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Help... Thailand food...

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G

grainger

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hey all...
Hope you are all good. I need advise... I'm in Thailand and my blood sugars are nuts, I am struggling to get below 10 on a daily basis. I think they put something in the food but I can't get a grip on it?

Any advise helpful, I love the food out here and really don't want to have to resort to salads etc but I am really feeling crappy having sugars this high all the time.

The only time I have got blood sugars down is missing lunch and correcting about 4 hours after breakfast which works but I'm still struggling to get levels right for food when I eat...

Average day:
Breakfast - cheese omelette, melon and two slices of brown toast with strawberry jam.
Dinner - maybe king prawn starter or crab, sometimes spring rolls, then various Thai curry or stirfry with rice. Drinking beer mainly with lots of water and a max of 2-3 beers a day.


Thanks in advance!
 
Hiya, hope you're having a lovely time (sugar aside). Have you tried doing without the toast at breakfast and swapping rice for veg (e.g. beansprouts) instead of rice with your curry? Hope you find something that works for you.
 
Probably what's happened is the stress of travel has thrown your basal out of wack. Also, check your insulin for heat damage.

The other thing you'll probably have to come to terms with is yes, there is usually a lot more sugar added to Thai food than you'd expect and that your ratios are probably now all wrong - expect to have to bolus a LOT more. Also, try bolusing earlier if you can to give your insulin a chance to start working before you eat.

I would also say that your breakfast choice is quite poor from a blood sugar perspective - melon? Toast? JAM??? You'd do much better with just the omelette.
 
I hope the high bgs aren't spoiling your holiday, what a pain :( We love Thai food but it does tend to send William's levels sky high. I think Deus is right that there are hidden sugars in it. He now treats sauces as high sugar and it does make a difference. Maybe find something you really enjoy and won't mind eating regularly, so that once you've sorted the right insulin dose for it you'll know where you are? A bit boring when there are so many tasty things on offer tho ... Are you going to bed and waking up on good levels? Hope the sun is shining, it's still freeeezing here
 
hiya , maybe worth thinking about the sauces in Thai food , any of the curry's and soups you will find have palm sugar in , they tend to use it a lot in Thai food , its just an estimate but i always account for 2 teaspoons of sugar with any Thai meal with a sauce , sweet chilli sauce is also incredible sugary , i would ask when you order if the meal has palm sugar in , then you know what your dealing with. That and change of routine is probably throwing a spanner in the works 🙂
 
Hey,

Thanks for responses (btw I know my breakfast isn't ideal but I'm on holiday and its my treat - although starting to realise I can't have one here :-()

Will definitely ask about the sugar content, and continue to adjust. Really appreciate the advise... Hopefully my last few days will be better and can really enjoy it!

Thanks again 🙂
 
Just a question regarding palm sugar! Im going to Thailand soon. How much carbs is in palm sugar??? Any idea?:D
 
Well, it's sugar. So it's pretty much 100% carbs. 10g of palm sugar = 10g of carbs.
 
Aww Hannah it sucks doesn't it? It is so unfair that you can't just have time off diabetes for holidays. :(

Others have given good advise, thai food is a bugger for hidden sugars etc, same as chinese. I'd try to ask about sugar in it too, but also just up your boluses just now - are you less active while away too, probably could do with upping your basal a bit too - even try 1 unit more today and see how that goes.

Hope you have a brilliant last few days anyway - your photos look amazing!! xxx
 
I give up. Just want to come home now... Sorry for depressed msg but I ate in room service plain food last night went to bed at 8.8 (hurrah) and then woke at 18.7?!?!? Either back to night hypo or my body just simply hates me.

I've never hated having diabetes so much. I'm sorry for ranting but I don't want to rant to Hubby who is being amazingly supportive but I need to vent somewhere. This sucks. I feel like ****.

Any more advice welcome but we are leaving to go home tomorrow night so I'm hoping in theory in 3 or 4 days time things will improve.

Hannah
 
I mean Friday night we are going home.
 
I always used to have to split my bolus when on MDI for rice or my bgs would steadily rise after my insulin has ran out. Maybe 60/40 split.....(60% before eating 40% after an our or so of eating) usually worked for me.....Enjoy your hols! 🙂
 
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Best thing you can do is keep checking, correcting and not worrying too much about it. Going from 8.8 to 18.7 however suggests either you're hypoing at night or your basal has got fried somehow. Trying swapping to a different Levemir cart?
 
Hi, just wondering if you have to account for the time difference with both basal & carb ratios ? Does anyone know ?
 
Hi all,

Just wanted to apologise for negativity. Am back home now and slowly getting my bs levels down to normal. Wanted to thank you all for advise - my levels during the last couple of days did get steadier (still high but better than they were).

Hoping to get everything back to normal now. Hope you are having good weekends!

H x
 
Hi, no need to apologise! Can't really help but just wanted to sympathise, I had 3 weeks in Canada a few years ago and I never got to grips with my BG levels. I put it down to the time difference (I kept taking lantus at the same time as in Britain, so 3pm in Canada rather than 11pm at home) and maybe the profile not suiting the day like that. Also being less active on holiday, and eating massive portions of things it was hard to carb count. In the end I just gave up worrying - it's only for a short time until you get home again.

Hope it didn't ruin your holiday.
 
no need to apologise! I'm having a rubbish time with my sugars and I'm not even on holiday... so frustrating when you just want to enjoy yourself! Hope your levels are stable again soon. We went to Malaysia for our honeymoon and the time difference and jetlag really affected my sugars without having food all the time that I had no idea what was in it... I resorted to salads most of the time, and luckily that's one of my fave meals but definitely not good when holidays are supposed to be fun and nothing is ever fun when my sugars are high 😉 xx
 
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