A day off being diabetic

[Lisa66]

I don’t think either type 1 or 2 are “easy”. We can see that everyday on the forum. Each have their own issues...and we can learn about each other. We all do our best. We support each other when things don’t quite work and hopefully celebrate when they do.

 

[Kaylz]

I don’t think either type 1 or 2 are “easy”. We can see that everyday on the forum. Each have their own issues...and we can learn about each other. We all do our best. We support each other when things don’t quite work and hopefully celebrate when they do.

No they don't and I've been saying that all along but some seem to have the misconception that its as simple as that for a Type 1, take some insulin and all will be fine and dandy and people need to realise that isn't the case so nothing wrong in pointing that out imo, I do support any Type but as I say people need to realise it isn't THAT simple just because there is insulin xx

 

[rebrascora]

Just as an example of why insulin doesn't make it easy, I will recount my day yesterday.

I sort of had a meal off from my strict diet which is what we are talking about here because of course we never really have a day off from diabetes itself.... Us Type 1s and insulin dependent Type 2s still have to inject basal insulin to cover the glucose our liver constantly produces as well as fast acting insulin whenever we eat.

I went to my sister's for a socially distanced Sunday lunch meal in their outdoor room to celebrate Easter and in memory of our late mother as it was her anniversary.
I injected my insulin 15 mins before the meal which is slightly less than my usual 20mins. Used 5 units to cover the increased carbs which as you suggest is easy for us Type 1s to do.... yes the injection is easy!! I would normally have about 3 units for a low carb meal. I had 3 small roasties, half a Yorkshire pudding (I would have loved a whole one and prior to diagnosis I would have had 2) had 3 small roast parsnips, again a huge treat, a small dollop of mushy peas and plenty of veg to fill out my plate along with the meat and gravy which was really thick so more carbs there.

Half way through the meal I felt wobbly and my BG was 3.0 with a vertical downward arrow and I had to start eating jelly babies in the middle of my Sunday dinner. I didn't enjoy the rest of my meal because I was recovering from the hypo, my food had got cold and with the taste of JBs in my mouth did not taste so good and I was trying to pretend I was OK so my sister didn't worry and stuffing the carbs on my plate down my neck first to help the JBs bring my levels back up whilst worrying that my BG would probably rocket later and I would be on a BG rollercoaster. As it turned out my levels dropped again later as I was driving home and I had to pull over and sit on the roadside on my own in the car for an hour before I could drive home.

So I too resent the implication that using insulin makes it easier for us Type 1s, especially as I normally follow a very low carb diet and still have to do this precarious balancing act with insulin every meal and not just carb count but protein count too which is more complicated.

Please everyone, it is difficult for us all so lets not get into who has it easiest! The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence until you get there! I feel like I have been both Type 2 and Type 1 because of my misdiagnosis so I think I have a better understanding to comment on this. Neither are easy and we need to understand and support each other.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

But then on the other hand it might've been easier growing up with it as then we wouldn't have known anything different and had to make such huge changes in the way we go about things

That would be true if treatment stayed much the same, but (at least over the last 40 years) it very much hasn't!

 

[CivicFreak]

This is so me! I miss being able to do things spontaneously too xx

That's the thing isn't it? Spontaneity pretty much goes out of the window when you have to consider your insulin doses and how what you eat affects that.

I only recently got diagnosed as type 1, having been diagnosed as type 2 in 2017 and I'm still getting used to having to regularly finger prick and count every carb so I can manage my doses correctly, and I also have to consider that if I'm going out and likely to be out a while I have to make sure I have my insulin, needles, blood monitor and glucose tablets with me in case I decide to grab something to eat while I'm out.

It does dominate life for sure but there's no reason you can't have a treat. I had fish and chips on Friday, but adjusted my insulin appropriately. Unfortunately, there's really no such thing as having a "day off", but that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself once in a while, it just has to be planned a little more in advance.

On a side note, it is very easy to miscalculate your insulin dose. I do use ratios given to me by my dietician, but if having a takeaway it's harder to calculate. On a couple of occasions I have over dosed and ended up with a hypo, especially if I have exercised, but on the flip side I have also under dosed and ended up with BG in the high teens. I tend not to worry too much about high BG as usually my Tresiba brings this under control, but a hypo is a little harder to get back under control as you have to have take on some sugar quickly, which then is likely cause BG to spike.

 

[Deleted member 25429]

Just as an example of why insulin doesn't make it easy, I will recount my day yesterday.

I sort of had a meal off from my strict diet which is what we are talking about here because of course we never really have a day off from diabetes itself.... Us Type 1s and insulin dependent Type 2s still have to inject basal insulin to cover the glucose our liver constantly produces as well as fast acting insulin whenever we eat.

