiple injections a day, so no skipping that NovoLog. :wink: It calls for a basal insulin like Levemir once or usually twice a day, and a short acting insulin like NovoLog for meals (and corrections). So taking that NovoLog makes sense, and should not be prevented/avoided (unless you decide to start on a really low carb diet or dont eat carbs at all, the latter definitely not a good idea). I would definitely talk your insulin regimen over with your Endo, and see if he has similar opinions about that.

  3. while checking your BG 3 times a day was probably ok while you were still not on insulin, i would recommend you checking it more often now. i check mine between 5-8 times a day, and there are people who do it even more often. i would definitely start looking into post prandial numbers (BG taken 1-2hrs after a meal). i would suspect that those numbers with you could be quite elevated, another reason why maybe starting mealtime insulin (NovoLog) might be a good idea. Keep in touch with your Endo about that decision though.

Take your time, dont make your changes too drastic! what works now, might not work in the future and vice versa, and that’s fine!
Some resources i would recommend reading in the next few weeks/months (again, one thing after another):

  • Book called “Think Like a Pancreas” by Gary Scheiner (this really recommended!!!)
  • Book called “Using Insulin” by John Walsh
  • this discussion by our dear Member @Melitta, really good stuff in there!!

If you are looking for a specific topic, use the magnifying glass at the top right, there you can search for different key words and can find great discussions.

All the best and keep us updated with changes and other arising questions!
Hugs, Angela

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