what's the point?

[SilentAssassin1642]

I'm just back from town - whereupon I relived Primark of lots of clothes hurrah. But I had two hypos whilst out - 3.5 and a 2.2 - the 2.2 was awful, and I ended up stumbling into boots and getting a ton of glucotabs off them - the new raspberry ones are manky btw. But it was one of those hypos where I wanted to eat EVERYTHING! So I went into Asda and got apple juice and a chocolate bar - serious overtreating I know but I had to.

Just home and checked my pedometer. Apparenly according to that I've only done 700 odd steps and burnt off 28 calories...

So that means my "excersise" into town as it was supposed to be was futile, as due to the hypo I've eaten way more calories than i've burnt off.

I want loose a bit of weight - I'm not overweight by any means, but you know what i mean, it'll make me feel better. But how can I when these hypos mean I'm pumping my body full of empty calories?

I am so fed up of this. What's the point? I don't know of any hypo treatments that aren't full of calories and won't rot your teeth. Even juice (my favourite treatment) seems to be bad

there's a tiny part of me telling me to not bother taking my insulin, that it will help me loose weight. I know its stupid and I won't do it under any circumstances, but the little evil voice is there nagging me all the time. I just don't know what to do about this - it's upsetting me quite a lot because I feel like all my work with excersising (you know, the epic long walks and the tae-bo) is just for nothing. I want to join a gym, but can't afford to right now.

 

[rspence]

no answers just support

hey - sorry you feeling like this. sometimes i think 'dire' betes is a no win game and just when you think you're on track it creeps up behind us and goes BOOO and sends us crashing in one way or another.

i also worry about the hypo treatments being 'bad for you' - so keep the blood sugars ok by rotting your teeth - or my sons teeth in my case. still if not diabetic then he'd probably eat more sweet things anyway!

i'm not sure what the point is but please don't give up on yourself. we each have to find our own points of llife and they are different along the way. there used to be saying 'don't follow me i'm lost too' but at least if we all stick together we'll find ways through it all together,

take care,
rachel

 

[Copepod]

Silent Assassin - Frustrating, isn't it? A typical hypo treatment of 15g fast acting sugar eg glucotabs, 3-4 jelly babies etc, followed by 15g of longer acting starch eg a slice of bread (generally more practical if at home) or couple of crackers (generally more practical if out & about) doesn't actually contain many calories - about 20 calories per 5g CHO tablet / 80 - 100 calories per slice of bread. So, less than 200 calories for a typical hypo. What you want to avoid is food with high fat content eg chocolate, as that doesn't help treat the hypo - it may even slow down intake of sugar - as well as being more energy dense than carbohydrate or protein.
However, if that's more than you want to eat, the only solution is to try to minimise hypos eg reduce insulin for meal before your trek into town in the short term; perhaps reduce basal insulin very slightly in the longer term.

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Silent Assassin - Frustrating, isn't it? A typical hypo treatment of 15g fast acting sugar eg glucotabs, 3-4 jelly babies etc, followed by 15g of longer acting starch eg a slice of bread (generally more practical if at home) or couple of crackers (generally more practical if out & about) doesn't actually contain many calories - about 20 calories per 5g CHO tablet / 80 - 100 calories per slice of bread. So, less than 200 calories for a typical hypo. What you want to avoid is food with high fat content eg chocolate, as that doesn't help treat the hypo - it may even slow down intake of sugar - as well as being more energy dense than carbohydrate or protein.
However, if that's more than you want to eat, the only solution is to try to minimise hypos eg reduce insulin for meal before your trek into town in the short term; perhaps reduce basal insulin very slightly in the longer term.

i know how to treat a hypo, and how to deal with them. However, when my typical walk apparently burns off less calories than i eat to treat a hypo, its a bit rubbish. You can't tell me you've never had one of those hypos that makes you want to eat everything?? Chocolate was the closest thing to hand, so I took it - one of those situations. And trust me when I say I've tried reducing insuling - it doesn't work with me.