I went to my sister's for a socially distanced Sunday lunch meal in their outdoor room to celebrate Easter and in memory of our late mother as it was her anniversary.
I injected my insulin 15 mins before the meal which is slightly less than my usual 20mins. Used 5 units to cover the increased carbs which as you suggest is easy for us Type 1s to do.... yes the injection is easy!! I would normally have about 3 units for a low carb meal. I had 3 small roasties, half a Yorkshire pudding (I would have loved a whole one and prior to diagnosis I would have had 2) had 3 small roast parsnips, again a huge treat, a small dollop of mushy peas and plenty of veg to fill out my plate along with the meat and gravy which was really thick so more carbs there.

Half way through the meal I felt wobbly and my BG was 3.0 with a vertical downward arrow and I had to start eating jelly babies in the middle of my Sunday dinner. I didn't enjoy the rest of my meal because I was recovering from the hypo, my food had got cold and with the taste of JBs in my mouth did not taste so good and I was trying to pretend I was OK so my sister didn't worry and stuffing the carbs on my plate down my neck first to help the JBs bring my levels back up whilst worrying that my BG would probably rocket later and I would be on a BG rollercoaster. As it turned out my levels dropped again later as I was driving home and I had to pull over and sit on the roadside on my own in the car for an hour before I could drive home.

So I too resent the implication that using insulin makes it easier for us Type 1s, especially as I normally follow a very low carb diet and still have to do this precarious balancing act with insulin every meal and not just carb count but protein count too which is more complicated.

Please everyone, it is difficult for us all so lets not get into who has it easiest! The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence until you get there! I feel like I have been both Type 2 and Type 1 because of my misdiagnosis so I think I have a better understanding to comment on this. Neither are easy and we need to understand and support each other.

Hope you are having a slightly easier day today x

 

[Maca44]

Having a good read through, I don't think anyone has said type 1's have it easy, I for sure understand how different it must to be type 1 and that is why I am trying hard to avoid/delay that day but there is no guarantees as you all know. This is the reason I wont eat takeaways 1. I don't want to put strain on my body 2. I eat low carb and enjoy every bit of it so why would I need to have a takeaway especially if I am a little down. If I can avoid type 1 or getting ill again I will do everything I can to do it and all of you either type 1 or 2's have helped me get stable. We all share the same disease but it's clear type 1 is a mare to control and much more involved.

 

[helli]

@Maca44 i don’t understand your comment about trying to avoid/delay that day.
Type 1 and type 2 are completely different diseases. You don’t become Type 1 unless you were wrongly diagnosed in the first place, not because you eat take aways.

 

[Sally71]

... and a type 2 who needs insulin injections is still a type 2

 

[Maca44]

@Maca44 i don’t understand your comment about trying to avoid/delay that day.
Type 1 and type 2 are completely different diseases. You don’t become Type 1 unless you were wrongly diagnosed in the first place, not because you eat take aways.

I have seen a few people here who have been told they are type two but a while later it turn out to be type 1 so I sayin if I am type 1 I want to delay it as long as I can but if the pancreas is packing up there is not much I can do other than eating well to take the pressure off of it.

 

[helli]

I have seen a few people here who have been told they are type two but a while later it turn out to be type 1 so I sayin if I am type 1 I want to delay it as long as I can but if the pancreas is packing up there is not much I can do other than eating well to take the pressure off of it.

This is the wrong diagnosis I mentioned.
Type 1 is an autoimmune condition - our body decides it does not like the healthy insulin producing cells and kills them off. It is not caused by insulin producing cells wearing out.

 

[Maca44]

This is the wrong diagnosis I mentioned.
Type 1 is an autoimmune condition - our body decides it does not like the healthy insulin producing cells and kills them off. It is not caused by insulin producing cells wearing out.

So would you say being 6mths into my illness that it is unlikely that I am in that category ?

 

[helli]

So would you say being 6mths into my illness that it is unlikely that I am in that category ?

I am not qualified to answer that.
But if you are wrongly diagnosed, you can’t avoid a correction by abstaining from take aways.

As you are happy with you diet and lifestyle, there is no reason to change it.

 

[Kaylz]

@CivicFreak and no 2 days are the same! I had something important so had done 2 trial runs of a dinner to try and make sure I could do it ok, the day came, I had the same dinner that had been successful the previous 2 days AND hypo'd, this important thing was my partners grans funeral! I started hypoing before we were picked up, all the drive to the crematorium, a short wait outside and only at the end of the service did I get above 4! I wasn't at my partners side, I sat up the back to try my best not to disturb things and I feel absolutely dreadful that I couldn't support him

I avoided treats for years after diagnosis so comments of "don't eat it" touch a nerve for me, a fellow member told me my eye issues 1 month in were my own fault cause I'd been eating carbs so I developed an eating disorder so when I see "don't eat it, you can't" etc it really upsets me as I don't want others to end up like I ended up but nobody thinks what it might do to others

@Maca44 this puts it across like Type 1's have it easy - those with type 1 can correct their dosages to what is going in to the mouth when in fact it is so much more difficult than that, as @rebrascora says even with just proteins and fats we still need to calculate and be very cautious because we are doing the complete job our pancreas should be doing

 

[Maca44]

I think I have made it quite clear that it must be really hard to control type 1 and at no point have I said type 1's have it easy not sure how anyone thinks that is my view because it isn't. I was under the impression that my type 2 could turn into type 1 and I see now that this is not the case.

