• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Please help me get my Basal right

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
katie said:
ok i really dont understand this :( well, the only thing that's happened today is that I slept in late...

before lunch i was 6.7... now i'm 19 arghhh.

Does anybody take into account baked beans? because I just take insulin to cover the toast.
Click to expand...

I don't eat them myself but I believe there is sugar in the sauce so you'll probably need to account for that.
 
katie said:
Does anybody take into account baked beans? because I just take insulin to cover the toast.
Click to expand...

Baked beans definitely have carbs - in fact, they are one of the few things guaranteed to give me a huge spike! Reading the label on a tin of mine says 16gm carbs per 100 grams, so that's about 35 per half a big tin (210gm)😱
 
Northerner said:
Baked beans definitely have carbs - in fact, they are one of the few things guaranteed to give me a huge spike! Reading the label on a tin of mine says 16gm carbs per 100 grams, so that's about 35 per half a big tin (210gm)😱
Click to expand...



oh c**p. lol. I could swear I was told that you don't need to cover for beans because of the fibre or something?!

that would explain it, so now I know 🙂
 
There *is* a school of thought that says to take away the fibre in grams from the carb in grams to get the overall carb count, but apparently that method isn't used here in the UK...so our dietician says.🙂
 
Patricia said:
There *is* a school of thought that says to take away the fibre in grams from the carb in grams to get the overall carb count, but apparently that method isn't used here in the UK...so our dietician says.🙂
Click to expand...

I don't count fibre in carbs, as advised by my dietician, just so many variations!!
 
ive only been taking 8 units to cover the toast when eating beans on toast for years. oops! I'm pretty sure it's fine sometimes aswell 🙄
 
It's the sugar in the sauce that coats baked beans that is the main reason you have to count the carbohydrate in a portion / tin.
 
Patricia said:
There *is* a school of thought that says to take away the fibre in grams from the carb in grams to get the overall carb count, but apparently that method isn't used here in the UK...so our dietician says.🙂
Click to expand...

In the UK the fibre is already taken away on our food labels. In the US is usually isn't so that's why they have to do that subtraction.


Yep i take insulin to cover beans
 
I feel so stupid now lol. of course there is loads of sugar in the sauce 🙄

I stupidly just took the dietician's word for it.
 
katie said:
I feel so stupid now lol. of course there is loads of sugar in the sauce 🙄

I stupidly just took the dietician's word for it.
Click to expand...

Don't feel stupid katie, there's so much conflicting information about that it's hard to keep track, and if you were told this by a dietician they were the ones that were supposed to have the knowledge and clearly didn't!

When I was discharged from hospital I was seen by a dietician just before I left. I had little or no knowledge about diabetes then, just all the normal misconceptions, so I asked her questions based on those assumptions. Could I have sugar in my tea? Could I have honey in my porridge? She said no, and basically gave me the impression that I couldn't eat sugar at all, it would have to be sweetener, I couldn't have things like peanut butter because of the fat, same for sausages. Couldn't eat ice cream, couldn't even have a glass of milk because of the lactose!

Basically, she was giving me the diet that someone looking to lose weight would need, despite the fact that I was seriously underweight at the time. I saw a different dietician a few weeks later and she allowed me much more freedom in my diet, so that it's now virtually the same as my pre-diagnosis diet.

I think that we forget sometimes that there are people who are bad at their job, just because they have some fancy title. They have to earn my respect now before I'll follow their advice.
 
Thanks Northerner. It is true that some people in the profession don't know what they are talking about. It was when I was first diagnosed that I was told not to count beans as carbs.

Hopefully the one I'm seeing in April is better!

What was more scary is that the nurse who gave me my first ever injection of insulin obviously knew nothing about Diabetes. I started crying because I suddenly realised that I would have to inject myself for the rest of my like and she told me "don't worry, you'll be able to control it with diet and pills" so me and my mum got quite excited (even though now I would rather be injecting than on a strict diet). Surely she should have known the difference between type 1 & 2 🙄
 
sofaraway said:
In the UK the fibre is already taken away on our food labels. In the US is usually isn't so that's why they have to do that subtraction.


Yep i take insulin to cover beans
Click to expand...

so do I, infact i take insulin to cover everything that contains carbs, no matter how small. it all adds up!:D
 
Northerner said:
Don't feel stupid katie, there's so much conflicting information about that it's hard to keep track, and if you were told this by a dietician they were the ones that were supposed to have the knowledge and clearly didn't!