 

[Dan101]

A hypo when you want to eat everything?! yep, i have been there and done that, in fact it happens quite a bit to me, i feel so guilty afterwards but at the time it seems to me the ONLY way to get it sorted. When I say guilty, i mean by having eaten so much and gone against all the good work I've done in trying to keep my weight down after having to put it all back on after I was diagnosed last year (i lost sooo much weight!). Its so hard to try and get things right, portion size, insulin dose etc etc. people tell me its a learning curve and i hate that phrase, but it is, I just don't think i'm doing a great job of learning - but im sure it will happen soon. I hope things start to get easier for you. I too worry about the health of my teeth too, why cant there be something that gets you out of a hypo but doesnt have the potential to rot your teeth (oh, how much i hate the dentist!). This is still so new to me and each day brings new things to understand and a new scenario in which to bring my diabetes with me. i've stopped going out to nightclubs (not that I whent out in a big way anyway) they scare me, what if i have a hypo and no one understands (they think "oh look another drunk" or whatever) but i know that i will get over that soon. I know there are loads of people on here who can help and are more than willing too, they've really helped me.

 

[bev]

I went through a phase of wanting 'healthy' hypo treatment for Alex. But it was pointed out to me that it simply doesnt exist - even honey isnt that healthy! Sam, you will be able to get on top of these hypo's once you are pumping - you could have put yourself on 50% today in this hot weather and probably been hypo-free and enjoyed the walk too!

As for teeth - our dentist told us to drink a glass of water after hypo treatment as it helps to wash the teeth - oddly enough it also helps make the treatment work a lot quicker - not sure why though.

Having said that Alex has been hypo twice today and is having a rebound of 19mmols at the moment due to the hot weather and Trout fishing! He has had beautiful levels for a good few days - and then 19 out of the blue! I dont like rebound hypo's they seem harder to treat or correct and if you over correct your risking yet another!😱🙂Bev

 

[cocacola]

I just don't know what to do about this - it's upsetting me quite a lot because I feel like all my work with excersising (you know, the epic long walks and the tae-bo) is just for nothing. I want to join a gym, but can't afford to right now.

I know exactly how you feel. Does your local authority do reduced gym membership costs? You could ask your GP or DSN. Or even ask at your local gym. Total Fitness is local to me and they do reduced membership costs.
In my local authority you have to come into 2 categories. Be overweight, have a parent who has had heart problems, be diabetic etc, etc....
Worth asking about.

 

[Copepod]

Silent Assassin - just a thought, but if you think your pedometer might be under-recording (700 steps is only about 500m), then you could try working out your distance with a website like mapmyrun or use a bit of string on a paper map - that's the method I use out in the hills, but it works just as well on roads / pavements.
Sorry if I misunderstood you, but it sounded like you went into Asda and bought apple juice and a chocolate bar, not that they were to hand.

 

[Northerner]

...Just home and checked my pedometer. Apparenly according to that I've only done 700 odd steps and burnt off 28 calories...

So that means my "excersise" into town as it was supposed to be was futile, as due to the hypo I've eaten way more calories than i've burnt off.

Did you walk into town and back Sam? If so, you definitely did more than 700 steps! Pedometers can be wholly unreliable at times - I used to use one for running and sometimes I'd get back after a 90 minute run to discover I'd done under two miles (I think not, more like 11!). If I'm not happy with what it tells me, I try and relate distance and time. Back then, I was running 7-8 minute miles. For walking, you could use 15-20 minutes per mile and see how that compares.

Hope today goes better for you! 🙂

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Silent Assassin - just a thought, but if you think your pedometer might be under-recording (700 steps is only about 500m), then you could try working out your distance with a website like mapmyrun or use a bit of string on a paper map - that's the method I use out in the hills, but it works just as well on roads / pavements.
Sorry if I misunderstood you, but it sounded like you went into Asda and bought apple juice and a chocolate bar, not that they were to hand.

I think it *must* be underrecording

apparently today I've done 7930 steps, and that's walking to and from work, around work and into town (I always make the point of taking the stairs rather than the lift at work now!) which is much more like it even though it feels like i've done less. I might try it out on sunday and go for my usual super long walk and see what it says!

Ooooh they weren't to hand, I ran out of glucotabs and found myself outside asda and so snapped them up 🙂 I was just like "NEED SUGAR NOOOOW" and found myself raiding the chocolate isle. Oopsie 😱