Hi

[brassrods]

Hi there,

My name is Helen, I´m 50 on 10th June and I live in Dumbarton, Scotland and I´m surrounded by beautiful scenery. I´m a nearly-new diagnosed T1; I was diagnosed in Dec 18 and think I might be nearing the end of a honeymoon period. My hba1c when diagnosed was 92 and by Apr 19 I reduced it to 45. It´s now around 48 and I want to improve on that. Most of the time I manage my condition well with lots of activity & a zero to very low carb diet, but once every few weeks I get really fed-up & eat too much & then feel guilty, rewind repeat. This is a new pattern which I attribute to diabetes and have tried different tactics to find a healthier balance. I´ve joined DiabetesUK because I feel alone - once diagnosed you´re left to it & if I hadn´t done a lot of reading since 2018 I´d be on propranolol and statins as well as insulin. I find it worrisome that statins were suggested to me so freely because my cholesterol has risen - no breakdown of my cholesterol profile was offered and it just seemed out-of-context. So I´m hoping to find motivation here because sometimes I get fed-up.

 

[Toucan]

Hello @brassrods and welcome to the forum.
You certainly live in a beautiful part of the country, and I am sure especially lovely at this time of year.

Living with Diabetes has many challenges, but there is a great deal of knowledge and experience of coping with it on the forum.
I am a Type 2 so although I face many similar challenges, I think that our Type 1 members will be able to help you more.
I will copy in my friend @SB2015, whom I'm sure will be along soon.

Best wishes, and I hope you enjoy the forum, there are many topics and conversations going on that you may find useful.

 

[Inka]

This is a new pattern which I attribute to diabetes and have tried different tactics to find a healthier balance.

Have you tried eating a few more carbs? There’s no need to go zero/very low carb if you’re Type 1. I’m presuming you’re on insulin?

 

[SB2015]

Hi there,

My name is Helen, I´m 50 on 10th June and I live in Dumbarton, Scotland and I´m surrounded by beautiful scenery. I´m a nearly-new diagnosed T1; I was diagnosed in Dec 18 and think I might be nearing the end of a honeymoon period. My hba1c when diagnosed was 92 and by Apr 19 I reduced it to 45. It´s now around 48 and I want to improve on that. Most of the time I manage my condition well with lots of activity & a zero to very low carb diet, but once every few weeks I get really fed-up & eat too much & then feel guilty, rewind repeat. This is a new pattern which I attribute to diabetes and have tried different tactics to find a healthier balance. I´ve joined DiabetesUK because I feel alone - once diagnosed you´re left to it & if I hadn´t done a lot of reading since 2018 I´d be on propranolol and statins as well as insulin. I find it worrisome that statins were suggested to me so freely because my cholesterol has risen - no breakdown of my cholesterol profile was offered and it just seemed out-of-context. So I´m hoping to find motivation here because sometimes I get fed-up.

Welcome to the forum. I am glad that you have found us.

Like you I was a late starter with T1 at the age of 53, which was a while ago now. I got the basics from my DSN but have definitely learnt most of what I know from others on here, whocnlike us are living with it day by day.

Are there other reasons why you have chosen to go to such a low carb diet? In theory with T1 we can eat whatever we want so long as we match the amount of carbs to the appropriate (for us) dose of insulin. In practice I have found it best to aim for a target number of carbs for each meal. My target is about 30g per meal as I have found that with my Bolus delivered before the meal I can keep the post meal spikes down.

You might find that you could increase your carbs a bit more more, and that that would increase the sense of treats more rather than feeling that you need to do without things.

Managing our diabetes is indeed relentless, but necessary. There are times when most of us get frustrated and fed up with it. There is plenty of practical support on here as well as a space to have a good rant with people who will ‘get it’.

Let us know how you manage your diabetes. What insulins are you using? There are lots of tweaks I have learnt from people on here that have helped me. Just stay in touch and keep the questions coming. Nothing is considered silly on here. Just ask.

 

[stephknits]

Hi brassrods and welcome to the forum. Diabetes is a very lonely condition so it is good to be part of a forum like this to chat with people who know what you are on about. There are a few type 1 low carbers on here who may be able to help you achieve more of a balance. I started off very low carb as I was wrongly diagnosed type 2 (a late developer like you) and was getting more and more I'll if I ate any carbs. When properly diagnosed I found it quite difficult to start eating carbs again. This was partly cos I was afraid of them and how ill I had been, partly new habits formed with regard to meals / eating and partly cos I was afraid of messing up my insulin doses and I figured the smaller amounts I had to deal with, the less of a mess up I could make. However, for me, this diet was not sustainable long term and I guess that is the key. Finding a diet that fits you and your lifestyle. I have a family and had two youngish girls at the time And live next to a cafe and opposite a pub. I wanted to get back to choosing things I wanted occasionally in these places. For me, going on the DAFNE course, which I think stands for dose adjustment for normal eating, really helped. Meeting the other type 1s on the course was invaluable and learning to see carbs as something I could manage successfully (at least a lot of the time) instead of my enemies helped. Now I eat around 80 - 150 g carbs a day, depending on what I am doing and this works most of the time for me.

