I am a new-onset Type 1 Diabetic and have been spending a lot of time online since my diagnosis (1 week ago yesterday) looking for as much information and support as I can find.
I'm 30 years old (31 on the 27th) and this has been a huge shock - although in asking my family, I have found out that my grandmother (mother's side) and two of her sisters have diabetes - Type 2, I believe. I knew about my grandmother, but not her sisters.
As frustrating, saddening, and challenging as all this is I am very lucky to have an incredible support system, including my girlfriend, employer, primary care, and now CDE. I'm on a Levimir and Novalog regimen (probably will be switched to Humalog for insurance reasons) and my sugar levels are slowly coming down over five days of testing and taking 18 units of the Levemir at night and meal-time Novalog based on an I:C ratio and scale for correcting any overages in BG (my CDE has told me not to take insulin unless it's with meals at this point, so I am not correcting high BG readings except for adjusting my meal-time insulin dosage).
There's so much to learn and, being somewhat impatient, my mind is already jumping ahead to the next steps in my management. I'm already curious about CGM's and Pumps - a friend of mine whose wife is a T1 says the pump is the greatest thing for his wife.
My CDE has already mentioned pumps and CGM's as future steps (or at least potential steps) for me, and I'd love to understand them better.
I'd love to hear any experience users have had with CGM's and/or pumps, especially those who started using these tools early after their diagnosis as a means to manage their BG.
in my opinion, it's never too early to get a pump if you are interested and that's what you want. especially during a new diagnosis, the pumps programming availability will make the ups and downs of honeymoon easier to deal with. The cgm is a great tool. for some it's a lifesaver and for others a true convenience.
a couple things to keep in mind. nothing is automatic, a pump takes a lot of "tweaking" at first, and if you are honeymooning, almost constant tweaking (adjusting of basal rates, carb ratios, sensitivities, etc.). There a whole set of new failure modes, and it makes the adjustment even harder if you aren't an expert in blood sugar control already. If you are unintimidated, and still interested in a pump, get "Pumping Insulin" by John Walsh and read it first.. it's the best DIY guide there is.
it's probably a lot to ask to get all new technology, deal with all new things and manuals, and beeping and lost sensers, and infusion set set-ups and such, while you are learning how insulin works and how it fits in with varied exercise and meals. it's probably a good idea to get one or the other first and deal with it, then get the next thing once you are comfy.
most endo's a re painfully conservative, and would normally want you on MDI for a year, then Pump, then CGM. never forget you are the boss. =) good luck.
I'm realizing that I am most likely in my honeymoon period right now as my bg levels have gotten lower and lower over the last week. My CDE even adjusted my basal down by 2 units - she did bump my I:C from 1:13 to 1:12 to help with after meal spikes. Some of that is probably stabilization coming out of my initial diagnosis where I was extremely high, but from everything I've read it sounds a lot like a typical start of a honeymoon period.
I'm traveling for three weeks on Monday, and won't be able to meet with an endo until I get back, but my CDE is already talking about pumps for me. I'm testing a lot - she even mentioned that I probably don't need to test so much - as I want to get the best possible data for my own knowledge.
From what I understand, you can test-drive CGMs, which I think is a great way to see what it's all about - I'll have to check with my CDE when I get back to see if that's possible.