Well that went pretty well

[zoombapup]

Just had outpatient appointment at hospital. Apparently I'm ok to stop taking the insulin and we're going to play it by ear about the metformin dosage.

But this means I can now do the Newcastle 800 calorie diet thingy without fearing hypos from the insulin.

According to the consultant my BG scores were too good. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by too good, he suggested a range of 4-10 was fine, but bugger that, I want 4-6!

Anyway, the low carb diet definitely does the trick in terms of keeping levels low. I'd post a graph of my current levels, but it looks like a saw-wave where there's these oscillations between 4.6 and 7 but mostly around 5.5 for the last 2 months. What freaks me out a little is just the random blips, which I assume are stress or something, but they do appear out of nowhere. Even if they're not a big deal and are relatively tiny, I find it fascinating that the system is so complex and seems to have so many moving parts.

I should've been a doctor instead of a computer scientist 😎 (I'm a different kind of doctor so I'm apparently not allowed a lab coat).

 

[Eddy Edson]

They're just "doctors" by courtesy, of course. It's good to remind them of that from time to time 🙂

Congrats on the numbers and good luck with the 800 cal plan!

 

[Drummer]

I knew I had got it beat when I had two Christmas dinners on consecutive days and got 5.6 on the meter both times. I did not do anything but stick to the low carb diet for a year - but I like it so much that I plan to stick to it for as long as I can.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Excellent 🙂

According to the consultant my BG scores were too good. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by too good,

Maybe around 4 a lot. If you're near 4, you don't need to drop far to be hypo. Whereas, if you're getting 5s you've got a bit more room to drop.

 

[toni french]

Just had outpatient appointment at hospital. Apparently I'm ok to stop taking the insulin and we're going to play it by ear about the metformin dosage.

But this means I can now do the Newcastle 800 calorie diet thingy without fearing hypos from the insulin.

According to the consultant my BG scores were too good. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by too good, he suggested a range of 4-10 was fine, but bugger that, I want 4-6!

Anyway, the low carb diet definitely does the trick in terms of keeping levels low. I'd post a graph of my current levels, but it looks like a saw-wave where there's these oscillations between 4.6 and 7 but mostly around 5.5 for the last 2 months. What freaks me out a little is just the random blips, which I assume are stress or something, but they do appear out of nowhere. Even if they're not a big deal and are relatively tiny, I find it fascinating that the system is so complex and seems to have so many moving parts.

I should've been a doctor instead of a computer scientist 😎 (I'm a different kind of doctor so I'm apparently not allowed a lab coat).

Hi, glad u have everything under control!! Can I just ask the numbers ur quoting are they finger prick results??

 

[zoombapup]

Hi, glad u have everything under control!! Can I just ask the numbers ur quoting are they finger prick results??

Yes, these are the blood glucose figures from my monitor after finger pricking. Still waiting for a more useful hba1c, but that might take another month to be worthwhile.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Yes, these are the blood glucose figures from my monitor after finger pricking. Still waiting for a more useful hba1c, but that might take another month to be worthwhile.

Personally I didn't find the HbAc1 useful at all.

 

[zoombapup]

Personally I didn't find the HbAc1 useful at all.

My understanding is that the hba1c is more of a sort of 3 month average, so reflects your real level more usefully than the every fluctuating "normal" BG level. I guess in a way its a chemical version of a trend line reading you'd get on a graph (I would if I could find where to plot them in google sheets). So useful in that you can see the overall change on a more flattened out figure rather than the yoyo that is BG.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Yes, HbA1c is an average.
I usually say one off finger prick tests aren't that useful, because of how it varies from throughout the day, from day to day, and depends on when you last are.
Thats why I suggest testing around food, and keeping a log and looking for patterns. With plenty of readings, you can do a graph.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

but it looks like a saw-wave where there's these oscillations between 4.6 and 7

Don’t let that stress you out. Having seen several CGM traces from people without diabetes, I think it’s fair to say that you are currently achieving results consistent with a fully functioning metabolism and pancreas. People without diabetes don’t have perfectly level BG all the time, it rises after meals in just the same way you are describing. 3.8-8.5 seems very normal for a non-D range.

Congrats on dropping the insulin and your great results. Hope the Newcastle 800 thing works well for you. We will be interested to hear about your progress!

 

[Northerner]

I'd post a graph of my current levels, but it looks like a saw-wave where there's these oscillations between 4.6 and 7 but mostly around 5.5 for the last 2 months. What freaks me out a little is just the random blips, which I assume are stress or something, but they do appear out of nowhere. Even if they're not a big deal and are relatively tiny, I find it fascinating that the system is so complex and seems to have so many moving parts.

If your levels are between 4 and 7 then you are no different to a very healthy non-diabetic person - everyone gets blips 🙂 Your levels rise with eating and the output from your liver and fall with the action of insulin (whether injected or your own). If they start to fall too low then your pancreas releases glucagon to prompt your liver to release more glucose and raise them again. All healthy people get these fluctuations within a fairly tight range, but they can get blips if there is a sudden impact, like some very sweet food or high stress (stress causes the release of adrenalin and cortisol which prompt the liver to release more glucose so you have that extra energy for 'fight or flight'). The difficulty with injected insulin is getting the timing right - a healthy pancreas sorts all that out. For people with insulin resistance the response of the insulin can be a bit slow so you can go high until things catch up 🙂 As you say, it's complex, but you don't need to worry about complications if your levels are fairly stable within a tight-ish range - it seems you have achieved this so I wouldn't try to micromanage things to tighten the range further 🙂 For an example, here's a couple of days graphs of my levels - ups and downs, but all within range 🙂

 

[zoombapup]

Congrats on dropping the insulin and your great results. Hope the Newcastle 800 thing works well for you. We will be interested to hear about your progress!

Thanks, I'm getting prepped for the 800 as I've currently got a lot of bacon, eggs and cheese still in the fridge. But once those are gone I'll start posting weekly updates. Looking forward to trying this out.

 

[zoombapup]

As you say, it's complex, but you don't need to worry about complications if your levels are fairly stable within a tight-ish range - it seems you have achieved this so I wouldn't try to micromanage things to tighten the range further 🙂 For an example, here's a couple of days graphs of my levels - ups and downs, but all within range 🙂

Yes, have to admit the control freak in me gets annoyed at how noisy that signal is. I understand that it's something I can't do anything about, but it does trigger me that I can't explain it in terms of input vs output. As you say, maintaining a "healthy" range seems to be as best we can aim for. I kind of wish there were more correlation between things like food intake and levels, but even that has quite a lot of noise on a day-to-day. Must be a real pain being type 1, because its always going to be more voodoo than science 😡🙂

 

[Ralph-YK]

)The difficulty with injected insulin is getting the timing right - a healthy pancreas sorts all that out.

And you've to balance the insulin to your food & BG consciously. "Normals", their body dose this automatically.

 

[Northerner]

Must be a real pain being type 1, because its always going to be more voodoo than science 😡🙂

The aim really is to get it 'right' as much as possible, but accept that it's not always possible - too many factors can come into play, a bit like predicting the weather on October 17th when it's January 16th! 😱

 

[trophywench]

LOL Zoomba! Not voodoo, fact of life with T1. Since there's no alternative we simply accept it and make the best of it - having an insulin pump assists cos we can more accurately deliver the insulin we need - but even that's never going to replace a fully functioning pancreas and to get one of them someone else needs to die plus if we get one we'll also have to take other drugs to prevent rejection. On balance - I prefer to stay as I am, thanks.