 

[brassrods]

carb

Hi brassrods and welcome to the forum. Diabetes is a very lonely condition so it is good to be part of a forum like this to chat with people who know what you are on about. There are a few type 1 low carbers on here who may be able to help you achieve more of a balance. I started off very low carb as I was wrongly diagnosed type 2 (a late developer like you) and was getting more and more I'll if I ate any carbs. When properly diagnosed I found it quite difficult to start eating carbs again. This was partly cos I was afraid of them and how ill I had been, partly new habits formed with regard to meals / eating and partly cos I was afraid of messing up my insulin doses and I figured the smaller amounts I had to deal with, the less of a mess up I could make. However, for me, this diet was not sustainable long term and I guess that is the key. Finding a diet that fits you and your lifestyle. I have a family and had two youngish girls at the time And live next to a cafe and opposite a pub. I wanted to get back to choosing things I wanted occasionally in these places. For me, going on the DAFNE course, which I think stands for dose adjustment for normal eating, really helped. Meeting the other type 1s on the course was invaluable and learning to see carbs as something I could manage successfully (at least a lot of the time) instead of my enemies helped. Now I eat around 80 - 150 g carbs a day, depending on what I am doing and this works most of the time for me.

Hello @brassrods and welcome to the forum.
You certainly live in a beautiful part of the country, and I am sure especially lovely at this time of year.

Living with Diabetes has many challenges, but there is a great deal of knowledge and experience of coping with it on the forum.
I am a Type 2 so although I face many similar challenges, I think that our Type 1 members will be able to help you more.
I will copy in my friend @SB2015, whom I'm sure will be along soon.

Best wishes, and I hope you enjoy the forum, there are many topics and conversations going on that you may find useful.

Hi! Many thanks for welcoming me!

 

[Flower]

Hello and welcome @brassrods glad you've joined us 🙂

It is a tough call being handed the running of your own insulin supply 24/7 without any time to practice and dealing with the constant background workings you need to cope with the challenges life can throw or to get through a day in lockdown at home. It is a balancing & juggling marathon and I've found having around the same amount of carbs each day has helped me to stay more stable. If I want something extra then I'll bolus for it and if I don't want as much then I'll reduce my bolus accordingly, it has to be something you can sustain without feeling deprived or unable to have an extra helping of something you really fancy every so often.

An HbA1c of 48 mmol/mol is a great result, personally I would try and keep it there or thereabouts but it is what you are happy with.

Talking to others who get diabetes is the best thing I've done , this forum has helped me so much. Ask any questions you want as there's a wealth of experience on here and please don't feel lonely with it as there's all us lot out there. 🙂

 

[trophywench]

ARE you on insulin. if so which one(s) and what doses, when?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

as well as insulin

@Inka @trophywench Yes, brassrods says she is on insulin 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @brassrods

Sounds like you have done amazingly well in your early years, and have adapted to your new condition very well.

But it is good that you have spotted this unfortunate new rhythm... and it is certainly something you can sort out.

Diabetes does respond well to attention, adaptation, self control and routine... but it is also fickle, and the longer you live with it the more you are likely to learn that there is no ‘answer’, there is only ‘what works... more or less... most of the time... at the moment’.

You can do exactly the same things, two days running, and have great numbers one day, and complete BG chaos another. Because you are only able to see a few dials and reach a few controls on this horrendously complex machine, and various bit of it work differently of different days, with no notice!

Your HbA1c of 48 is excellent! If you can maintain that long term (up a bit... down a bit...) while also living a life you are content with, and that you find flexible and manageable that that is amazing!

But if you are chasing lower and lower numbers you will find a law of diminishing returns and exponential effort. And that’s a shortcut to burnout.

We have trial data that shows there are benefits to be had in being closer to 48 than 58, but the curves are really flattening out, and there’s nothing like the benefit available as there is between being at 58 and not 63.

It sounds to me like you need to cut yourself some slack, and widen your meal plan a little so that it is something you are more happy with, or at least offers more flexibility. And then when you decide to splurge, splurge without guilt. Do it knowing that your levels will most likely be a little out of your target range, but that it fine as an occasional excursion.

Diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint, as the saying goes 🙂