My story, with lots of questions! New type 1

I am taking (the weekly, then monthly) D2, but I do have a D3 5000 bottle in my supplement drawer. I'll talk to my Dr about it.

I do recall that D3 is closer to what you'd naturally synthesize from sunlight, but I'll look it up. I'd love to see your links though, if it isn't a pain.

I much prefer the idea of a lower dose daily supplement over the huge dose in the prescription!

Thanks again Super sally!

I'm on the East Coast of the US, how about you?

Thank you Earthling! I will ask about a pump. I'm not thrilled to spend the $, but it's my health, I'll fork over the dough if it's the best option.

What pump do you recommend? Is there a big difference in quality or effectiveness based on the brand/style?

Ah, almost missed this post. Thanks Kara, I'll ask my Dr about metformin. Are there any other meds that could help me?

Oh, wow. I actually would like to get pregnant once I'm healthier and in better control. I will be researching pregnancy with D extensively in the near future. Any advice that you think of that I might not come across on my own?

Is it common to need much more insulin while pregnant? If I also needed 3x+ more, that'd put me around 300 units a day!

Thanks again Zoe. I didn't think about the name, it was an affectionate nickname from long ago. SM is fine, though it sounds a bit dirty to me, lol.

I'm not stressed, but I think needing less insulin would be better, even if just on my wallet. I'd like to take the best care of myself without spending more $ than necessary. I'll post a new thread asking about it.

"Reply by snarkymonkey -- Wow, you all take WAY less than me. Does anyone here take as much as I do? Anywhere near 80/90 units? Does this mean I'm very insulin resistant? Eating too many carbs?"

(Hey there, I moved this down because it ran out of reply levels.)

At first 80/90 units in a T1 seemed awfully high to me, but I found this link for understanding how the starting dose might be calculated, and there is quite a huge range in how much insulin is needed by each person to cover carbs:

http://dtc.ucsf.edu/types-of-diabetes/type1/treatment-of-type-1-diabetes/medications-and-therapies/type-1-insulin-therapy/calculating-insulin-dose/

It says (regarding the possible range): "Generally, one unit of rapid-acting insulin will dispose of 12-15 grams of carbohydrate. This range can vary from 6-30 grams or more of carbohydrate depending on an individual’s sensitivity to insulin. Insulin sensitivity can vary according to the time of day, from person to person, and is affected by physical activity and stress."

Diabetes is not a "one size fits all" disease!

Sorry, I don't remember if they measured her c-peptide levels or not? Too many replies to sift through.

I still have a c-peptide of 1.1. So, once the b-cells I have left get over glucose toxicity, they'll start pushing out a little insulin here and there which will further confound things..

Also... I may be on a low level right now, but it's not entirely controlling it... especially when they tried to set me up with a I:C ratio of 1:20. My body laughed at that and it sent my glucose skyrocketing. The 'Using Insulin' book came in the mail the next day, and I love it. It is helping so much. I like it much better than Think Like A Pancreas, though that book has been a good read as well. It's just somewhat basic.

I used the website LaGuitariste sent and I suppose based on weight 35 units is where they might typically start someone my size out at. But as already said, everyone is different.

Exercise is very important for everyone, especially if you have diabetes.. it can help control your BG a little better. I like to play 'Dance Central' for the xbox kinect (yes, i will admit it!) and it helps bring down my glucose. If I could kick myself into a regular routine, there's a good chance that'll cut down on the amount of insulin you need too..

Also, depending on how much you want to read about the disease... there is an endocrinology textbook on Type 1 Diabetes that I just got and is wonderful because it explains some of the major theories and incorporates current literature as well as talking about treatments and such..

The ADA also has a book on clinical management of type 1 diabetes, and though I have gotten it, I have not read through much of it yet.

Having information makes me feel better, for some reason.

I've heard choosing a brand of pump is like choosing a car - pretty much a matter of taste and lifestyle. There are probably a lot of discussions in the archives here detailing the virtues and faults of each kind.

When I was looking it all over I liked that Animas used actual T1 diabetic people for its PR and trainers, not gorgeous actors, I also liked that Animas didn't make their insulin cartridges so that only their own in-brand tubing and sets could attach to them like MiniMed does (if you study pumps a little you'll get what I'm talking about). And Animas claims its pumps are waterproof, which I don't know about for sure, as i remove it for showers or swimming. The batteries last me about a month and I like the large bright black with white text screen as my eyes aren't great anymore (had T1 43 yrs.). Recent models have a system where the bg meter communicates with the pump wirelessly, allowing you to take insulin, without digging the pump out of your bra/pocket/wherever - nice in a restaurant.

Others folks will give you glowing reports on their pump brands as well. Omnipods are nice in that they use a remote for everything - no tubing. Might be more expensive, though. I don't know.

If your insurance is great you can also get a constant glucose monitor to go with your pump. It doesn't replace the bg testing, but it will let you know when your bg is trending down or up or if it's stable - helpful in avoiding bad lows as well as fine tuning your pump settings. I don't have this, so I'm left to frequent testing and having to use my own judgement.

