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Hello Everybody

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Michelle08

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hello. my name is Michelle, I am a type 1 diabetic.
I got diagnosed when I was 13 years old, so have been diabetic for quite some years. I have done the DAFNE Course which I found informative and am currently using the Abbot Libre Sensor.
 
Hello @Michelle08 and welcome, glad you’ve joined us. 🙂

Are you using MDI or a pump at present and how have things gone for you over the years?

Good to hear DAFNE helped you ,are you finding the Libre useful?

There’s a wealth of experience and support on here, it’s good to have you on board 🙂
 
Hello Flower,
I am using Insulin pens Novo Rapid and Lantus. I am finding the Libre Sensor useful which show blood glucose trends.
Over the years things haven't been going so great for me, had a lot of deaths in my family, my mum. Which has affected my health in a lot of ways.
This past 6 weeks my diabetes has been quite unstable had an infected wound on my shin, infection has now cleared but still having problems with my diabetes.
 
KARNAK said:
Hello @Michelle08 welcome to the forum.🙂
Click to expand...
Hello Ted,
I am currently on
NovoRapid
Lantus
Gabapentin 900mg
Amitrypteline 25-50mg
Co-codamol 30/500mg four times a day
Libre Sensor
Diagnosed October 1978 Type 1
HbA1c 20/11/18 76mmol
Diagnosed October 2017 with Fibromyalgia

 
I am feeling quite confused :confused: and bewildered with my blood sugar levels.
I have been looking at how foods with a low glycemic index affect my blood sugar levels, bearing in mind levels have been unstable for 6 wks plus.

Breakfast 100g Greek Yoghurt 10g Carbs or 1CP
28g Walnuts 2g Carbs or 0.2cp
63g raspberries 3g carbs or 0.3cp
10g flax seeds 0g carbs

Total 15g Carbohydrates or 1.5 CP
Theoretically speaking I should only be taking 1-2 units of my novorapid

This morning 8am my BG was good for a change 🙂 4.4
I had my NovoRapid 5 units
I know with the DAFNE course you work things on a 1:1 ratio 1:1.5 ratio 2:1 ratio 3:1 ratio

By Lunchtime today my BG was 5.5 Yes this is a good reading, but I shouldn't have to be taking so much insulin to keep my BG in range, which doesn't always happen as on the 6/7/19.
This past 6 weeks whatever my blood sugar levels have been including my high reading days 6/7/2019 8am BG 13.4 5u Novorapid my BG by lunchtime on this day was 22.6 .

I have kept a diary as from 1/7/19 of what I am eating, Carbohydrates in each meal, my BG before a meal and NovoRapid doses for each meal.

I have had more blood tests for full blood count to check for any infection, my GP told me my white cell count is slightly elevated which shows there has been some kind of infection, but surely after 6wks my BG's should have settled by now.
Am so confused as to what is happening here :confused::confused:.
 
I have a similar problem and find that I am very insulin resistant on a morning. I have a mushroom omelette and salad with negligible carbs and I still need 2 units of N/R to keep me in single figures but the omelette does keep my readings pretty stable for the rest of the day. I also need to pre bolus by a much longer time on a morning if I am having carbs, so that may be something you want to experiment with. I can go over an hour between injection and food and not see my BG show any sign of coming down in the morning, but just 15mins is enough on an evening. If I have carbs on a morning I can pretty much guarantee I will go hypo later in the day, I am guessing because the glucose is gone from my system by the time the insulin starts to work even though the profile of N/R suggests it should be tailing right off 3-4hrs after injection. I am doing a lot more testing at the moment to try to figure out what works for me and how best to time the bolus injection. It is easiest just to avoid carbs in the morning, even low levels.
At 10g carbs per 100g Greek yoghurt I am guessing there is quite a bit of sugar in there (my Lidl Milbona Creamy Greek Yoghurt is only 3.2 g carbs per 100g) and that sugar will hit the blood stream pretty quickly, so maybe try a different brand or try an omelette like me. Also someone else said that coffee really spiked their BG on a morning. It doesn't seem to do that to me, but might be worth experimenting with.
 
Hi Barbara,
Thank you for your reply, I will take into consideration of what you have said, Greek Yoghurt is low on the Glycemic Index of which is good, I have been finding that by adding flaxseeds I don't have a huge spike in my Blood Glucose levels after eating this.

Today I am having another bad day with my levels being high :( , I am finding that taking 1 unit of insulin to 1 carbohydrate portion just doesn't work for me which has resulted in my high Blood Glucose levels today, on waking this morning :( 14.4 before breakfast and 14.6 before lunch :( .

