Bizarre new experience

[Wurst]

The last 6 days have been a very bizarre experience for me regarding my control, more than likely it is related to the current cold snap but I have not experienced anything like this before in 2.5 years as a T1.

Basically I have had to reduce my basal from 24 units to 8 in the space of 6 days and as i'm on a low carb diet I have discovered that I don't need to bolus for meals. I was really feeling brave last night and experimented with some carb intake , I ate packet of skittles (around 50g of carbs) before consumption I was 4.5 mmol , 1.5 hours later I was 4.2 mmol (without any bolus).

If this is purely down to cold weather then I'm relocating to the North pole

 

[-Artemis-]

Honeymooning still....?

 

[Wurst]

If only, honeymoon was over 1.5 years ago :-0 Never heard of the honeymoon period returning.

 

[ashleyp]

that test you did with the skittles has just blown my mind! Its like your diabetes has reversed itself. Time to go mental! Go on a binge!....(probably don't but in my head it sounds like a great idea)

 

[Wurst]

Its like your diabetes has reversed itself.

I've never heard of T1 diabetes being reversed. I'm sure this only a temporary state but I'm going to take full advantage while it lasts I'm going to see what my son's got in his sweet draw for tonights experiment.

 

[LucySW]

Great news, enjoy, don't blow it

 

[PaulinaB]

Guessing here... Maybe your low carbing has increased your sensitivity so much and you still make tiny amounts of insulin? No idea...
You didn't start exercising like crazy or changed any meds?

Enjoy!

 

[Dillinger]

I've never heard of T1 diabetes being reversed. I'm sure this only a temporary state but I'm going to take full advantage while it lasts I'm going to see what my son's got in his sweet draw for tonights experiment.

I would say it's because of your low carbing; if you start eating lots of carbs it will go the other way; why mess with perfect control for the sake of some sweets?

If you avoid all that junk just think what your next HbA1c will be! If you can manage on just basal and keep the bloods normal then you will be achieving non-diabetic levels and avoid all the complications.

This is not a time to ditch all that to make Hasbro richer...

Best

Dillinger

 

[Wurst]

I've been very low carbing for almost 2.5 years , so I have excluded that possibility. I have no intention of ditching low carb in the long term but If I can handle a few sweets for a short while , why not

 

[staffsmatt]

My guess would be that you're about to get a cold. At which point, if you're like me your levels will swing totally the other way!

 

[Wurst]

My guess would be that you're about to get a cold. At which point, if you're like me your levels will swing totally the other way!

No sign of a cold yet. Last nights experiment involved a small bag of chocolate M and M's (around 30 g of carbs). Pre consumption I was 4.5 mmol , 1.5 hours later (with no insulin) I was 5.2 mmol. I then went to bed and woke up 8 hours later at 4.4 mmol.

The cold snap has ended here so I was expecting my new found carb tolerance powers to fade.

 

[Brunneria]

Someone else wrote about something like this recently. Was it @ElyDave ? Or was it someone chatting with Elydave... Sorry, can't remember. I do know it was in a discussion that involved exercise levels.

But, no matter what, long may it continue! Very pleased for you.

 

[noblehead]

No sign of a cold yet. Last nights experiment involved a small bag of chocolate M and M's (around 30 g of carbs). Pre consumption I was 4.5 mmol , 1.5 hours later (with no insulin) I was 5.2 mmol. I then went to bed and woke up 8 hours later at 4.4 mmol.

The cold snap has ended here so I was expecting my new found carb tolerance powers to fade.

A possible explanation might be that your basal insulin is set too high, if your deviating away from your usual LCHF diet it might be that your basal insulin needs reducing, as we know a high-fat diet can (in some cases) lead to insulin resistance in type 1's, cold this be possible explanation do you think?

 

[Wurst]

A possible explanation might be that your basal insulin is set too high, if your deviating away from your usual LCHF diet it might be that your basal insulin needs reducing, as we know a high-fat diet can (in some cases) lead to insulin resistance in type 1's, cold this be possible explanation do you think?

