Hello, I'm new here and would like to share my story and ask a few questions

Re the honeymoon discussion, I was diagnosed at 46 and had a definite 18 month honeymoon before needing any basal insulin and then it was another good year or so before it seems things got much more difficult to control.

hi welcome to the club that no want wants to join.

That was very informative. I am very worried about this stretch of “Easy to control” … I do get spikes and do get lows as well, but not too many. It was great to see someone that said it was easier to control out of the honeymoon.

The honeymoon is a difficult time because it’s erratic. Once it’s over, things become considerably more predictable and thus, easier to control. So . . . it will get better. Really. :wink:

I absolutely loved what I heard from you.
I’ve only ate at restaurants 3 times and ordered food 3 times (non were fast food) since my diagnosis. I do bolus and humulog so it already sounds different from your D. And thanks for the warm welcome to the “club” lol

Thanks for the reply. And I must ask you a nooooob question… how do I know if I NEED long acting insulin?

Thanks lol

I know what long acting insulin does, but not quite sure how to determine the need. Maybe bacause I never did without it :stuck_out_tongue:

At last! A simple question with a simple answer . . . LOL :laughing:

But seriously: the purpose of “long acting” or basal insulin is to keep your blood glucose in the normal range when not subject to being affected by food, i.e., between meals and when otherwise fasting. So if your BG returns to normal within a reasonable time after eating, either with or without bolus insulin, the other kind may (may) not be needed. But that is emphatically a call for your doctor to make.

I knew when my morning BG was consistently 120 or higher.

I’ve never heard of anyone with Type 1 NOT needing long-acting insulin (unless, of course, you are pumping, in which case your fast-acting insulin serves as your basal insulin.) Is this what you were asking?

Agree. I was mentally thinking T2 when I wrote the above. A true T1 cannot get along without basal insulin (or the pumping equivalent).

Unless they’re in the honeymoon period, in which case they may not need basal insulin for some period of time. I went for somewhere around a year without it, but was taking bolus with pretty much every meal.

I’d say you know you need it if when going throughout your normal day without it, your blood sugar generally rises consistently throughout the day…

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As Sam said, some of us with the looooonnnggg kill off of our beta cells were lucky enough not to need it for a while.

I was diagnosed at 38 very early in my first pregnancy and have been in insulin ever since. I am now 45. My insulin requirements increased dramatically during pregnancy and came down after. They are still fairly low, though they seem to fluctuate quite a bit due to hormones, and i seem blessed that my diabetes is still easy to manage (in big part due to learning what works, i guess), and i have great blood sugar most if the time.

We are all different and our diabetes is different. Long may your easy to manage last!

I don’t think I had much of a honeymoon but my insulin basal dose did reduce a lot after getting out of the icu. I wish I had been put on insulin long before it ever got to that point. It should have been diagnosed, there’s no excuse for it. I’m now having multiple serious health issues due to all of this. Make sure you take the best care of yourself because this disease will take its toll over time.

Mine has always been hard to control, I tend to fluctuate a lot. For me stomach injections seem to work the fastest. I would recommend to get on a pump asap if possible it will make your life a lot easier overall.

I don’t eat fast foods at all now and rarely ate them in the past due to various things. You can only try a food and see what happens for yourself. I wouldn’t advise eating them on a regular basis.

Q.1 Is it easier for some people to control diabetes than others?
Yes, but that has little to do with differences in biology and a lot to do with knowledge and awareness.

Q.2 Taking insulin on certain parts of the body takes longer for the insulin to kick in, is this true?
Yes. The insulin needs to be absorbed and some areas are slower than others. I find muscle tissue slower to absorb, unless I am at the gym. If you pay attention and try to use different sites of injection with other factors (food/exercise) being about the same you will get a better idea. For pump users, however, that choice is made by the manufacturer.

Q.3 Are fast foods a big NO NO? (and I mean “fast foods”, not fast food restaurant salads and burgers w/o any condiments).
I try to avoid high carb meals, especially with foods that have a high glycemic load/index - as they will cause spikes. If you have a computer/smartphone there are many Low GI Apps that are very helpful.

I think an A1c of 5.1 is low. There is a good bit of data that show that long term A1c of less that 6.0 can lead to dementia in later life. I try to stay between 70 and 140 (Dexcom set for a low alarm of 80 so I see it coming while I can avoid hypo below 60). If you have highs of 120 you are possibly taking too much insulin.

You can make it work if you pay attention. I have been type 1 for 60 years and am still going to the gym twice a week.

While I believe that knowledge, action, persistence, and a good attitude play a huge role in diabetes success, I respectfully disagree that differences in biology play no small role in controlling blood glucose.

I’m a male, but know from the many female diabetics that post here that their monthly hormonal cycle plays a big role for more than a few days each cycle.

I also know from my hypo-thyroid condition as well as the many people here that struggle with thyroid issues that thyroid abnormalities play a large role in blood glucose control success.

I’ve read about parents dealing with type 1 children with growth spurts (growth hormones) have a difficult struggle controlling blood sugar levels.

Did you know that non-diabetics have A1c’s in the 4 % range? I know doctors are fearful of A1c’s less than 6% but that blanket conclusion does harm. They really should say that A!c’s < 6% combined with wide blood glucose variability put one at an increased risk of dangerous hypoglycemia.

Please cite any supporting studies that show a causal link between A1c’s < 6% and dementia. I don’t believe they exist. I’m not sure where you learned this information but I suspect a clinician using scare tactics. Again, I respectfully disagree with you.

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Well I suppose that the majority of people who develop dementia have an A1C below 6.0— because they don’t have diabetes!

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Thanks everyone for your reply.
Just wanted to update on my last trip to the hospital to see a different doctor to get a second opinion. (Which was 2 weeks ago)

I started off by asking her what my c-peptide numbers were and if it was possible that I maybe in my honeymoon, because it just cannot be this easy to control.
She said that by the looks of my c-peptide numbers, it was very unlikely that I was having a honeymoon. My numbers were quite low… (I don’t remember the exact number)

I also asked her about the speed of insulin taking effect in different parts of the body.
Apparently, enjected insulin can start taking effect anywhere from 30 min. to up to 4 hours… because I’m a noob and wasn’t listening during the “how to be a good T1D for dummies” class, did not know that :stuck_out_tongue:

Even with this knowledge, I am still skeptical about me, not being in honeymoon phase.
So here is my question to you guys… can a c-peptide numbers change AFTER you have started to take insulin? Because my last and only said test was done when I was first ommited and before insulin back in September.