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Just not right

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I don’t understand why the NHS is required to feed us for free because we’d need to pay to eat at home. When I’ve been in hospital, the Asian community have always brought food in for their relatives which for cultural reasons I can understand but serving up carb laden food (especially breakfasts) which could actually be injurious to health and glucose control is just crazy! The sweet rice pudding was marked as diabetic friendly on the menu when I was in.
When I was in hospital after diagnosis the only thing marked as 'not suitable for diabetics' was treacle pudding and custard 😱 My levels swung between 2 and 30 that week. As far as I could tell the nurses never looked at my food choices before deciding my insulin dose. I was ravenous all that week though, having basically starved for the 6 days prior to admission and ate whatever I could. Plus, of course, I had no idea about carbs and BG then - the food was very good though, but apparently they changed to a cheaper contractor about a year later and there were newspaper reports about how poor it was. :(
 
When in hospital last May 2017! I found the hospital food quite good & just didn’t eat any desserts! The servers always asked if I wanted any but, it was actually marked on my chart that I wasn’t allowed any desserts!

What REALLY puzzled me was the sliding scale of insulin the nurses put me on! On admission all my meds were taken off me & locked in a drawer in my locker! The nurses administered my meds! The sliding scale of insulin doses were all too low & didn’t make sense to! When I asked about it, no explanations were given to me!

It wasn’t until I was being discharged, 2 days later, I got a leaflet, with a table on it, of correction doses based on pre meal readings that I understood why I was on a sliding scale! The high doses of steriods I was on affected my BS a lot in the morning, when I took them, & waned during the day to the lowest point at night!

I was shocked at how many times patients were offered cups of tea with biscuits during the day! I refused every one! There’s a huge gap between dinner & the bedtime tea & toast, which I REALLY needed! Followed by another big gap overnight for breakfast! I was so hungry by then I needed the 2 wheetibix, that I NEVER eat at home!
 
I'm trying to think what they fed me, ah I remember, for breakfast was porridge made with proper milk and sugar added and a white roll with jam and lunch was some kind of soup and then a pre packed white bread sandwich, cant remember what was on it though! lol x
 
You do know that even insulin dependants have troubles as well right? As you don't seem to think that we do, it's not all plain sailing and just a case of adjusting our medication! We still suffer spikes no matter how hard we try not to!

I'm with you there Kaylz. Something that really annoys me is when people say we've got the advantage of insulin. 🙄 What's that supposed to mean? Everyone has got insulin otherwise we'd all be dead. If it's such a walk in the park then try getting it at a young age and 'kin living with it for 30, 40, 50 years plus. 🙄
 
I'm trying to think what they fed me, ah I remember, for breakfast was porridge made with proper milk and sugar added and a white roll with jam and lunch was some kind of soup and then a pre packed white bread sandwich, cant remember what was on it though! lol x
We had the pre packed sandwichs as meal choices. If you missed a meal and managed to get anything, then that would be the sandwich. Cheep, corner shop ones at that.
 
I'm with you there Kaylz. Something that really annoys me is when people say we've got the advantage of insulin. 🙄 What's that supposed to mean? Everyone has got insulin otherwise we'd all be dead. If it's such a walk in the park then try getting it at a young age and 'kin living with it for 30, 40, 50 years plus. 🙄
Yes bugs me too when we get but you've got it easy, all you have to do is this or that, if they lived in our shoes for a day or two they would soon realise it's not really 'that' easy and simple x
 
We had the pre packed sandwichs as meal choices. If you missed a meal and managed to get anything, then that would be the sandwich. Cheep, corner shop ones at that.
I didn't get options I just had to eat what was put down lol x
 
I didn't get options I just had to eat what was put down lol x
Sometimes I haven't. However, I'm thinking mainly of when I was in for 3 weeks. Every ward I was on was full. So they knew they needed to do a meal for every bed. And they looked like pre packed/ready meals to me. Sometimes the puddings were still in the pre packed containers. I'm guessing it was a case of microwaving meals, as opposed to actually preparing food. You just do so many of each container.
Of course, by the time they reached some wards, they may have only had the sandwiches left.

Oh yes. Apart from one ward, which I was only on for a couple of days, you didn't choose in advance. Only on the day.
Some wards/hospitals do choice cards you fill the day the before. If you leave in the mean time, the person who gets your bed also gets your choice.
[Edited]
 
Sometimes I haven't. However, I'm thinking mainly of when I was in for 3 weeks. Every ward I was on was full. So they knew they needed to do a meal for every bed. And they looked like pre packed/ready meals to me. Sometimes the puddings were still in the pre packed containers. I'm guessing it was a case of microwaving meals, as opposed to actually preparing food. You just do so many of each container.
Of course, by the time they reached some wards, they may have only had the sandwiches left.
I've only spent the 1 day in hospital thankfully so I don't have a great knowledge of the going on's etc xx
 
