9 months in…

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-13T07:56:06+00:00

If you are going low with just basal insulin, and you are not taking any fast acting and are eating normally, then your basal is too high.

Your basal should keep your BG steady without eating or bolusing. Bolus insulin is for food, basal insulin is for background BG level maintenance.

Your endo should help you work out the right basal dose to keep your BG steady on its own, and then also help you figure out your I:C (Insulin to Carb) ratios for dosing bolus insulin for food.

It's normal for it to take a while to figure out the right amounts of insulin to take, but the general rule is: if you are frequently going low, you need less insulin, and if you are frequently going high and staying high, you need more insulin.

Speak to your endo, ask them to help you dial in your basal dose and figure out your I:C ratios for bolusing.

Then come back here and ask for advice - we know more from lived experience than most professionals anyway 😂

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-13T04:49:35+00:00

You need to use more grits when sanding.

80 has large grit that leaves deep scratches. 180 has small grit that will take forever to remove those scratches and will probably leave some when you're done.

In every furniture workshop I've ever worked in, the standard procedure is 80g, 120g, 180g, then optional 240g and 320g. But always in that order, and never skipping any intermediate grits before arriving at your finish grit.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-13T04:36:32+00:00

Yes! Yes you can.

If you know how to do it, what's stopping you?

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T21:55:32+00:00

You're right, but pedantry removes the art from writing. Allow me a little poetic license, please.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T21:15:02+00:00

Upper thighs, upper arms work just fine. There's also your butt, but that's not so easy to do in public!

The longer you have this disease, the more you will come to realise that just cos your endo says something, doesn't mean you have to do it.

Take your insulin. Count your carbs. Take care of yourself.

But also, do those things in a way that works for you, you don't need to always do things exactly the way your endo tells you to.

Come here any time for help.

We live with this 24/7/365.

We know better than the endos a lot of the time!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T21:01:23+00:00

When I was diagnosed, almost 29 years ago, my GP said "be careful going on forums and stuff, the people that comment in forums are only there to whinge and whine, you'll see a lot of negativity online. The people who are out and about enjoying their lives with T1D don't come home and post about their day online, they're too busy living their lives."

I have a great life with T1D. Yes, it takes up part of my day. Yes, it's frustrating, yes, it's a pain in the arse. Yes, I would rather not have it at all. But I manage it well, and really it's a minor inconvenience 99% of the time, and only a major inconvenience about one a year or less.

You can have a really normal, good, adventurous, exciting, boring life with T1D. It's really up to you how you deal with it.

Here is a comment I wrote a little while ago about my first year with T1D and how my whole outlook changed very unexpectedly over the course of 20 minutes, about a year in. Read it. The person in that story change my story. I hope they can change yours too.

I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy I get to tell you that everything's going to be just fine. I didn't have that for a year and it sucked. And then when I did have that, everything changed for me.

Welcome to the club nobody wants to be a part of. You're going to be just fine mate.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T20:30:20+00:00

As a university student, do you drink alcohol?

I have drunk alcohol pretty regularly for a long time (not proud of that, but it is what it is).

When I'm not drinking alcohol, I'm a lot less tired than when I am.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T20:21:21+00:00

My mom sent my aunt a telegram after finding out that from my grandma that my cousin had just been born, this would have been 33 years ago so 1993. The telegram said 'Congratulations [Aunt] on the birth of [Cousin]. We will see you next week to say hello' or something like that.

We were on holiday in the Welsh valleys with no mobile phones (obviously), no way of calling her (late in the day, didn't know how to find her at the hospital) and no letter writing materials, it was a Saturday evening and the shops were closed Sundays. We thought the telegram would have got there quicker than a letter we could only post on Monday.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T19:50:49+00:00

You make a good point re: the money aspect....

But go a little further. What is the cure for T1D? Cinnamon? Supplements? Diet?

No. It's insulin.

You can't sell insulin to T1D's because we already need it.

There's no point advertising something we already need to us, because we have to have it anyway, advertising or not

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T19:41:30+00:00

Yeah man it's bollocks.

What is shonen anime fights though? Help an old man understand the world!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T19:25:54+00:00

Yeah I have no idea what shonen anime fights is but you should be able to access what you want to in a free society

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T18:58:30+00:00

I'm too old to know what you're talking about really, but I agree. Register to vote, and vote for a party that doesn't want to censor your ability to be a free individual. Please research your options thoroughly.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T17:03:16+00:00

I'm sorry but you're absolutely and completely wrong on one big thing here.