I am really not deviating away from my low carb diet , except for these two experiments. I have decreased my protein intake to around 80 grams per day and increased my vegetable intake i.e. larger amounts of cabbage, sauerkraut and cauliflower. Can't see how this is causing it.
I've already dropped my basal down to 8 units from 24 , so I can exclude that.

Anyway I think i'll try smarties tonight

 

[donnellysdogs]

No you cannot rule out that basal is too high still.

We don't know what activitys you do during the day... You could be an olympic runner so you would be burning loads that will affect you later.

Also if you've had any weightloss this will affect basals.

If you like something else as an addition without bolus.. Brilliant, if not just lower your basal..

 

[noblehead]

I am really not deviating away from my low carb diet , except for these two experiments. I have decreased my protein intake to around 80 grams per day and increased my vegetable intake i.e. larger amounts of cabbage, sauerkraut and cauliflower. Can't see how this is causing it.
I've already dropped my basal down to 8 units from 24 , so I can exclude that.

Anyway I think i'll try smarties tonight

Try omitting the sweeties tonight and see if your bg goes low, my reason for saying this is you have reduced the amount of protein in your diet for veggies, protein..........as you know takes longer to break down to glucose and it may well be that your basal insulin has been covering the slow bg rise.

It just seems strange that you can indulge in such sweet tweets and it hardly registers on your bg meter, for most people that have excluded carbs in their diet for some time the opposite would be the case, especially for us type 1's who produce none or very little insulin.

 

[ElyDave]

Someone else wrote about something like this recently. Was it @ElyDave ? Or was it someone chatting with Elydave... Sorry, can't remember. I do know it was in a discussion that involved exercise levels.

But, no matter what, long may it continue! Very pleased for you.

I do occaisionally trip myself up in this way - the perils of an extended honeymoon period I think - in that I cna have a very similar meal two days in a row, one occaision with a controlled BG increase, <2.0mmol/l, the next day with the same dose I can end up dropping low instead.

The only explanation I have is that I am still producing some insulin and that this is erratic in nature, so on occaision my pancreas inadvertantly overdoes it vs what I've already injected.

From discussions I've had with one or two DSNs and dieticicans in Addenbrookes this is more common in those who are more active as sensitivity increases. I believe there's also anecdotal evidence that if you start on insulin therapy early that can also prolong the activity of the pancreas, so it could be a combination of both of those, also factored in with the change of diet.

That's one of the things i'm finding with this is that there are so many variables involved that pinning it down to one is not likely to be possible or reay.

 

[Wurst]

My 'powers' are long gone. I recently had a week off and bar a 15 km run I did no physical activity whatsoever (in the name of experimentation). The results were alarming. I found I had to double my doses of basal and I simply couldn't control any carb intake i.e i was getting spiked on food I can normally withstand.

To cut a long story short , I'm back to very low carbing and a high exercise regime.

 

[Brunneria]

My 'powers' are long gone. I recently had a week off and bar a 15 km run I did no physical activity whatsoever (in the name of experimentation). The results were alarming. I found I had to double my doses of basal and I simply couldn't control any carb intake i.e i was getting spiked on food I can normally withstand.

To cut a long story short , I'm back to very low carbing and a high exercise regime.

 

[polka]

My 'powers' are long gone. I recently had a week off and bar a 15 km run I did no physical activity whatsoever (in the name of experimentation). The results were alarming. I found I had to double my doses of basal and I simply couldn't control any carb intake i.e i was getting spiked on food I can normally withstand.

To cut a long story short , I'm back to very low carbing and a high exercise regime.

Generally speaking, if you have a particlar routine every day, your insulin intake is balanced against that, and all is good.

If your routine is lots of excercise then your insulin intake will be balanced against that, and so, the moment you stop that excercise it is going to 'not lower your bloodsugers anymore', so you will experience higher bloodsugers.

theres nothing wrong with raising insulin levels on days you are not going to excercise just to deal with the elevated levels.