Last night before dinner my Blood Glucose was 3.7 I had 40g Carbohydrates in my dinner and took 4 units of NovoRapid, thinking to myself play it safe as BG was low before dinner.
Which resulted with my blood glucose levels being high.

I had my Lantus at 10pm 9 units my BG at 10pm was 14.4
I am now thinking that even if my Blood Glucose levels are low to take my usual dose of insulin 6 units if having the same amount of carbohydrates , but am worried about it causing a hypo .

Wishing you well
Michelle

 
What was the 40g of carbs you had with your meal and how long after eating it were you up in the 14's. It sounds like you might need to avoid whatever food that was. Or, were you stressed/anxious etc as that will push BG up significantly... I'm having a major problem with that at the moment and have started overdosing each meal by one unit of N/R to try to bring it down, but it has been nearly a week since I had a reasonable reading and longer since I had a low one. Not sure I would deliberately overdose the N/R if I was hypo (<4) before the meal, especially evening time as there is too much risk of causing a hypo during the night. Are you sure you took everything into consideration when you calculated the 40g carbs? Did you remember to do your air shot with the N/R before injecting.... just wondering if maybe you got a reduced dose due to that.... or recorded your N/R but actually forgot to inject it.... I've done that before and also injected my basal insulin twice a couple of hours apart, so got a double dose! There are so many mistakes you can make and when your head is spinning with all the calculations and stuff to consider, it is easy to overlook something simple.
Hope those levels have come down a bit today.

PS. Don't rely on something being Low GI to indicate that it is OK for you as a diabetic. Use your BG meter to confirm it or otherwise. Porridge is low GI but still spikes me through the roof.
 
Hello Michelle, welcome to the forum.

I’m sorry to read you’re having such a frustrating time. There are so many things that have an impact on our levels that sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start working out what’s going on isn’t it?

I note you say you shouldn’t have to take so much insulin to keep your levels in range, but to be honest one of the things I’ve realised since joining the forum is that we are all different, all living different lives, in different bodies and when it comes to insulin we all need however much we need, we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others...easier said than done I know....and ratios and doses can also change throughout a year. There’s no one dose / ratio fits all.

I have also learnt over the years, as I’m sure you have, that stress greatly affects our sugar levels. Although it’s almost impossible not to get stressed with levels we can’t understand and so up go the levels, then we feel stressed and so the circle continues. I too lost my mum, earlier this year, which highlighted the affect grief and stress cause.

I presume that you have done some basal testing to make sure your background insulin is correct. That being so, I wonder if you have considered the effect hormones may have on your levels? The last year or two for me have definitely been a bit up and down. I popped along to my GP on several occasions, thinking that maybe I had an infection (I see that you have had one), I’ve changed not just vials, but also boxes of insulin thinking that it wasn’t working corrrectly....and got very frustrated and stressed along the way. There have been tears and there has been some very choice language directed at my poor meter and Libre reader (what a brilliant piece of kit that is, isn’t it? How did we ever manage without it?)

Last week I was taking almost twice my normal Novo Rapid, particularly in the morning, for a few days (some correction doses had no impact at all) and had also upped my Levemir and thought this is way more than usual. I spoke to a different DSN explaining what was happening that week and said surely it couldn’t be hormone related, not double doses?! Well apparently she knows quite a few women “our age” who have to double dose some weeks of the month, then they might drop very dramatically and suddenly and then they might settle somewhere in the middle for a couple of weeks. So I’m just wondering if hormonal disruption is something that you and your team had considered. If you haven’t it may be worth a thought and look at the calendar to see if there’s any sort of pattern there.

Sorry for the long ramble. Just thought it was worth mentioning in case you hadn’t thought of this. As always, there will be a reason, it’s just often blooming hard work and frustrating finding out what it is. X
 
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Hey Michelle
Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy being a part of our little gang 🙂
 
Hello Lisa
Thank you for your reply, I have a Libre Review appointment tomorrow and will consider asking my DSN about hormones and the effects they have on Blood Glucose levels as this is one thing I haven't considered. I am pleased to say my recent HbA1c has dropped from 76 to 67 🙂 which is good that it is coming down.

Michelle
 
Hi Michelle,

I just throw this in to allow others (who know much more than I) to comment. Are you sure that your basal insulin dose is correct? Would a too low basal dose produce these kinds of problems. Could it be that a high bolus is needed to make up for a lack of basal insulin?

Just a thought, and I seek comments from the wise.
 
I was wondering this too @leonS. I wondered if michelle had done any basal testing. It’s amazing how many people are not aware of basal testing...I wasn’t until I joined the forum a couple of years ago...something else to add to this list of things I’ve learnt on from the forum🙂. I think sometimes when we’ve had diabetes for a number of years and we appear to be toddling along ok, the experts just assume we already know everything.
 
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