Hope this helps.

I think exercise -- applied correctly -- is the magic bullet for insulin resistance for most (not all) diabetics. I have met slender, middle-aged marathon runners and triathletes who developed insulin resistance anyway -- they're just folks who lost the genetics lottery in that way.

For most of us with insulin resistance, slowly ramping up to a regular exercise routine (combining resistance training with aerobics like walking, biking, running, dancing, etc.) will chip away at the insulin resistance over time.

However, like some diabetics with insulin resistance, I have a problem in that my blood glucose doesn't drop, really, while I exercise. I have confirmed this time and again while working out over a half-year period with Team in Training: measuring my blood glucose before and every thirty minutes while walking briskly for two, three, even four hours showed no drop in BG -- and sometimes even a slight elevation in BG -- thank you, liver?!?

Instead, I get delayed exercise-induced hypoglycemia -- erratically dropping like a rock twelve, fifteen, even twenty-four hours later. Gah.

That's why I believe in slowly ramping up exercise over time and making it regular. For me, ramping up to walking an hour every morning is a much safer way of reducing my insulin resistance than not walking for several days and then going for a three-hour hike on Saturday. In my body, doing the "weekend warrior" thing on Saturday is a formula for a BIG hypo at some unpredictable time between bedtime Saturday night and noon on Sunday.

I hear you, I'm definitely OCDiabetic. I do have days when I need to relax a bit though to avoid burnout - the issue for me is I stress about relaxing LOL

You'll find the happy medium for YOU with time. When I went on a cruise in December, I ate around 90 carbs a day - I usually eat around 30. On one hand I was horrified that I let myself do that, on the other hand I sure did enjoy it, and I know intellectually that 90g for 10 days is still way less than 'normal' people eat, and won't hurt me a bit. I plan to do the same on this year's cruise, and maybe once a month in between ;)

When I visit the endo, I always go to the awesome bakery across the street and get a fantabulous chocolate croissant. No guilt.

BG increases with exercise because of increased demand for glucose by tissues that are using it up for energy.

My BG will be elevated during/after exercise, but does drop to lower levels several hours later.

Uh oh, we sound a lot alike.

I *think* I've gotten over what she said to me.. but it hit me enough the wrong way that I may just stick with the family physicians group because they are nice and appreciate me trying harder.. I think they typically deal with people who are not as eager to learn or as dedicated..

I seem to be happy with around 75 to 100g of carbs a day right now. But I was one of those 'normal' people who would eat... gigantic candy bars.. huge bowls of ice cream... all sorts of carby wonderful goodness... Hell, maybe this IS all my fault and I murdered my pancreas.

:/

Some people deplete their glycogen and available blood glucose fairly quickly during endurance exercise. My liver must be super-efficient because even a four-hour hike over a VERY hilly course (the first two hours was on an up-hill gradient almost the entire way) didn't faze it. I was huffing and puffing and sweating like crazy -- drinking lots of water to replace fluids -- but my blood sugar stayed high-normal the entire time. Over 27,000 steps that day on my pedometer (over seven miles) but I didn't see any downward effect on my blood glucose until the next day and the day after that.

Hi palominovet. No you didn't murder your pancreas, autoimmunity kicked in. Diabetes changes constantly on top of each of us being individuals. Do what works for you right now; you will change as necessary. (Just my thought: don't actually burn any bridges with your endo, sometime you might need actually need her.)

I know, I know. Would just love to know what triggered the immune response. I feel like it probably was a virus in my case.

And you're right not to burn bridges; the PA is the one that made the micromanaging comment. She had been nice the day before. The endo himself was very nice, period, but I won't be seeing him except once every three months. I will mostly be seeing and talking with the PA and the PA's nurse.

Hi again, palominovet. In time, once every three months will be enough between appointments to see your endo because you're doing so well! Somewhere you said something on the order of liking to have books and info, and that was certainly true for me. There are so many more good books available now than almost 20 years ago. I took a lot of books out of the library, and the library still has all those out-of-date books! (I now like the revised "Think Like a Pancreas" the best of all.) You'll find yourself able to write your own book one of these days! If you like poetry, the TuD store has its own book, "No-Sugar Added Poetry" for sale. Cheers!

I should finish reading Think Like A Pancreas. I just received Using Insulin yesterday and have been addicted. I love all the charts and graphs and everything it has.

Didn't know about No-Sugar Added Poetry, it sounds fun :)

I agree that going to basal/bolus/correction with something like Levemir/Novolog would be best until she gets pumping, but I'm also feeling her pain on the $500 she already shelled out for the mix. Yikes.

Hi palominovet and SMonkey,

I've really been enjoying all the information posted on this thread. It is useful to a lot of us!

And palominovet, could you post the title of the endocrinology textbook on Type 1?

Thank you to everyone who has contributed information here!

Marty1492