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Help to work out ratios

Ali11782 said:
So breakfast i tend to have a banana about 9.
I don't tend to take insulin for it if 6 or below.
Lunch four corn cakes, 200g cottage cheese, 250g cherry tom, two satsumas, pot of yeo valley greek yog and honey.
Then late afternoon the binge starts and idon't manage sugars.
Feel I need a buddy to just get me back on track. Feel so alone
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The breakfast sounds a bit light. Choosing the right foods for meals can help binging because it reduces the hunger. Having had two EDs myself, I know binging isn’t just hunger but hunger makes it worse IMO. Could you try something like a bowl of cereal for breakfast with maybe some protein with it or mid-morning? Corn cakes are yummy but, again, insubstantial. I sometimes have them for lunch when I run out of GF bread, but they make me hungry. If you had a sandwich plus cottage cheese, etc, then that might gradually help. If you start binging late afternoon, then have an afternoon snack prior to that, with insulin if needed. Again choose a snack with some protein and fat to keep you satisfied better.

EDs are lonely things. I recovered from mine (and I was quite ill) so please know that it’s possible. What helped me turn the corner was regular, proper meals over a period of weeks, which reset my body, a focus on being healthy and sorting out my emotions/stress.
 
rebrascora said:
If you can regularly eat a banana at breakfast time without bolus then to me that suggests that your basal is too high as that is 15-20g carbs your basal must be mopping up..... unless this is after exercise and your muscles/liver are replenishing their stores?
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I thought it may be the bolus to manage DP which was "mopping up" the carbs from the banana.
 
Inka said:
The breakfast sounds a bit light. Choosing the right foods for meals can help binging because it reduces the hunger. Having had two EDs myself, I know binging isn’t just hunger but hunger makes it worse IMO. Could you try something like a bowl of cereal for breakfast with maybe some protein with it or mid-morning? Corn cakes are yummy but, again, insubstantial. I sometimes have them for lunch when I run out of GF bread, but they make me hungry. If you had a sandwich plus cottage cheese, etc, then that might gradually help. If you start binging late afternoon, then have an afternoon snack prior to that, with insulin if needed. Again choose a snack with some protein and fat to keep you satisfied better.

EDs are lonely things. I recovered from mine (and I was quite ill) so please know that it’s possible. What helped me turn the corner was regular, proper meals over a period of weeks, which reset my body, a focus on being healthy and sorting out my emotions/stress.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I want to reset my body. I've been there before insulin when I was really ill too.
It's become such a bad habit now and I know if I can break it things will get easier.
 
I don't understand about not taking insulin when you binge. You are having to inject insulin afterwards in the form of a large correction for it so why not take it whilst you binge and prevent it going high?
Ali11782 said:
Ok perhaps I need to test this for a few days..
Today i will be slow walking at 1030.
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I don't really understand this comment. What are you testing? How high your banana takes you? If you have one most mornings then you can just look back at your graphs from the last few days and see. Do your levels come back down after the banana with no bolus? If so, then that again would suggest you have too much basal which is dealing with the banana when you don't bolus for it.

I don't understand why you would jab for 10g carbs for the jam on your toast but not for 15-20g carbs in a banana?
In order to see trends and sort out basal doses and ratios and correction factors, it really helps to be consistent, even though we all know that diabetes doesn't always behave consistently. None of it will make sense or show any real patterns if you inject for some carbs but not for others.
Of course, if you are going to exercise after eating your banana then you would reduce the bolus for it, perhaps by 50% or perhaps even not bolus at all depending upon how much exercise and what type of exercise, what your levels are and maybe how fit you are.

Can I ask, have you ever had a DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) course or local equivalent? Sorry if I have asked this before. Just wondering if you might find it helpful.
 
rebrascora said:
I don't understand about not taking insulin when you binge. You are having to inject insulin afterwards in the form of a large correction for it so why not take it whilst you binge and prevent it going high?

I don't really understand this comment. What are you testing? How high your banana takes you? If you have one most mornings then you can just look back at your graphs from the last few days and see. Do your levels come back down after the banana with no bolus? If so, then that again would suggest you have too much basal which is dealing with the banana when you don't bolus for it.

I don't understand why you would jab for 10g carbs for the jam on your toast but not for 15-20g carbs in a banana?
In order to see trends and sort out basal doses and ratios and correction factors, it really helps to be consistent, even though we all know that diabetes doesn't always behave consistently. None of it will make sense or show any real patterns if you inject for some carbs but not for others.
Of course, if you are going to exercise after eating your banana then you would reduce the bolus for it, perhaps by 50% or perhaps even not bolus at all depending upon how much exercise and what type of exercise, what your levels are and maybe how fit you are.

Can I ask, have you ever had a DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) course or local equivalent? Sorry if I have asked this before. Just wondering if you might find it helpful.
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I'm so lost even though I know in my head what to do. I feel like I need to start over but don't know where it start.
Did a local equivalent year's ago and I've done bertie online etc.
 
