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[rebrascora]

I admire your knowledge. You sound like you’ve nailed it 🙂 fair play.

I have been through months of frustration just like you, to get where I am now but I am still a long way off perfect or "nailing it" but I am averaging 85% TIR. The big difference is that I now have confidence to handle what it throws at me and I am no longer scared to use my insulin and give it time to work before I eat. I don't even carb count particularly anymore and can't remember the last time I weighed anything. I just inject a bit of insulin, watch for it bringing my levels down, eat and then jab a bit more a couple of hours later if it looks like I need it. I just use my Libre to keep my levels between the lines and to me it has become a bit like a computer game. Nudge it up a bit or nudge it down a bit, but try to keep it in range. Learning to time it right is key and that is different for everyone, so you have to experiment to find what works for you.

 

[Jimmy2202]

@rebrascora Yeah i rarely weigh stuff sod that.

Thanks to you I have decided and plan to take a day or 2 off work next week to do my Basel test and experiment with longer waiting times at breakfast & lunch

 

[rebrascora]

Good to hear you are going to take some time out and invest it in your health and do a bit of experimenting to get things figured out a bit better, as it will help you in the long run both physically and mentally.
Do let us know how you get on or if you need someone to bounce thoughts and ideas off.
Also, if that evening basal is dropping your levels by 5 mmols every night, make sure your levels are about 10 at bedtime so you don't risk a hypo overnight, at least until you get your basal testing done and make whatever tweaks you need to your basal.

 

[void]

Don't discount weighing, I know it seems like a PITA at first but with weighing and cooking you'll get the idea of the carb count of servings of a particular size. Then with practice you'll remember them.

Let's say you make some chips at home, say from 2x large potatoes. weigh the raw chips, see it's 300g of potato, and potato is 20g carb per 100g. cook the chips, serve on a plate, see what 300g of potato = 60g carb turned into chips actually looks like. It surprised me at first, which is why I'm mentioning it.

It means (for example) if you sometimes eat at a restaurant, with practice, you'll be able to reckon with reasonable accuracy eg how many carbs there are in *that* steak & chips. Not what *a* portion size is but what *yours* is, and take the appropriate amount of insulin.

I know what 75g of penne pasta looks like dry and what it looks like when cooked. I know it's 55g carb, without having to weigh it. A simple calculation and I've got my insulin dosage. That's freedom.

Saying all that, I don't know if you've been on a DAFNE course or been shown portion counting. for me it seemed less bother weighing and seeing what usually constituted a 'portion' for me and calculating from there rather than using what someone else's idea of a portion was

 

[Jimmy2202]

Just can’t get to get and keep myself in range

I’ve started on spilt dose as of last night/today so will see if I see an improvement

 

[helli]

Sorry I am late to the party but I wanted to add that avoiding carbs for breakfast can be the wrong thing.
if I have not exercised, I experience a significant foot on the floor effect - my liver dumps glucose as I get up until it noticed that my body is getting the carbs from elsewhere. So, I need to eat carbs soon after I get up to stop this rise. Even bolusing for the rise does not stop it. I have to eat carbs and, if I have prebolused, the rise is less significant. And stops.
… Unless I have exercised in the last 24 hours . I assume this is because I use lots of the glucose from my liver when I exercise so there is not enough available to dump. But that is only a theory because I do not experience FoTF if I have been to the gym or climbing wall or marching between trains and tubes on a trip to London.

We are all different and other experience may differ but this is something to keep in mind.

 

[rebrascora]

How did you split the dose? ie Did you just take half your usual dose at night and then take the other half the next morning? If so, it will take time to settle down because you effectively only had half your usual dose for half a day, so your levels will have started to rise from that. I find it is really important to take my morning dose of Levemir before I get out of bed to give it the best chance of dealing with the increased release of glucose by my liver when I get up (Foot on the Floor syndrome/Dawn Phenomenon).

I have said this before but perhaps you are not understanding.... or don't feel comfortable to try it..... If my levels are above range, I simply do not eat until they come down below 8, ideally below 6. I inject insulin, keep a close eye on my Libre and wait..... even if it takes a couple of hours. If I eat when levels are above 8, they will never come down for me unless I eventually get really frustrated and jab a great big dose of insulin (rage bolus/correction) and then they come down fast and I usually hypo and then end up high again because of the hypo treatments and usually a glucose dump from my liver. Being patient and waiting for them to come down before I eat saves a lot of frustration, so my basic rule is that I don't eat when my levels are above 8 or at least I don't eat carbs..... I might have a chunk of cheese or a piece of cold meat if I am starving, but nothing which will spike my levels higher.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

No I haven’t ate or drank since.