I would rather it was not implied that my view of type 1 is easy because it is not true.

 

[Kaylz]

I would rather it was not implied that my view of type 1 is easy because it is not true.

Nobody said that was your view

 

[Deleted member 25429]

Just as an example of why insulin doesn't make it easy, I will recount my day yesterday.

I sort of had a meal off from my strict diet which is what we are talking about here because of course we never really have a day off from diabetes itself.... Us Type 1s and insulin dependent Type 2s still have to inject basal insulin to cover the glucose our liver constantly produces as well as fast acting insulin whenever we eat.

I went to my sister's for a socially distanced Sunday lunch meal in their outdoor room to celebrate Easter and in memory of our late mother as it was her anniversary.
I injected my insulin 15 mins before the meal which is slightly less than my usual 20mins. Used 5 units to cover the increased carbs which as you suggest is easy for us Type 1s to do.... yes the injection is easy!! I would normally have about 3 units for a low carb meal. I had 3 small roasties, half a Yorkshire pudding (I would have loved a whole one and prior to diagnosis I would have had 2) had 3 small roast parsnips, again a huge treat, a small dollop of mushy peas and plenty of veg to fill out my plate along with the meat and gravy which was really thick so more carbs there.

Half way through the meal I felt wobbly and my BG was 3.0 with a vertical downward arrow and I had to start eating jelly babies in the middle of my Sunday dinner. I didn't enjoy the rest of my meal because I was recovering from the hypo, my food had got cold and with the taste of JBs in my mouth did not taste so good and I was trying to pretend I was OK so my sister didn't worry and stuffing the carbs on my plate down my neck first to help the JBs bring my levels back up whilst worrying that my BG would probably rocket later and I would be on a BG rollercoaster. As it turned out my levels dropped again later as I was driving home and I had to pull over and sit on the roadside on my own in the car for an hour before I could drive home.

So I too resent the implication that using insulin makes it easier for us Type 1s, especially as I normally follow a very low carb diet and still have to do this precarious balancing act with insulin every meal and not just carb count but protein count too which is more complicated.

Please everyone, it is difficult for us all so lets not get into who has it easiest! The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence until you get there! I feel like I have been both Type 2 and Type 1 because of my misdiagnosis so I think I have a better understanding to comment on this. Neither are easy and we need to understand and support each other.

Hope you are having a slightly easier day today x

So would you say being 6mths into my illness that it is unlikely that I am in that category ?

 

[Deleted member 25429]

Hope you are having a slightly easier day today x

I took low doses of insulin after a DKA one consultant said because of my age and my low usage I couldn’t be type 1. Luckily she ordered the tests which proved I was type 1 . She was all for taking me off insulin. I still only take low doses of insulin but I’m incredibly active and am very strict about what I have eat

 

[Schrodinger]

Arh! the age old question, which is easier to control T1 or T2?
The answer is neither of them, both have their problems, both have their different way to control them.

I've grown up with T1, yes long term, even have a medal as well.......Go Me 😎.

These days it can be "easier" to control T1 with various insulins that can act fast, pumps, CGM and Flash monitors, blood test meters to watch what is going on after you eat that curry, certainly better than the urine tests that could be anything up to 6 hours out............and people moan about latency with Libre

Of course saying that the ugly head of "mental health" does come up and yes also been hit by that but these days if my sugars go hyper then its just Meh! and I'll deal with it and shrug my shoulders, I don't like em but its just one of those things. Likewise I don't fear hypos, again just one of those things that can be dealt with..........I have a different attitude towards T1, Ive gone though the "why me", "I hate this", "hell can't I get a transplant" and many other things, now I just sit down open that bottle of wine and enjoy my curry.......while split dosing over a couple of hours and taking bets on if I will be more than 10mmol in the morning.

But like T2 it can go wrong and things can go astray and sometimes "good ol'burnout" will hit, which causes a whole bunch of issues.

Eating food that "spikes" you is not so bad just so long as you recognise that it can do that to you, you can always juggle something else somewhere along the line and running into double figure for a ,short, time will do nothing if anything, even none diabetics can hit double figures. The problem with double figures is them running for a long period of time then the damage can accumulate, which I am sure we are all aware of. Arh! how I would love to slurp a Maccy D Milk Shake, used to love them.....dont think I would touch one now mind you.

If you want to take a day off then go for it, hey you only live once as for me, true can't take a day off as such but nothing is off the menu as far as I am concerned 120g breakfast anyone?

So, live long and prosper, no diabetic has it easy, we are all sort of ,in the same boat 🙂

 

[Maca44]

Nobody said that was your view

Read into that wrong then