New T1D and mastered it?

[noblehead]

If I may ask, what are the three biggest challenges which make controlling your diabetes the most difficult?

Hi again @MichaelWM

I was going to write a list of the challenges that can effect bg control but remembered I saved an excellent article a few years back, it was written by a young man who I though give an extensive list of the many factors that can effect bg management, have yourself a read:

http://diatribe.org/issues/68/adams-corner

 

[zoze_j]

Hi there!

So I've had T1D diabetes since early December 2015. Totally unoriginal diagnosis story, ordered to A&E with a blood glucose of 50mmol/litre (aka caramel blood), and enough HbA1c to melt your face, y'know, the whole shebang.l

I actually love this, describing it without any technical jargon - caramel blood! Also, I very much appreciated the statement about your HcA1C having enough sugar to melt your face! Brilliant.

I admire your willpower to eat like that! I'm the first to admit that I like good food (aka carbs!) way too much to follow any strict diet (which is why I'm no size 0!) thankfully, my pump makes my carb weakness easy to deal with...even if the scales disagree!
I look forward to reading how you get on with this plan

 

[MichaelWM]

@zoze_j Thankfully my face made a full recovery.

One thing I'd like to mention that the ketogenic diet doesn't have to be as vanilla as most people first assume. I made crunchy chicken goujons yesterday out of chicken (obvs), an egg, a little almond flour, ground flax meal and some spices, tastes like KFC (a good or bad thing depending on who you ask).

I also made a keto pizza, and keto red velvet cake.

It's all possible!

 

[ashleighw1993]

Hey I'm a newly diagnosed type one myself only diagnosed last week. My blood sugars are all over the place atm still my lowest has been 7.0 and thats only been once. My average atm seems to be between 10 and 14 with the occasional spike to anything between 20 and 24. Has yours came under control yet? And if so how long did it take?

 

[Robinredbreast]

Whilst you are in the honeymoon, yes this is all valid, however, a word of caution. Eggs. As your endogenous insulin levels drop, protein starts to have much more of an effect than just background gluconeogenesis. One of the things your endogenous insulin does is help to suppress the action of glucagon on your liver (as it is taken up directly by the liver), reducing both the liver dump effect and also enhanced gluconeogenesis. Below a certain insulin threshold, the glucagon that your body releases in response to certain food types needs to be countered with exogenous insulin, to a surprisingly high level. The biggest issue being that currently, almost no exogenous insulin makes it to the Liver, unlike endogenous insulin, where it all does!

Likewise, with your current endogenous insulin production, you are unlikely to see much of a dawn phenomenon, but as that is reduced, once again, your body starts to do things that you have little control over and need to manage.

All things, however, that won't be affecting you at the moment, and the longer you can maintain a LCHF type diet, the longer you should be able to stave off much of this.

Hi Tim, I have just noticed your signature, very apt and true.

 

[Robinredbreast]

This is great, what a fantastic discussion we are having. I guess research only takes you so far before experience shows its worth.

If I may ask, what are the three biggest challenges which make controlling your diabetes the most difficult?

This information is golden.

Thank you ladies and gents

Hello, there can be a few challenges, especially for females, time of the month, pregnancy, childbirth.
In both :-
Illness, undiagnosed medical conditions, taking other medication
Operations, accidents, trauma
Stress, worry, upset
Exercising
Physical work

Yes, more than three and there are probably more too

 

[MichaelWM]

Hey I'm a newly diagnosed type one myself only diagnosed last week. My blood sugars are all over the place atm still my lowest has been 7.0 and thats only been once. My average atm seems to be between 10 and 14 with the occasional spike to anything between 20 and 24. Has yours came under control yet? And if so how long did it take?

My blood glucose average is 5mmol/litre, with no spikes above 7 in the past month or so.
I switched to a LCHF diet almost immediately after being diagnosed, and in my honest opinion it is the best thing any newly diagnosed diabetic can do. No spikes, less needles and less lows.
Granted I'm still honeymooning (you will most definitely be too), though lchf is thought to extend this period for months, even years.

It holds so many benefits, and I can't think of a single drawback. (I don't give a **** about not consuming carbs, small price to pay).

Let me know if you have any questions dude.

Edit: I'd like to add that we are all different, and so results will most definitely vary. I've had great success, and I'm sure others do too.

 

[Samwar]

What do u do I was diagnosed in Nov and have high metabolism please help I can have a hypo in a blink of an eye

 

[MichaelWM]

If I were you, I'd start researching the LCHF (ketogenic is another name for it) diet, and think about how you could start working it into your treatment. I'd recommend Dr Richard Bernstein's books or youtube channel, also on www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com there is an ebook you can purchase which goes into lchf for type 1's into decent enough detail.