It definitely sounds like you need a full "reset". Can you make preparations today to start a new "clean page" tomorrow. Make up a meal plan, shop if necessary for things you need and perhaps even batch cook today, so you have healthy filling meals ready for when you are hungry and have it all carb counted ready so there is minimal thinking involved. Keep it simple so that it is easier to stick to and take it one day at a time and forget the past because you can't do anything about it. This is going to be a new you.
I find it helps me to have protein and fat snacks handy so that if I start to feel myself slipping I can eat those to stave it off. Boiled eggs with a spoon of mayonnaise was one of my go to snacks. I would boil 8-10 and then they were there in the fridge when I felt vulnerable. Another thing I do sometimes is open a tin of tuna and have that with mayonnaise and veggie sticks.
 
rebrascora said:
It definitely sounds like you need a full "reset". Can you make preparations today to start a new "clean page" tomorrow. Make up a meal plan, shop if necessary for things you need and perhaps even batch cook today, so you have healthy filling meals ready for when you are hungry and have it all carb counted ready so there is minimal thinking involved. Keep it simple so that it is easier to stick to and take it one day at a time and forget the past because you can't do anything about it. This is going to be a new you.
I find it helps me to have protein and fat snacks handy so that if I start to feel myself slipping I can eat those to stave it off. Boiled eggs with a spoon of mayonnaise was one of my go to snacks. I would boil 8-10 and then they were there in the fridge when I felt vulnerable. Another thing I do sometimes is open a tin of tuna and have that with mayonnaise and veggie sticks.
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A fresh start tomorrow sounds good.
I am veggie and don't eat eggs or fish to make things more difficult.
 
Ali11782 said:
This is exactly what I want to reset my body. I've been there before insulin when I was really ill too.
It's become such a bad habit now and I know if I can break it things will get easier.
Click to expand...

I think there are two tricks to this. The first one is obvious - you need to want to stop - but the second one might not be so obvious because it’s food. Eating properly is a huge part of the answer because it forms a solid base to work on. It wasn’t until I started eating properly that I was able to physically and mentally change things. I also had the bonus of feeling really well and that helped enormously. It didn’t happen immediately, but a few weeks of proper, regular and consistent eating was the dampening down of the ED.
 
Inka said:
I think there are two tricks to this. The first one is obvious - you need to want to stop - but the second one might not be so obvious because it’s food. Eating properly is a huge part of the answer because it forms a solid base to work on. It wasn’t until I started eating properly that I was able to physically and mentally change things. I also had the bonus of feeling really well and that helped enormously. It didn’t happen immediately, but a few weeks of proper, regular and consistent eating was the dampening down of the ED.
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Thank you.
I want to do it, no question about it.
I'm scared of what will happen when I stop doing the way I am doing things. I tell myself it can't be any worse than how things are, my over consumption of calories in a day must be crazy.
I really would like someone to give me a meal plan to follow, to take away the decision making for a short time.
One of my things is say I've had my lunch and for some reason my 6 units didn't bring me back down, could be because of any reason I have no control over.
So I get to 5pm and I'm at say 13. My head does two things..one tells me I can't have dinner because I'm.already high then second oh well you've failed so might as well binge. What also happens is if I go low and feel hypo then I do want to.eat the kitchen x
 
Hi again @Ali11782. I'm very humbled by your honesty about your management of your D in the past, your binge eating, your strong desire to start afresh and this morning's recent heart felt post:
Ali11782 said:
I'm so lost even though I know in my head what to do. I feel like I need to start over but don't know where it start.
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I am also at a loss in how to most appropriately offer my very non-medical observations, rather than add more confusion to what is already confusing.

I think you might find it helpful to treat this like "eating the elephant - one bite at a time". I've read a bit back and know that you have 2 teenage boys and a (5yr old?) daughter and you are a veggie; is everyone in your family veggie or is your time also given to different meals for different people? You must be reeling with day to day family matters and from my own experience these last 5 years finding time to manage my BG daily is, frankly, very time consuming just for me. At the very least time for you must be scarce. Yet, time for YOU to help YOU seems to me to be a very important start point. Several of your responses show that you know what to do, you want to "get back on track" and I think that needs you to take (=create) "you time".

Certainly stopping the binge eating would be a huge step forward. I now understand why your random dose of 13 units was random; presumably part correction and part food bolus. If you just find it impossible to break the binge habit, then do at least (please, please, please!) log the carbs. This will at least allow you (and us) to look at your graphs with some understanding of actions and consequence.
Ali11782 said:
View attachment 34807


Does this look like two.units before getting.up was a good idea and worked. Three hours since insulin.
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Incidentally, yes your 2 units before getting up clearly worked and you spent over 10 hrs sensibly in range. It would be useful to see a screenshot later today, after your slow walk this morning.

I hope you had a pleasant walk; I've no idea which 1/4 of the UK you are in, but the National weather forecast looks fine for all of us today. This thread is fast moving and since starting this response various extra posts have been written. I'm starting to feel lost! Keep posting, talking does help.
 
Up north in Scotland here.
Two teenage daughters and a 5 year old daughter to.
Just away on our walk now. Will only be 20mins.
It really is all consuming. I also work full time as a service coordinator for individuals with autism.
 
You CAN do this!
 
Looks like that worked out perfectly this morning.
 
Is it 5.4 and level or 5.4 and sloping downwards. Personally I am very happy to bimble along in the low 5s or even in the mid 4s, but I know that my basal insulin dose is right, so I am not at risk of dropping lower. If your Tresiba dose is too high as some of us suspect, then it may be dropping you. It may also be that a slow 30 min walk for you is sufficient exercise to drop your levels whereas for me it would have almost no effect and I would need a 45 min fast power walk to show any real downward trend.
I would say it is probably safest to have a couple of grapes (about 5g carbs) now before lunch, which should raise your levels by about 1.5 mmols if Tresiba is holding you steady or keep you steady if Tresiba is pushing you lower. Log the grapes in the Libre app as this is all info which will help you to see if you are having to eat to keep level and therefore tell you if Tresiba dose is too much.
 
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