Living with T1D: A guide for adults newly diagnosed with diabetes

If you're an adult who's been newly diagnosed with diabetes and you're feeling overwhelmed, you're not alone. About 50% of people who get diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (t1d) in the U.S. are over the age of 20. There are 1.4 million adults who have confronted the same scary challenges you're facing, and many have figured out how to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. You can, too!

Here are a few tips to help you meet the new challenges of t1d management.

Get up to speed and learn new skills

When you've been newly diagnosed with diabetes, you'll need to absorb a lot of information very quickly as you meet with your healthcare team and educate yourself. There are concrete steps you can take to stay healthy. You will quickly develop a new t1d skillset, including:

• How to take insulin, which you'll need to transform the foods you eat into energy. You can either use multiple daily injections or an insulin pump. There are also different types of insulin (short-acting and long-acting) and different brands. Your healthcare team will help you choose the insulin that works best for you.
• How to find the right balance between food and insulin. That means creating a new diet plan and figuring out the right "insulin-to-carb ratio," which will tell you how much insulin you'll need to cover the carbohydrates in your meals and snacks.
• How to monitor your blood glucose levels.
• How to respond when your blood glucose level is too low or too high.
  

Monitor your blood sugar

Regularly monitoring your blood glucose levels is an essential part of diabetes management. You'll need to do this in order to determine if your blood sugar is too high (which could require you to take extra insulin) or too low (which means you'll need extra sugar).

When you're newly diagnosed with diabetes, you'll learn how to do fingerstick tests. These involve applying a drop of blood to a test strip that is inserted into a blood glucose meter, which will then give you a reading. A more advanced blood glucose monitoring option is the continuous glucose monitor (CGM). A CGM gives you an instant reading of your blood sugar level on a receiver or smartphone. It includes alarms that tell you when your blood sugar is too high or too low.

In my experience, the CGM is one of the most important advances in t1d technology. It's helped me stave off both extreme highs and lows. It's also enabled me to keep track of blood glucose patterns over time and make necessary adjustments in my diabetes management plan.

Try to meet blood sugar targets

Managing t1d is a full-time job that will require constant attention. Keep reminding yourself that attentive blood sugar management will give you more energy, help you sleep better, improve your emotional well-being, and bring many other benefits, according to the CDC. Of equal importance, it will lower your risk of long-term complications that can accompany t1d.

According to the Mayo Clinic, most people with t1d should try to keep blood sugar levels between 80 and 130 mg/dL before meals and below 180 mg/dL two hours after eating. Be sure to discuss your specific blood glucose targets with your health care provider.

Meeting those targets consistently is much easier said than done! Many factors can make your blood sugar veer up and down, including slight miscalculations of food intake or insulin dosage, stress, too much (or not enough) exercise, illness, and more.

Living with t1d can sometimes feel like riding a roller-coaster. When you've been newly diagnosed with diabetes and adjusting to your routine, it's important to accept that fluctuations of blood sugar are normal. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), most people with t1d should aim to keep their blood sugar readings in the target range at least 70% of the time. In other words, don't get down on yourself if you don't achieve perfect blood glucose control. I've never accomplished that, and I've lived with t1d and thrived for six decades.

Find a diabetes diet that works for you

Life with t1d would be easier if there was a single, standard diet that worked for everyone with this condition. Unfortunately, that magic dietary bullet doesn't exist because people's bodies respond differently to different types of foods.

According to the ADA, many different kinds of diets can help you manage your t1d well, from low-carbohydrate to Mediterranean to vegetarian. What you need to do is stick with your diet plan and follow a few basic guidelines, including:

• Eat lots of non-starchy vegetables.
• Minimize added sugars and refined grains.
• Choose minimally processed foods.
  

Especially when you're just starting to get the hang of managing t1d, consider finding a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist to help you create a diet plan that works for you.

Master the art of counting carbs

Managing t1d well also requires you to know how many carbohydrates are in the foods you eat. It might take a little while to learn how to count carbs, but eventually, it will become second nature.

There is an array of tools available to help you count carbs, including nutrition labels on packaged foods, smartphone apps, and food exchange lists. Plus, if you want to find out how many carbs are in a medium-sized apple, a cup of brown rice, or another food, you can use Google or another search engine to look it up. Additionally, there are many resources that provide information on counting carbs, such as this helpful guide to carbohydrate counting from the University of California San Francisco.

When I was diagnosed as a kid in the 1960s, most packaged foods didn't have detailed nutrition labels, and my mother had to look up carbohydrate contents in written guidebooks. It's much easier now! It's also simpler to figure out how to count carbs when you dine out.

Get regular exercise

Regular exercise makes it much easier to control your blood sugar levels. Exercise increases insulin sensitivity, which means your body won't need as much insulin to process carbohydrates after you work out. Exercise can also help people with t1d avoid long-term complications.

At the same time, exercising can prompt low blood sugars if you haven't had enough food or you've taken too much insulin. It's important to consult with your doctor when you're developing an exercise routine.

Find support from educators and others with T1D

Don't handle the new challenges of t1d in isolation. Along with your healthcare team and family, plenty of other people and resources can help to support and guide you on your diabetes journey. Consider finding an accredited diabetes and education specialist to give you valuable information, tools, and ongoing support.

Another source of helpful tips and emotional support is the Diabetes Online Community (aka "the DOC"). Many people with t1d are helping each other with blogs, community forums, online chats, and posts on Twitter and Instagram. Tapping into this community will give you practical tips and help you manage the stress and anxiety that often accompany t1d.

It's reassuring to know that many people have met the challenges you're facing and can offer practical advice, but always remember to consult with your physician about treatment decisions.

For more tips on living with t1d, including technology that improves diabetes management, check out this article on CGM technology.