 

[azure]

What do u do I was diagnosed in Nov and have high metabolism please help I can have a hypo in a blink of an eye

Learn to count carbs and test lots Yes, I know I keep saying that, but that's key.

You may want to ask about a pump too. It sounds like you have a busy life and a pump will allow you to make little adjustments more easily.

 

[Samwar]

Thank you

 

[Samwar]

Is it high or low carbs no one has told me to much I was just given a book

 

[MichaelWM]

Is it high or low carbs no one has told me to much I was just given a book

It's personal preference whether you don't mind eating a lot of carbs and compensating with taking a lot of insulin (and suffering far less stable blood sugar as a result), or eliminating them from your diet, taking far less insulin, extending your honeymoon period and living with less hypos and drastic spikes.

I'd recommend doing some research, and deciding for yourself which route you'd like to take. No route has to be final, you can always change and try something new in the future.

Best wishes.

 

[Samwar]

Ok a low carb diet so only a small amount of pasta rice ect I am willing to try anything as I can't keep suger levels high as that is what I have been doing at work as I work with 2-4.5 year old and can't have hypo because of staff ratio and safety of the children.

 

[MichaelWM]

Ok a low carb diet so only a small amount of pasta rice ect I am willing to try anything as I can't keep suger levels high as that is what I have been doing at work as I work with 2-4.5 year old and can't have hypo because of staff ratio and safety of the children.

Always consult your physician or diabetes specialist before making any changes, it's important that you use their knowledge and experience.

 

[azure]

Is it high or low carbs no one has told me to much I was just given a book

What book were you given? Was it a general diabetes book or one about carbs or food?

"Counting carbs" is really a shorthand way of saying you need to match your insulin dose to the amount of carbs you're eating We all eat different amounts of carbs, but ideally however many or few carbs we eat, we know how much insulin we need to 'deal with' them. If you can get that right - matching your insulin to your carbs, your hypos should reduce.

Looking after children is hard work! Speak to your team and explain you keep having hypos. Hopefully, they'll work with you to reduce the number of hypos you have. In the meantime, test lots at work and take plenty of hypo treatments and snacks so you can deal with any lows.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi Michael, welcome to the forum.
As others above have suggested, what you have mastered so far is the 'easy mode'.

In my experience the difference between producing some of your own insulin and none is not just a matter of quantity.
Injected insulin is crude, imprecise, unpredictable and most of all slow to start and stop compared to your natural endogenous insulin. My understanding is that during the honeymoon period your pancreas still produces significant quantities of insulin, reacting as rapidly and automatically to changes as it should, but it just can't quite output enough in total. Helping it out with a daily basal could be the only reinforcement it needs at first, and allows it to keep taking care of the really tricky fine and rapid adjustments.

Over time though it will gradually change from being like an automatic self-driving car with a slight tendency to drift left, to one where you have to steer along the twisty road completely manually
and you can only see the road a few metres behind you, not where you actually are now
and sometimes turning the wheel by ten degrees will turn the car by eleven degrees, but sometimes by six
and when you turn the wheel it takes half an hour to start changing direction and four hours to stop changing
and you can't even rely on those delays being consistent...

I think my own honeymoon period took several years to fully fade out. I have much more experience now, but managing it is still a lot harder than it was in those early months.
It seems Bernstein and others believe that the honeymoon period can be prolonged by keeping insulin requirements low through low carbs (though you'll find that you can sometimes get surprising spikes from your liver and from protein, even without carbs).
I hadn't heard of this back when I was diagnosed, but if that is the case then I'd say it's well worth working hard to keep it going as long as possible.

Love your avatar pic. One of the best films ever.

 

[zoze_j]

@Samwar - I totally agree with @azure 100%. I always had rubbish control, then I got my pump just over 12 months ago & it's changed my life. And it's great, you can adjust your basal as well as your bolus - you can programme it so your basal can be increased or decreased every half hour I think. And when you put your ratio in, you tell the pump how many carbs you're eating & it calculates exactly how much insulin you need. They're amazing! You should definitely look into it

 

[Samwar]

I will do I've done carb counting today and sugars stayed in 6-7 rang at work ok they are around 5 now with school run to do

 

[azure]

I will do I've done carb counting today and sugars stayed in 6-7 rang at work ok they are around 5 now with school run to do

You may be different, but if I was doing a walk like that, I'd consider 'topping up' my levels with a small amount of carbs.

Well done on your good levels Carb counting is great as without it it's like 'driving blind'.