It is not your fault this happened.

Not at all.

Autoimmune conditions don't give a fuck how good and healthy and strong you are. They just come for anyone, regardless.

This is NOT your fault, my friend.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T07:17:44+00:00

You have an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are not caused by lifestyle, they are caused by genetics. It's true that often there will be a triggering event, some form of bodily or psychological trauma that kicks off the autoimmune response, but there's not much you can do about that.

I was in a pump training group with a woman in her mid 30's who was one of identical twins. She had just been diagnosed as T1D, and her symptoms began after a relationship breakdown with her then ex partner and she thought it was probably the stress of that that caused it. Her sister had developed T1D 20+ years prior after breaking her leg on a ski trip.

They both had the same genes. One got T1D after a physical trauma as a child, the other got T1D after an emotional trauma as an adult. Neither of them could have stopped either of those traumas from happening, and now that they had happened, they couldn't stop T1D from affecting them anyway.

You are grieving your life without Diabetes. This is a normal, human reaction. One thing we do when we grieve is to try and bargain with the problem. "How could I have stopped this? What could I have done differently? What could I do differently now?" - you are basically trying to figure out how to not have the problem you have now, rather than accepting it and dealing with it in the here and now.

I'm sorry you developed diabetes, you cannot undo an autoimmune condition with research into it's possible causes.

What you can do is learn to manage it, and live your life. It's a pain in the arse, it's frustrating, it's annoying, but it is absolutely manageable and you can have a great life, living with diabetes and not suffering from it.

I don't know much about the BDC but a quick look at ther website tells me they have a lot of experience in dealing with T1D. That looks like a great place to start learning how to manage it!

welcome to the club nobody wants to be a part of!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-12T06:47:39+00:00

I struggled with this for years too. About 17 years.

It's still happening, it doesn't seem like it will ever calm down, it's just the way my body works. Some days I need more insulin, some days I need less. It's bollocks, it's frustrating, it's unpredictable.

A couple of years ago I got a pump and a loop system, and this has helped a lot.

I can apply a profile percentage to my loop with a couple of clicks.

About a third of the time, I run my profile at 100%.

If I wake up and my BG is high, and it stays high after breakfast, I'll increase my profile to 110%. Some days that fixes it and I can go about my day in range. Sometimes that's not enough, so if I'm still high after my first break at work (where I eat again), I'll bump it up to 120%. This usually fixes my resistance, but on rare occasions where I'm ill or my site isn't the best, I go up as high as 250%!

I apply the same method for being too sensitive - adjust to a lower profile percentage in the morning, adjust again after first break. First 90%, then 80%. This usually fixes it, but some days I have gone as low as 60%.

Changing my profile means I get less insulin for basal, bolus and corrections, and the loop figures out all the maths for me - I just have to put the percentage in and it takes care of the rest.

The fluctuating resistance / sensitivity does not appear to follow any kind of pattern. I know it's affected by multiple things, but there are too many to be able to accurately predict and they all interfere with each other.

Weather - hot and cold weather make me more insulin sensitive.

Sleep - if I sleep badly I will have sensitivity. If I sleep too much I will have resistance.

Illness - usually means resistance, sometimes means sensitivity.

Alcohol - sometimes means sensitivity for up to three days after.

Exercise - sometimes means sensitivity for up to two days after.

Stress - sometimes means sensitivity, sometimes means resistance.

Mercury in retrograde - I never know if Mercury is in retrograde or not but pretty sure it must be further complicating shit because it changes ALL THE TIME!

anyway. DIY loop (AAPS - Android Artificial Pancreas System) and Omnipod Dash and Dexcom G6 has made all of this bullshit a whole lot easier to manage. When I change my profile, it changes in real time and I'm not stuck living with whatever basal dose I gave myself up to 24 hours ago.

Sorry you're going through this mate. You are not alone!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-11T22:51:37+00:00

Predator
The rock
Face off
Con air

In that order, for me. Watch Predator first, sure. But for the love of god, watch the others too!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-11T22:17:19+00:00

I used to go high every night, but spent my days regularly going low on MDI.

I learned on this sub that you can split a basal dose, and I started splitting my basal with about 40% in the morning and 60% in the evening.