I'm with you there Kaylz. Something that really annoys me is when people say we've got the advantage of insulin. 🙄 What's that supposed to mean? Everyone has got insulin otherwise we'd all be dead. If it's such a walk in the park then try getting it at a young age and 'kin living with it for 30, 40, 50 years plus. 🙄
I'm with you Kaylz and Matt. 47 years of whatever I eat affecting how I am. It doesn't get any easier and everything has to be calculated for and even then it doesn't work out right a lot of the time. 2.3 early hours of one morning and 17 the next day despite doing everything "properly". But, having thrown in my two tuppence worth I am concerned that this thread has become a bit divisive with regard to non-insulin injecting v. Injecting insulin. Going back to my previous comments of us know what others are dealing with and certainly shouldn't be judging what they do/don't eat/drink. I could say more but I won't ....
 
I'm with you Kaylz and Matt. 47 years of whatever I eat affecting how I am. It doesn't get any easier and everything has to be calculated for and even then it doesn't work out right a lot of the time. 2.3 early hours of one morning and 17 the next day despite doing everything "properly". But, having thrown in my two tuppence worth I am concerned that this thread has become a bit divisive with regard to non-insulin injecting v. Injecting insulin. Going back to my previous comments of us know what others are dealing with and certainly shouldn't be judging what they do/don't eat/drink. I could say more but I won't ....

I’m concerned it’s becoming divisive too AJ and that’s not what this forum is about. It’s not a competition and nobody should ever underestimate or even imagine what it’s like for one person to manage this (and even more serious conditions) with insulin or without insulin. We have some type 1’s managing very easily, living active and pretty trouble free lives and some type 2’s hurtling towards catastrophic diabetic complications. It’s not a simple equation of it being more difficult for one group or another. There’s too many other things to factor in including psychological factors, co-morbidities and social factors too.
I never underestimate the difficulties and risks associated with total insulin dependence. I’d never attempt to give management advice to a type 1. My heart goes out to new parents with type 1 kids. I was sat next to a newly diagnosed little boy at the clinic. I’m lucky in that my body will stop me crashing and having a hypo without the use of meds. What I do know is however, that in common with everyone on here, the health risks of diabetes are created equal if I’m daft enough to take my hands off the steer for too long. And I have to do that completely without a safety net which means some foods are simply out of bounds unless I want to encourage real organ and eye damage.
 
I’m concerned it’s becoming divisive too AJ and that’s not what this forum is about. It’s not a competition and nobody should ever underestimate or even imagine what it’s like for one person to manage this (and even more serious conditions) with insulin or without insulin. We have some type 1’s managing very easily, living active and pretty trouble free lives and some type 2’s hurtling towards catastrophic diabetic complications. It’s not a simple equation of it being more difficult for one group or another. There’s too many other things to factor in including psychological factors, co-morbidities and social factors too.
I never underestimate the difficulties and risks associated with total insulin dependence. I’d never attempt to give management advice to a type 1. My heart goes out to new parents with type 1 kids. I was sat next to a newly diagnosed little boy at the clinic. I’m lucky in that my body will stop me crashing and having a hypo without the use of meds. What I do know is however, that in common with everyone on here, the health risks of diabetes are created equal if I’m daft enough to take my hands off the steer for too long. And I have to do that completely without a safety net which means some foods are simply out of bounds unless I want to encourage real organ and eye damage.

I'm sorry if my post came over as trivialising T1 that was never my intention. I am thankful I am T2 not T1 as I have the chance of controlling my diabetes with diet. What I put across badly was that as a T2 I have no medication that helps me control it I rely on diet choices and the NHS is negligent in ignoring a large group of people who are making a dietary choice for health reasons.

If all patients had family/friends who could bring them in meals that suit their dietary requirements, be they health, religious or just personal preference then that would be great but sadly not everyone has this network to support them. I'll be honest with you if I had to feed my OH a special diet or if he just hated his hospital meals I would be exhausted as I working full time, visit him every evening straight from work (hospital opposite direction to where I live) before coming home and shattered each evening. I don't take a day off as he's totally immobile and won't bother nurses or family/friends for his needs, he just asks me as that's what he's comfortable with as he so dependent on others for his every need. I'm not cooking properly for myself these last few weeks as I just have no time and I've at least another month of this.

A good point was made about paying for our meals. It's true if we are at home we pay to feed ourselves so maybe that's the answer. You pre order a meal of your choice and pay for it. I'll order Indian food each day as I'm a bit of a curry addict!!
 
Yeah but - would you recognise anything? They wouldn't use proper ghee - don't have butter with eg cheese and biscuits, only low fat spread, so the chances of it being in any food are negligible. No pakoras - good grief - FRIED food!! Eeek …… You might well get a reasonable chapatti of course - lovely healthy wholemeal flour!
 
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