Lindiloo

[rebrascora]

I have to take insulin to survive. Even if I never ate a single gram of carbs, I would still need insulin because the body produces or manufactures glucose in other ways and the liver stores and releases it much like a rechargeable battery.

They told me to eat normally when I started on insulin, but I had gone from quite a high carb diet to a very low one and really had no idea what normal was anymore. I also know that if I start eating more carbs, it will be a slippery slope, so I prefer to continue low carb and eat more fat which makes it so much more enjoyable. The amazing thing about fat is that it is satisfying. You don't need to eat nearly so much food when you eat more fat and you very rarely feel hungry, even if I miss a couple of meals, I am not craving like I would if I ate carbs and best of all my weight is stable at a normal healthy BMI.
Unfortunately my system is very efficient at breaking down food so I still have difficulty balancing my food with the insulin I inject and I need to inject even for very low carb meals as well as background insulin but the amount of insulin I inject for food is small so there is little chance of making a significant error and when I do go hypo, I respond to treatment very quickly.

 

[ianf0ster]

have been given blood monitor and metformin and gliclazide. - I went to see specialist yesterday and well it was terrible. He basically said eat what you like take another load of meds and in 10 years you will be ill - he didn’t once talk about or want to talk about diet. I showed him my blood counts have gone down from over 15 to 7, 8, 9. But he wasn’t interested

I just need to understand what to eat - I have dropped carbs but after reading some posts I need to find out what spikes mine - I think pots is one

many advice would be welcome I’m scared and very overwhelmed by it all. Thanks

Hi Lindiloo, I just noticed that you say you are on Glic. This is used to 'squeeze' more insulin out from the pancreas of Type 2 diabetics.
Thus, as with Insulin, you have to be careful to avoid Blood Sugar going too low. This is called a 'Hypo' and can be dangerous as well as making you feel lousy.. There is a (out of date) saying: " 4 is the floor, but need 5 to drive"
If your BG ever starts getting (even briefly) close to 4.0 while you are cutting the carbs, then you need to stabilse the carbs until you can get medical assistance in cutting the Gliclazide.

 

[Lindiloo]

I have reached 5 a couple of times but only when I have done a lot of walking. I’ve been told about hypo with glic They just put me on everything straight away so I will have to check sugars that they don’t rise. I think I’m type 1

 

[Lindiloo]

Could you advise if bg drops to 4 and you are just on metformin do you have a hypo and do you need to eat Sorry to keep asking

 

[trophywench]

You can drop below 4 even if you aren't diabetic - but you should start feeling not right a bit higher - between 4 and 5, especially if it's dropping fast. The ONLY way to treat this is to grab something sugary pdq - things like a few (approx 3) medicinal jelly babies or a swig of Lucozade, but equally vital not to consume too much!

This is most unlikely to happen on only Metformin, though it can and does very occasionally but does happen reasonably easily on Gliclazide for quite a few folk whether they also take Metformin or not.

 

[rebrascora]

If it drops below 4 then I would eat 3 or 4 jelly babies or have half a glass of orange juice but metformin in not likely to drop you dangerously low even if you were to dip below 4.
My opinion is that non diabetics drop below 4 on occasion, like when they have been out on a long walk and not eaten anything for a while or been engaged in prolonged steady physical activity. I am not sure that this should really be considered a "hypo" as the body has just used up most of the available glucose in the blood stream but should be able to rectify it itself given a rest or even a short spurt of high intensity exercise, which can stimulate the liver to pump some more glucose out, whereas the concern about a hypo induced by too much insulin (whether that is injected or induced by Gliclazide) is that it could continue to take you down to the point where you will lose consciousness (which is under 2 I believe) unless you eat carbohydrates to mitigate it. My first few hypos were really scary because my body was used to running with a high BG and even getting down to 4 made me feel ill, but these days I have several a week sometimes in the low 3s and am quite confident of dealing with them without feeling too bad at all and have sometimes just eaten something and continued to work.

 

[trophywench]

PS As far as diabetes is concerned to quote another member of the forum but it's 100% correct anyway - THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A STUPID QUESTION.

