Hello others,
I am 66 yo female who was diagnosed with LADA 1.5 two and a half yrs ago.
Have never needed much insulin and struggled with many lows.
Am doing better with that, but now too many highs and just plain inconsistency. I will take same insulin, same breakfast, same time,
Same activity level and get totally dif results. That’s one frustration.
Other is not knowing how much to talk to others about it. I’m afraid I am burning out my friends, but this has totally taken over my life.
Have a new dog, have an art show coming up I had to postpone once,
neglecting or venting to my husband…
So that’s all I will say here for now. First blog post ever…
Oh, I have a monitor.
We totally get the frustration of unexplainable fluctuations, so you came to the right place! I was just congratulation myself for getting my basal rates refined so that I woke up with good BG every morning. Then today it jumped up 50 points with no food, no exercise, nothing different, no explanation. So I bolused myself, ate breakfast and moved on. Happened again before lunch today. I can usually write it off to PMS, but not this week. Anyway, my point is that you can vent here and various other forums and we will all get it. I’m sure your friends and family are OK with you venting too, it’s just that they don’t understand it. Why can’t you just control your BG’s, right? There’s no way they can get all the factors involved, and they take their pancreases for granted. I think we should have a “Thank Your Pancreas” day for non-diabetics to help them understand what an important and delicate function it is. I’m glad you were at least diagnosed late, because you will be much more likely to not have to deal with any complications until you are elderly. But in the meantime, I know how frustrating it is.
Thank you so much for your kind and balanced reply. It means a lot knowing other people understand the complexity of this and it’s relentlessness.
My new endo wants me erring on the side of highs because I was having constant lows and I have done that, but I’m not comfortable w it at all given the complications come from highs.
Any advice?
This site may be invaluable …
Boulevard, I was diagnosed T1 just 11 months ago. The way I see it, you and I were diagnosed later in life So it seems we are probably less likely to develop complications caused by high BGs. We are very lucky not to have been diagnosed as kids, adolescents, lucky in many respects, including possible complications caused by highs and swings.
I tend to run on the lower end of the spectrum. I try to keep tight control and eat restricted (not low) carbs. I am more concerned about lows than highs. I am sometimes inconsistent too and for no identifiable reason!
Keep your head up and outlook good.
Dear Vhm1,
Thank you for your response. My mind goes straight to feeling scared
and overwhelmed. I have Thinking of all the other diagnosed and coping with this for decades. May try to think what I can do to help the cause.
Has anyone taken a break from testing for a few days? Very tempting to get a break.
Volunteering can be such a beneficial thing, not only for the organization but for you, too. There’s something about getting outside yourself and your own head that makes coping a little easier and helps you put things in perspective. JDRF, ADA, or even hosting a local support group can all be good ways to give your efforts.
Skipping BG checks is something I did when I was young, out of foolishness, being broke (strips weren’t nearly as covered back then), and it used to be painful because you needed a HUGE drop of blood. Anyway, I have to check several times a day since I use a pump and I have no long-acting insulin in me, so that wouldn’t be an option. But once your BG’s stabilize, I would think you’d be OK as a LADA to take an occasional day where you only test once or twice a day. Just don’t make it a habit. If you find it painful, you may want to check out the new Genteel lancet device. I’ve heard good things about it, but it’s not covered by insurance yet.
NOOOOOOO!!! Keep testing!
Alrighty, now that I was greatly over dramatic, I know it sucks/is expensive/painful to take you’re blood sugars, it is extremely important that you do (at the veryleast 4 times a day, especially before you go to bed) LADA is actually considered type 1 diabetes (you’re immune system kills off the cells in your pancreas that make insulin in LADA’s the progression is just much slower than “typical” type 1’s) so it’s considered an autoimmune system disorder. So you can have a lot more variation in your blood sugars than type 2’s (type 2’s are when people’s cells have trouble accepting insulin into it’s receptor). The differences were explained by my biochemistry teacher, so now I’m telling everyone 
Now, next, running high instead of low. The reason you’re doctor wants you to run higher rather than lower is because you can die from a low blood sugar a lot faster than get complications from high blood sugars or die from dka. This can especially happen at night when you’re asleep (having had diabetes for 29 years, I’m 32 years old now, I’ve known a few people who have and there’s a certain percentage of people who do every year). I know high blood sugars make you feel gross, but it’s a lot easier and safer to start you high and inch your blood sugars down than to start low and try to inch you up.
Finally, the random bad blood sugar: all other things controlled for it could be hormones, from stress, from other things, just depends. And when that fails I tell people about this dog in Brooklyn (his name is Spot), every time he goes potty near the hydrant down the street rather than the one in front of his apartment building my blood sugars go out of control (my attempt at diabetes humor, it amuses me at least).
Anyways, I know all of this is overwhelming and horrible, it will lessen and become part of your every day but never really go away, but you keep doing it! Hopefully I was able to amuse you for a little bit, and please take care of yourself!
I’m sorry to hear it’s taking over your life.
Not sure if this helps you feel better or not, but after 37 years with this for me, the constant is just when I think I have things figured out, it goes haywire.
Just test, take what you’re supposed to and move on. Try not to get too down about it. It comes with the territory. Of course, talk to your doctor about it too. Sometimes you think you need to do one thing when really you need to do something else.