I am a fourth year veterinary student. I really should have been more on the ball and gotten to the doctor sooner, but kept blaming it on the 14 hour days 6 days a week in the barn... and the general stressors of clinics. My friend convinced me I needed to go, and all I did was go to student health services.
The GP I saw was very good with me, answered all my questions, asked a lot of good questions, decided on his own that a full set of bloodwork needed to be drawn because of my family history and all that.
I'm glad he did. Honestly, if he had just blown me off and refused to run bloodwork, I probably would have had a LOT to say and would have argued with him. He later said he was glad to get an answer for me even though it's one that's kinda hard for me to get wrapped around.
But enough about all that..
I just got an I:C ratio yesterday, and a correction factor. Unfortunately they did not look very closely at the fact I've already been counting carbs and the fact I am taking a very disproportionate amount of Lantus and Humalog. So it's sent my sugars sky high today and I honestly feel like crap. I don't want to give you advice.. because I'm newly diagnosed and despite having read and researched and asked a billion questions of all these nice people, I don't feel like I know a whole lot. They told me they base the I:C ratio initially on what your size approximately is.. and for me they wanted me to start at 1:20 for meals. Well that did not work. Then I found out you need to be taking approximately the same amount of Lantus as you do Humalog in a whole day. So I'm going from 8u Lantus to 9u Lantus tonight to see how that affects things tomorrow and if I can get a better I:C ratio figured out. I think the key is slow and gradual adjustments.. because you don't want to get hypoglycemic.
I had a 'hypoglycemic' episode in the first few days with insulin when my glucose dropped to 109. 109 is normal, but my body was so used to running on high for so long that I got extremely shaky. I was so shaky I could barely test my glucose. When I saw that it was normal, I just grabbed a handful of nuts and ate them. Psychologically it worked and I started feeling better, plus they don't seem to raise my glucose a lot unless I really pig the heck out on them. So if you try that, just don't eat handfuls (of which I have been guilty because I feel hungry all the time).
I have had several readings in the 80s. The only time it bothered me was when it was during the middle of the day. Around 3 to 5pm I tend to start feeling really grumpy, grouchy, irritable, and kind of in a daze. That seems to be my 'lowest' time... even today with my glucose running from 160 to 230 all day, at 4pm it was like 123 and I felt different. It's better to come down slow from the high sugars, you may notice some blurry vision... I experienced that last week but it was gone this week... just made it harder for me to focus on things.
All of my close friends know and are really amazing. I am not one to have billions of acquaintances, and honestly after all of this that's happened... I've realized what good friends I have.. truly. Many of them are veterinary students so they understand insulin dependent vs. insulin resistance. Only a few people in my family know, I am not extremely close to many of them. My parents are very involved, I have been calling both of them once or twice a day... they are very supportive. My dad is a type 2, so it is nice to have someone who understands somewhat; he also asks a billion questions, is very interested, and has been doing a lot of research on type 1 as well (he is a biology/chemistry nerd anyway).. sadly, this is the only time in my life that we've been this close. I call him more than my mother now, and that's never been the case.
I initially found it very frustrating to have to explain that I am type 1, not type 2, over and over and over again. I simply say, "This is not type 2 diabetes. I cannot fix this with diet and exercise. In type 2 diabetes, the general idea is insulin resistance. The pancreas is still making insulin, but the cells are ignoring it. So their blood glucose is out of control because the cells aren't listening to the insulin. I am sensitive to the effects of insulin. However, my body has gotten angry and decided to attack my pancreas. My pancreas still spits out some insulin whenever it wants to, but it is probably on it's way out the door. Either way it's not giving me enough insulin, so I have to give my body insulin and will for the rest of my life."
Most of the people I've said that (or something similar) to seem to get it. And then comes the question of 'but you're not a little kid'. Then I tell them, "Actually, people of any age can be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. One of the theories that makes the most sense to me is that you may have a genetic predisposition for the development of type 1 diabetes, but you don't fully develop the disease until something in the environment such as a virus triggers the autoimmune response."
They seem to react pretty well to that too. I made the decision today that I would tell classmates if I feel like they need to know or if they are wondering why I disappear sometimes. I have had several doctor's appointments and missed a week of clinics, so I went ahead and told the two that I am on a rotation with right now. I just told them that I was recently diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic, which people of any age can get, and that I'm doing fine, but occasionally disappear to check my blood sugar or give insulin. And that was that. I feel like if you're just simple and matter of fact about it, it's fine. I'm not using it as an excuse for anything, I'm just stating facts and telling them why I haven't been there and why I have had to go to the doctor so much. I probably don't even need to do it, but I feel there's no reason to be ashamed of this; it's part of my life, it's not like I did anything wrong, and I'm dealing with it.
When people over-react with sympathy, I just laugh tell them not to be so nice because they're going to make me cry again. That seems to work too.
There is a crap ton to learn about this disease. There are at least two crap tons of resources about it, too. The problem is sifting through information with a 'scientific' eye and taking things you read with a grain of salt. Sometimes I will read something that sounds like an interesting idea, and I'll write it down as a question to ask the doctor about. Or a few times I have actually gone to the scientific literature to see if there are any published reports on certain things.. sometimes I try to verify that something is a good idea by just googling it and seeing how many different resources say the same thing and then I try to see if those resources actually have credibility...
But anyway, that was a really long-winded response. :) I hope a little of it helped, at least.