 

[grovesy]

I tend to use Glucose Tablets as they are don't taste brilliant and I am less likely to overtreat as I might with jelly babies.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Lindiloo

Glad you have found us, and sorry you seem to have had relatively little support and information from the HCPs you have seen. I think it can be difficult for Drs to understand the different needs and approaches for different people, and how bewildering diabetes can be at the beginning.

Thats where places like the forum can be so helpful, because you can ask absolutely anything here, and there are literally centuries of lived diabetes experience, with friendly folks who can share what they know and ‘fill in the blanks’ 🙂

Glad you have had antibody tests undertaken, it may be that you are LADA, which is a slow-developing form of T1 which can respond to T2 meds to begin with (Until the immune attack on the pancreas destroys more beta cells).

 

[Lindiloo]

Welcome to the forum @Lindiloo

Glad you have found us, and sorry you seem to have had relatively little support and information from the HCPs you have seen. I think it can be difficult for Drs to understand the different needs and approaches for different people, and how bewildering diabetes can be at the beginning.

Thats where places like the forum can be so helpful, because you can ask absolutely anything here, and there are literally centuries of lived diabetes experience, with friendly folks who can share what they know and ‘fill in the blanks’ 🙂

Glad you have had antibody tests undertaken, it may be that you are LADA, which is a slow-developing form of T1 which can respond to T2 meds to begin with (Until the immune attack on the pancreas destroys more beta cells).

Thanks for your help. Can I ask how does the pump work. My mum is type 1 and she injects insulin morning and night obviously old fashion way as she been diabetic for 45 years and is in amazing health and hbc1a always 4/5 I’ve seen all these different devices and wondered are they easier Thanks

 

[Lindiloo]

If it drops below 4 then I would eat 3 or 4 jelly babies or have half a glass of orange juice but metformin in not likely to drop you dangerously low even if you were to dip below 4.
My opinion is that non diabetics drop below 4 on occasion, like when they have been out on a long walk and not eaten anything for a while or been engaged in prolonged steady physical activity. I am not sure that this should really be considered a "hypo" as the body has just used up most of the available glucose in the blood stream but should be able to rectify it itself given a rest or even a short spurt of high intensity exercise, which can stimulate the liver to pump some more glucose out, whereas the concern about a hypo induced by too much insulin (whether that is injected or induced by Gliclazide) is that it could continue to take you down to the point where you will lose consciousness (which is under 2 I believe) unless you eat carbohydrates to mitigate it. My first few hypos were really scary because my body was used to running with a high BG and even getting down to 4 made me feel ill, but these days I have several a week sometimes in the low 3s and am quite confident of dealing with them without feeling too bad at all and have sometimes just eaten something and continued to work.

My mum is type 1 and she in on human insultard and another one (don’t know name). She eats high carb healthy diet and hbc1a is always perfect. Is it different for all type 1

 

[grovesy]

There differnt types of Insulin and some chose to reduce the Carbohydrate in take.

 

[Lindiloo]

There differnt types of Insulin and some chose to reduce the Carbohydrate in take.

Ok Thankyou. I’m learning different things each day - so much to understand

 

[rebrascora]

It can depend on your digestive system and metabolism. I digest carbs very quickly but the insulin seems to take a long time to hit my system, so sometimes even if I inject the insulin an hour or more before I eat, I still get a huge spike if I eat carbs and then a plummet in BG afterwards, which is not very pleasant. The more carbs I eat the higher the spike in my BG and the greater risk of a nasty hypo afterwards. I have tried different insulins but even the fastest insulin Fiasp takes 3/4 hour on a morning to get going for me whereas any carbs in my breakfast (even very low GI) starts increasing my BG as soon as I swallow the first mouthful.
Also I was a sugar addict pre diagnosis. Like a recovered alcoholic, I could very easily slide back to that if I started to eat more carbs. My low carb, high fat diet, which is a healthy way of eating, means I need less food and I don't feel hungry and I need the minimum amount of insulin and I enjoy it, although it does take a bit more planning.
There is no one size fits all with diabetes. You have to find what works for you. My management is still a work in progress but I am only a year in.