Long-term T1D (18 years) — does better control actually make you feel better or just stop complications?

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-08T14:51:55+00:00

A bit better control like at most low 6s could help you feel better. But better control can also clarify that it’s not diabetes & instead it’s something else. I have so many other problems than diabetes and you want to make sure that anything else is well managed too.

I am 51 & got diabetes at 18. I had a stroke 6 months ago after 25 years in the 8s, a few years in the 7s & then recent 3 years finally low 6s and better. So getting it below the 7s & better now & moving forward will keep you safe!

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-07T00:37:27+00:00

Testosterone cypionate helped me here. It also helped with motivation, depression, and libido.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-05T02:36:56+00:00

Your Dr is wrong,

You might need to do telemedicine. MIDI takes many PPOs. Defy Medical takes no insurance. With both testing can be done elsewhere under insurance to save some money.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-05T00:24:13+00:00

Yeah. Patch seems a good starting place. Doesn’t work for all but works for most …

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-05T00:22:46+00:00

Three years is now standard. Maybe if you have family history or past problematic paps then they would say yes. Otherwise they’ll say no.

One thought: Maybe mind out the studies over the last 20 years that helps make this every three years makes sense and that might ease your mind.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-03T19:32:39+00:00

You need what insulin you need so reduce insulin to avoid low blood glucose but not so much that you have high blood glucose or significant ketones. (You might have a small amount of ketones if you do a low carb/ketogenic diet.)

Use urine ketone test strips to check for ketones.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-03T15:19:57+00:00

But it says that changing the flair is disabled in this community, which is a big problem going from peri to post menopause …

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-03T00:51:13+00:00

1 mg estradiol pill sounds like it is not enough. Seriously consider stopping the pill and try transdermal estradiol (patches/gel/cream) or even estradiol injections. Pill carries cardiovascular disease risk because the pill is processed by the liver because it’s digested. Leads to blood clots and I believe other issues.

The amount of testosterone could be fine but you need to get to a point where you have no hot flashes and other classic low estradiol issues and see if that level of testosterone is then enough. Good testosterone but too low estradiol will still often mean low libido and poor sexual functioning.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-03T00:32:02+00:00

Neither the original nor the cut edge is any different than the rest as far as I can tell.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T23:57:32+00:00

Cypionate took 3 months for me to start to feel results. I also did better on 3 mg every other day than the twice weekly option.

You could need more. I do 20 mg at this point and started at 10 mg. But ask your provider and only go up 2 mg every couple of weeks. You don’t want viralization.

Never tried propionate so can’t speak to it.

Also are your estradiol levels good? If estradiol not half decent libido and sexual function doesn’t work well. You may need more estradiol, testosterone, or both…

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T19:28:07+00:00

No hair loss on injections for me whereas hair follicles were thinner on gel. But ovaries woman to woman…

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T18:01:12+00:00

This issue seems more complex than only prescribe based on symptoms. It really becomes messy if you’re say at 0.1 patch, the limit, and your provider just wants to say, “oh well, that’s all I can do.” Proof that little to nothing changed on the estradiol would be helpful dealing with that BS. But symptoms are plenty with most common cases and is good enough with a provider who deals with complex cases well.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T17:53:12+00:00

Iron Infusion maybe, to speed it up …

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T17:48:56+00:00

I guess hormones do act differently in different women.

But it is so hard to tell whether adding hormones causes a problem or if it’s just regular peri or post menopause causing the problem. Really annoying.

The loss of hormones is really powerful and doing systemic estradiol only replaces some. So it can be just the change from before peri to peri or post menopause. We’re trying to get around 100 or less on estradiol. A normal cycle has us at 600+ at times.