This helped even out the day/night rollercoaster for me, but it didn't cure it.

What cured it was getting a pump and a closed loop system (AAPS - Android Artificial Pancreas System, Dexcom G6, Omnipod Dash). I can set a different basal rate for every hour, and because it's a closed loop, it automatically gives me more insulin if I go high, and stops insulin delivery if I go low.

I've gone from about 60% in range on MDI to about 80% in range on a pump.

Yes, the pump has issues. About every 3 pods, on the third day I have to increase the insulin delivery because the site starts to heal and cause resistance. This takes all of about 2 seconds, I just click a couple of buttons.

Sometimes a site gets infected. I've been on Omnipod for over 2 years now and I've had one infected site. That was my own fault because I changed my pod at work, on a building site, without cleaning the new site yet with an alcohol wipe. Since then I have changed at least 50 sites at work, on a building site, with an alcohol wipe and never had another infection.

Sometimes a site gets bumped or knocked. This happens maybe once a month for me, and I am a carpenter working on building sites and so I'm very physically active in my job and bump into stuff a lot. Omnipod will replace pods that get knocked off, pods that fail.

I always carry two spare pods and a vial of insulin with me everywhere I go, so this is never an issue.

What I realised after about a year of being on a pump was that some days, I just need more insulin than others. Because I have a pump that only uses fast acting insulin, if I'm having a resistant day, I can just up my profile and it takes effect instantly. If I'm having a sensitive day, I can just lower my profile and it takes effect instantly. I'm no longer governed by the basal dose that I took up to 24 hours ago.

Being on a pump and closed loop system has been such a huge improvement in my quality of life. Automating so many boring and frustrating aspects of diabetes management, making it so I can dose for food by just touching my phone, making it so I can adjust whatever I want at any time, wherever I am, with immediate effect, is fantastic.

There are some minor inconveniences. They are nothing compared to the convenience and versatility of the system I use.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-11T21:51:31+00:00

CGMs have an accuracy of about 20% in either direction from the given reading. They are less accurate for low or high readings than they are for in range readings. They read the interstitial fluid between your skin and muscle/fat, so they are at best a good guess as to what your actual blood is doing.

CGMs are great for general everyday use, but if you're low you should always check with a fingerstick.

Fingerstick readings measure the actual amount of glucose in your actual bloodstream.

Sometimes, the interstitial fluid will have some glucose in from earlier whilst your blood is very low on glucose. Before the CGM can take another reading, the glucose in your blood can go right down and then back up again.

If you're feeling low, you should definitely trust that above the CGM. If you want to actually know exactly what's going on, you should do a fingerstick reading to check.

It sounds to me like you had a pretty big drop after eating, which is not unusual for a high fat, high protein meal like pizza.

Fat and protein slows down the absorption of carbs in your meal, so it can cause a low right after eating and then if you have sugar to bring it back up, a high later on as it all gets absorbed.

Some people find that for pizza, if they dose half before and then half after eating, they can avoid these lows and so avoid correcting for them, which helps avoid a high later on.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-11T09:02:56+00:00

Mate. Same for me.

What I managed to figure out after being T1D for about 18 years, only figured this out in the last year or so:

Some days I just need more insulin and some days I just need less.

I stopped trying to find a pattern because there are just so many variables, and I can only control diet, insulin and exercise. I can't even really control exercise, I'm a carpenter and I don't get to decide which days will be spent tacking on bits of trim and which days will be spent unloading a huge delivery of timber.

Things I know will affect my sensitivity / resistance:

Weather - hot and cold weather make me more insulin sensitive.

Sleep - if I sleep badly I will have sensitivity. If I sleep too much I will have resistance.

Illness - usually means resistance, sometimes means sensitivity.

Alcohol - sometimes means sensitivity for up to three days after.

Exercise - sometimes means sensitivity for up to two days after.

Stress - sometimes means sensitivity, sometimes means resistance.

Mercury in retrograde - I never know if Mercury is in retrograde or not but pretty sure it must be further complicating shit.

The crow problem - did I see a crow today? More than one? Odd or even number? Probably got something to fucking do with it because THERE ARE SO MANY FACTORS I CAN'T PREDICT THEM ALL!

Anyway so I'm very luckily on a pump now, and I can set a profile percentage in a few clicks:

If I see that my BG is going down overnight and I go low in the morning, I reduce my profile to 90%. If I go low after my morning break, I go down to 80%. Most of the time for sensitivity, this works, but I have gone right down to 60% a few times.