When I was discharged from hospital I was seen by a dietician just before I left. I had little or no knowledge about diabetes then, just all the normal misconceptions, so I asked her questions based on those assumptions. Could I have sugar in my tea? Could I have honey in my porridge? She said no, and basically gave me the impression that I couldn't eat sugar at all, it would have to be sweetener, I couldn't have things like peanut butter because of the fat, same for sausages. Couldn't eat ice cream, couldn't even have a glass of milk because of the lactose!

Basically, she was giving me the diet that someone looking to lose weight would need, despite the fact that I was seriously underweight at the time. I saw a different dietician a few weeks later and she allowed me much more freedom in my diet, so that it's now virtually the same as my pre-diagnosis diet.

I think that we forget sometimes that there are people who are bad at their job, just because they have some fancy title. They have to earn my respect now before I'll follow their advice.
Click to expand...

I agree, at first i took the "professionals" at their word. I now do my own research and decide if i think they know what they are talking about.

My dietician is very good i have to say. She told me my diet was fine when i told her what i usually eat and how i cook etc. As for beans she said yes eat them, some say reduced sugar on tin but just buy the ones you enjoy eating. she basically told me i could eat anything and that i should just aim for healthy diet.
 
I need some help again hehe. I need to know exactly what im supposed to put in my diary. Usually I would get a diary from the DN so it says what details you need to write down. Ive been putting the date, what I ate, BG readings, exercise, and insulin given.

But Ive only put things like Morning, Lunchtime, Dinner, Evening. Should I put times in? Have I missed anything?

Northerner, since you are keeping an eye on me and Nikki I'm hoping you will tell me exactly what I need to do 😉
 
Ah so you are trying to be a good diabetic 😉

Yeah I reckon putting times down is a good idea, because breaskfast could be 6am or 10am depending on when you got up.
When I write down what i eat I put whether it's a accurate or estimated carb count.
You might be putting this down but I make sure it's clear how much insulin is given as food bolus and how much is correction.
Any hypos I would write what you treated with

Well done for trying to trying to keep accurate records, i find it so hard and am writing nothing down at the moment.

How is the basal stuff going?
 
Haha, yeah I thought I better try a little bit harder :D

Ok I will start putting in times. I did think about putting whether I guessed how many cards were in the food too, so I will do that from now on.

I wrote down how much was food bolus and how much was correction once, but then got lazy 🙄 haha I will definately have to try harder this week. Thanks for the tips.

To be honest the Basal testing hasn't gone too well either. I missed breakfast one day and my glucose level stayed about the same so seems ok, but I think I need to test it a bit more.
 
I find basal testing a pain so don't always do it properly. Today I woke up at 6am when my g/f went to work, tested at 5.3, got up to my alarm at 10:30 and was 5.4 so thats good enough for me.

How is your overnight level? can you go to bed and wake up around the same number? Sounds like from the test you did that you stayed level so your basal dose might be allright

have you ever done a CGMS? I'm sure your clinic will have one, it might be useful to identify where your problems areas are
 
Ive been to bed with a level of 7.5 and woken up with a level of 6.7, so was pretty happy with that.

I haven't ever tried a CGMS, I might ask about it when I go for my appointment 🙂

I'm going to need to start going to bed at a normal time too. Ive been going to bed at a ridiculous time lately. I think it is because of feeling a bit down about things still. Plus ive been watching too much Mistresses and L Word to avoid dissertation lol. I know it affects BG levels as it makes you liver kick out glucose. I think I would get very told off by my DN!
 
Last edited:
Hey katie, how's the basal testing going? I reduced my basal a couple of weeks ago from 20 to 18 lantus, but have been waking up the past three days to 3.6, 3.8 and 3.2! So, it looks like I might have to reduce it again! Just when I thought things had stabilised...:confused:

Remember, I'm keeping an eye on you - keep aiming for that 6.5 HbA1c by Christmas!😉
 
I think ive got my lantus right now. Except that last night I had two hypos, or rather one that I thought I had treated enough but my level was obviously still on it's way down. Not sure why it happened, the only think different at the moment is that i'm getting to sleep at stupid hours of the morning.

Ok, I will try to do that!! I'm feeling the pressure now 😛
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top