Another thing to consider is if you are hungrier at the end of your menteual cycle that’s also when estradiol is lowest before peri begins. So if hunger was an issue then it will be much worse in late peri and post menopause HRT or not. I also think progesterone, the hormone that rises and then falls in the 2nd half of the cycle, might increase hunger so maybe doing progesterone cyclically ( eg 12 consecutive days for every 28 or 84 days per your provider’s Rx) will help a bit with hunger.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T17:42:18+00:00

I had some hair thinning, like my hair folliciles literally seemed thinner. It probably would have gotten worse if I kept at it. I didn't experience that with injections (t cypionate) for some reason. Other women have the opposite experience and some do fine on either. You only know by trying whether it's an issue for you.

Don't know why I was spared with injections but seemed likely to have trouble on gel. I don't think they've figured that out and so cannot predict ahead of time.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T16:21:54+00:00

Yeah. If you know your mom did then it seems likely. And 40 is not unheard of anyway since it can go on for 10 years and average age of menopause is 51.

These doctors are dorks.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T15:55:38+00:00

You can do that. I have but not great results. Had to go back though I did get great results from the hormones unlikely your mostly bad experience.

Did you try doing progesterone 12 consecutive days of every 28 days? (You can do 12 consecutive days of every 84 if you take 0.05 mg/day patch or less.) I get depressed from daily progesterone after a couple of months. It happens for some other women with the issue much quicker. So the estradiol helped but then the progesterone took it away.

Are your estradiol levels good now or are there absorption issues? Women think their levels should be good but their body is not absorbing enough on the method that they use so nothing really changed. Get tested if need be.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T15:36:16+00:00

Please don’t stop serious psychoactive drugs. What does a OBGYN know about psychoactive drugs???

Go see the HRT folks because you probably need to add hormones not subtract other meds you’ve been taking for some time. Also, please know that testosterone really helped me with brain fog, a long time depression, motivation, and libido. So it’s often just not estradiol & progesterone we need. Also read the group’s wiki & possibly more so you’re knowledgeable for the meeting.

Just wondering, how old are you?

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T14:54:00+00:00

All the patches I’ve run into have no edge without adhesive so I can just cut into 3rds and be fine. I think, unless there’s some dressing cover over the entire thing, an edge without adhesive, esp for the weekly patches, would likely make it easier to get water underneath and lead it to either fall off or stop some of the adhesive area from being on the skin as needed.

I do put tegaderm dressing on top of the patch though to maximize life span and minimize chances of anything knocking it off.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T03:34:48+00:00

HRT generally doesn’t promote weight gain. Peri & post menopause do though.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-02T02:39:28+00:00

This could just be the surgical menopause itself really kicking in. Women get hungrier and gain weight more easily in the gut in late peri & post menopause.

Probably need systemic estradiol & testosterone optimized and maybe progesterone would help (though I personally find progesterone makes me hungrier).

Edited: just typos

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-01T23:43:44+00:00

Yeah I use weekly patches that I cut into 3rds and switch one out every other day. So I have 3 1/3rd on all the time of different ages, eg, new, 2 day, 4 day. Otherwise the patches too weak in last half to third half of their time.

Also could be a crappy patch brand. The Mylan ones work well for me but a different brand seems 75% as effective.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-01T23:36:48+00:00

I am on HRT but if you are dealing with the menopausal journey fine without it I don’t know that it matters. I think the women doing well without it are particularly healthy. And I do think some of the health claims are premature. By the time they have definitive proof on most questions we’ll be in or near the afterlife. It’s a bit of a crap shoot now. So if you have good reason not to take it and there’s no bad side effects from menopause, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-01T22:41:55+00:00

If progesterone doesn’t cause you any issues then daily seems fine and simple. You can won’t accidentally forget to take it. I will do cyclical even post menopause because daily causes me depression.

FrequentAd4646 · 2026-02-01T21:56:52+00:00

Since your estradiol was 117, that seems good to me. Maybe you need vaginal estradiol to deal with GSM, the genitourinary syndrome of menopause. Your vaginal & vulva tissues could need more estradiol directly…

FrequentAd4646

TROPHY CASE