This happened with most of my meals.

I’m always waking high in the night from tea at 7pm

It sounds as if you need to do a basal test as it looks as if you need more basal insulin

 

[Jimmy2202]

How did you split the dose? ie Did you just take half your usual dose at night and then take the other half the next morning? If so, it will take time to settle down because you effectively only had half your usual dose for half a day, so your levels will have started to rise from that. I find it is really important to take my morning dose of Levemir before I get out of bed to give it the best chance of dealing with the increased release of glucose by my liver when I get up (Foot on the Floor syndrome/Dawn Phenomenon).

I have said this before but perhaps you are not understanding.... or don't feel comfortable to try it..... If my levels are above range, I simply do not eat until they come down below 8, ideally below 6. I inject insulin, keep a close eye on my Libre and wait..... even if it takes a couple of hours. If I eat when levels are above 8, they will never come down for me unless I eventually get really frustrated and jab a great big dose of insulin (rage bolus/correction) and then they come down fast and I usually hypo and then end up high again because of the hypo treatments and usually a glucose dump from my liver. Being patient and waiting for them to come down before I eat saves a lot of frustration, so my basic rule is that I don't eat when my levels are above 8 or at least I don't eat carbs..... I might have a chunk of cheese or a piece of cold meat if I am starving, but nothing which will spike my levels higher.

I took 6units 10pm and 8 units 8am

Trouble is with me is when I get hungry I can’t wait and have to eat cos I get Hangry

 

[Jimmy2202]

It sounds as if you need to do a basal test as it looks as if you need more basal insulin

Yes I shall be performing this this week

 

[void]

@Jimmy2202 have you discussed with your medical team the honeymoon effect post-t1 diagnosis?
Together with your latest problems?

The reason I'm asking is you say in yr sig that you were dx 30/06/21 and you're 36 - so adult onset. it's the case that adult-onset t1 "honeymoon" can last 2 years or more. It can result in uncontrollable bg when what's left of the islets works sometimes and erratically.

 

[rebrascora]

I would give it a few days before you do a basal test, now that you have split your Levemir as it will take at least a coupe of days for your body to settle down after the split. Sounds like a good decision to split it 6 and 8 and see how you get on with that.

 

[Jimmy2202]

I would give it a few days before you do a basal test, now that you have split your Levemir as it will take at least a coupe of days for your body to settle down after the split. Sounds like a good decision to split it 6 and 8 and see how you get on with that.

Okie dokie I’ll wait till the end of the week. Thank you again for advice

 

[Jimmy2202]

@Jimmy2202 have you discussed with your medical team the honeymoon effect post-t1 diagnosis?
Together with your latest problems?

The reason I'm asking is you say in yr sig that you were dx 30/06/21 and you're 36 - so adult onset. it's the case that adult-onset t1 "honeymoon" can last 2 years or more. It can result in uncontrollable bg when what's left of the islets works sometimes and erratically.

I’ve emailed them this weekend so will await reply from them hopefully tomorrow.

I’ve def noticed I need a lot more Insulin for my meals so I’d imagine I am leaving my honeymoon period

 

[imsweetenough]

So I inject 4 units of novarapid for my breakfast which was 3 slices of toast with marmite and just when you think it’s going fine I got to check my levels for lunch time and this happens!

It’s really doing my head in my now

Breakfast was at 9.15am

Photos attached

I'm insulin dependent Type 2 with really high insulin resistance so taking 60 units of M3 Humulin at morning and night. Three slices of toast for breakfast would have me up near 20 especially if I woke up above 10. Gluten intollerance inflammatory response will also send your bread-based glucose reading high. I feel your pain, man. Stick with it. Everyday is different.

 

[Jimmy2202]

I found this bread yesterday it’s only 12g a slice and tastes lovely to be fair.

 

[Jimmy2202]

@rebrascora spoke to team today and they suggested 50/50 spilt, before i told them I had already started a 60/40 spilt.

They said happy days basically and to keep them informed of my fasting Basel test findings

So win win all round.

My levels have been behaving themselves better this week already I’ve noticed

 

[rebrascora]

Absolutely delighted to hear you have the seal of approval from your team and levels are being a bit more stable. Got my fingers crossed for you that it continues to improve.