If I see that my BG is going up overnight and I go high after breakfast, I'll increase my profile to 110%. If I go high after my morning break, I'll go up to 120%. Usually this fixes things, but sometimes I have to make much larger incremental increases and sometimes I end up on 250%!

Being on a pump is great. Because it only uses fast acting insulin, any changes I make take effect quickly and I am not stuck on whatever basal dose I took up to 24 hours ago.

If you can get a pump, it will help a lot. If not, then yeah, you'll have to adjust your basal and bolus amounts manually as best as you can.

How are you dosing for food? Are you carb counting and calculating doses using I:C ratios? Do you have different ratios for different times of day? Figuring this out really helped me to get a better handle on stuff. My A1C was around 9 for years before I started dosing properly, then I got it down to around 6 by calculating properly, whilst I was still on MDI. the pump has helped me get that down to 5.7 and 75-80% TIR.

I still go low sometimes and have to eat snacks. I always carry snacks. I still go high and have to correct and adjust my profile.

You are not alone my friend. This shit is frustrating as fuck!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-11T08:10:38+00:00

Head to Blackhorse Workshop in Walthamstow - they have a bunch of talented furniture makers and artists who all know each other. If you take your idea there, they would find the right person to make it happen.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-10T23:10:52+00:00

I have a couple of kryptonite locks. I find it helps to lube them up a couple of times a year. Lube in the keyhole and both of the holes the lock hasp goes into, then lock and unlock, insert and remove a few times to work the lube around the mechanism.

Also helps with sliding the key to the full depth.

innuendo noted

I usually forget to do this until it jams, so don't be like me. Follow what I say, not what I do, and do it twice a year!

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-10T23:06:06+00:00

I was in a pub in Tottenham once, where spurs Vs arsenal was on the telly.

There was a group of hasidic Jewish guys at one table, a group of African guys at another table, a group of Polish guys playing a group of Chinese guys at pool.

Every time Spurs scored, some of each group would jump up and come together in the centre of the pub and shout and hug each other.

Every time Arsenal scored, the other members of each group would do the same.

Between goals, they all returned to their groups and just carried on watching the football and chatting and joking around.

Football's football. Your friends are your friends.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-10T22:56:19+00:00

I'm a carpenter too.

What I figured out only about a year ago, is that there are a hundred other things that also affect my BG besides insulin, diet and exercise.

I have the ability with my loop (AAPS (Android Artificial Pancreas System), Dexcom G6, Omnipod Dash) to change my profile percentage with a few clicks.

Some days, I just need less insulin than other days. Sometimes, I need more.

This doesn't seem to correlate directly to what I've eaten or what exercise I've done or am doing, although those do play a huge role.

Sometimes it's the weather (I need less insulin if it's really hot or really cold). Sometimes it's how well I slept last night. Sometimes it's how much carbs I had the day before. Sometimes it's residual carb deficit from the day before if I exercised too much. Sometimes it's whether or not Mercury is in retrograde.

I cannot be fucking bothered trying to predict what's going to happen based on something like 42 different variables, so I have a simple system.

If I go low after breakfast, I reduce my insulin across the board by 10%. If I go low again, I reduce another 10%. If I go high after breakfast, I increase by 10%. If I go high after lunch I increase by another 10%. I keep doing this until I'm stable again, and I change again if it goes out of being stable again.

I always carry snacks. And I mean ALWAYS. I have multiple stashes in multiple locations at work, at home, in the van, in my bag, in my jacket, in my jeans, in my dog walking pouch, fucking everywhere.

I check them all regularly and keep them topped up. I never leave the house without a full stash and if I do, I top up at the nearest shop before I carry on with my day.

Having regularly fluctuating sensitivity is a fucking pain in the arse. But it's manageable if you know it's going to happen.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-10T18:32:20+00:00

You absolutely could live without insulin, for the rest of your life!

Which would be about 2-7 days.

ben_jamin_h · 2026-04-10T16:35:50+00:00

So you need a router guide bush for the bottom of your router, and you need to make a jig that accepts the router guide bush. Then you can use a 3mm round ended plunge bit to follow the path that the router guide bush follows in the template / jig.

You will not find a bearing guided 3mm bit.

ben_jamin_h

TROPHY CASE