Using only Lantus on low carbohydrate diet?

[james122]

About a week ago I thought I'd try two days of going low carb and not blousing and it seemed to me to work quite well apart from a few morning lows.

I wanted to know if it's possible to do that longer term because that would mean only 1 possibly 2 injections per day.

Has anyone else tried this here and if they have maybe they could give some advice on what I should do or if I shouldn't be doing this.

I have to say I felt very liberated only doing 1 injection per day and also testing less frequently because the majority of the time my numbers were between 4.0 and 6.0.

 

[EllsKBells]

There was another thread about this recently that it might be worth searching for.

In short, the answer is 'no'. it depends what you are eating, of course, but your liver will still convert particularly protein to glucose in gluconeogenesis, so you will have to bolus for protein instead. How long have you been diagnosed? Could you possibly still be honeymooning?

I believe @robert72 follows a ketosis diet, but as far as I am aware he still has to bolus for every meal.

Sorry :/

 

[catapillar]

How long have you been diagnosed @james122 could you still be honeymooning?

When you say low carb, how low carb? What is your I:C ratio?

2 days of low carb isn't an awful lot. If you were to low carb your body would become more efficient at turning protein into glucose and you would likely find a need to bolus for protein.

When you say your testing less frequently I'm not sure if that's a great approach to see how low carb works for you, simply because gluconogenesis takes a while and you might find your rising unexpectedly late after your unbolused for meals.

 

[james122]

I was diagnosed almost exactly two years ago so I don't believe that I'm going through the honeymoon period since I already went though it a few months after I was diagnosed.@catapillar and @EllsKBells.

 

[robert72]

hi @james122

I have been following a ketogenic diet for over 3 years now. I use Tresiba as my basal which keeps me pretty flat. I have to bolus just for getting out of bed (waking phenomenon... I've always had that) and again for my evening meal. I don't have breakfast and lunchtime I can usually get by without a bolus unless it's heavy protein, when I might have to correct in the afternoon (but it's a much slower rise).

 

[catapillar]

It may be slightly over simplistic to assume no honeymoon. I would guess I was probably honeymooning to some degree for up to 3 years post diagnosis, although I wouldn't have classed it as honeymooning then but only noticed it in reviewing the change.

 

[EllsKBells]

I would agree with @catapillar - whilst it wasn't to the same extent as full blown honeymoon, it is only really for the last two years or so that my insulin requirement has become so absolute - I used to be able to get away with a small snack for about the first two and a half to three years. I don't know if this is just because I am not the most insulin sensitive person in the world, but even if I have a meal with only 1 or 2 g of carbs, I still have to bolus. Also, particularly if the meals were fatty, you might have missed the rise with your more infrequent testing - a low or zero carb diet wouldn't really let you stop testing, by the way.

I understand the desire to reduce the number of injections, I really do, but whilst a low carb diet will reduce the amount of insulin you have to take in those injections, it is probably not going to significantly reduce the number of injections that you have to do in the long run.