Really Annoyed...And more than a little scared.

[michaeldavid]

This may be of interest to you, XIX: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/low-blood-sugar-without-problems-anyone.38667/

My rye-based regimen seems to produce the same effects. But there's this major difference: I don't have to do any 'carb counting'.

 

[jobo]

The part about foods you haven't yet ate nor likely too confused me. As a T1 you can eat anything you like. Carb counting allows this. I would push for a DAFNE course.


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[XIX]

The part about foods you haven't yet ate nor likely too confused me. As a T1 you can eat anything you like. Carb counting allows this. I would push for a DAFNE course.


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Theoretically yes, but realistically I can't really eat what I want if I don't want my glucose levels to fluctuate wildly. Injecting insulin is so much less effective than the body's own system, making it really hard to time the injections. So if I eat/drink something extremely fast acting (coke, Starbucks frappucinos, pop tarts, mountain dew etc.) I either end up hypoing or having an absurdly high BG level even if I inject the right dose.

Additionally, some of the items on my 'wanted to eat list' have so many carbs that it would probably take up my entire day's worth of insulin (i.e. the cakes they have in AMT coffee)

Also , I believe - but I might be wrong on that - that the more units of insulin you have a day, the more likely you are to gain weight.

 

[michaeldavid]

If you eat to match the insulin you inject, rather than inject insulin in an attempt to match what you anticipate eating, then injected insulin can be made to work precisely as effectively as the body's own system.

Arsey versey works well.

And I eat pretty much what I want to eat.

 

[XIX]

Could you elaborate on that please? Aren't the two essentially the same?

 

[donnellysdogs]

Michaeldavid

You aren't doing either of the two options. You are just reliant upon rye bread. As a type 1 you should not be reliant upon ryebread to balance your levels or co-op whole meal bread.you say you can eat anything you want,but you can't you are reliant upon 225 of rye bread a day.


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[michaeldavid]

There's a clue in the acronym DAFNE: 'dose adjustment for normal eating'.

Diabetics are encouraged to eat normally: breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner (or whathaveyou). And naturally, one is supposed to take one's insulin accordingly. Moreover one has to 'count carbs', and all that.

But I am not normal; I'm diabetic. So I don't even attempt to eat normally. But I do eat very well.

What I do is called 'feeding the insulin'. Each day begins anew. (I certainly don't wake up with any insulin acting within me.) I take my insulin, and soon after I begin to eat - in order to cover that insulin.

So most of my eating is grazing: I graze on 220g of rye bread per day (mostly with Biona Pear & Apple Spread).

I do eat a small lunch, and a small (early) evening meal. And I eat all kinds of other stuff, within reason, in between.

By late evening, the insulins I took during the day are approaching the end of their effect. And since I don't take any significant amount of long-acting insulin, I know that I will sleep safely at night.

The insulin is 'fed', and gone.

 

[donnellysdogs]

"But I am not normal; I'm diabetic. So I don't even attempt to eat normally. "


This statement really worries me....


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[michaeldavid]

There's something intrinsically social about food and eating. Accordingly, social factors tend to be involved in the orthodox management of diabetes.

It's no surprise, then, that I'm a bit autistic.

 

[Omar101]

"But I am not normal; I'm diabetic. So I don't even attempt to eat normally. "


This statement really worries me....


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It is true considering what would be considered a "normal" western diet, even a healthy western diet is very high carb seeing as how heavily the entire wholegrain/bread/low gi concept is pushed. Though I should also say his approach to eating is rather reckless and dangerous.

It's nice to think that we are normal and can eat normally despite being diabetic but truthfully if you want to have the numbers of a healthy non-diabetic person there are foods you should avoid and some that you should not eat at all. Also considering how much of an impact your fat and protein intake can have on your insulin sensitivity if you want to avoid as many future complications then you better not eat "normally".

There's something intrinsically social about food and eating. Accordingly, social factors tend to be involved in the orthodox management of diabetes.

It's no surprise, then, that I'm a bit autistic.

Are you? It would explain your posts on this thread actually.

Could you elaborate on that please? Aren't the two essentially the same?

Well instead of considering how many carbs hes eating and then taking insulin to match, he's taking a discrete amount of insulin and then eating an indiscrete amount of carbs over the insulin's lifetime to counter the drop in blood sugar.

As bad as it sounds it actually could make for better blood sugar control seeing as breads digest and hit your bloodstream waaay quicker than fast acting insulin ever could so switching their roles works. Though this method would require you to continuously check your sugars and keep eating over a long time. Taking insulin the traditional way is just more convenient as you only inject, eat and forget about it.

The bad part Michaeldavid is that you don't count your carbs so none of the values are known to you, If you got your hands on a continuous blood glucose monitor and counted your carbs and compared it the amount of insulin you are taking then your management could be a lot safer.

 

[phoenix]

When I was diagnosed I did indeed think that I would be very constrained in what I did and it really made me depressed. To be honest if someone had suggested I would have to spend my days continually eating rye bread I would probably have given up. It wouldn't have worked for me because I think I would have sat on my backside feeling sorry for myself.

Fortunately I encountered people who told me I could do anything I wanted with diabetes and I did decided that I would not let it stop me. I spent 10 days in hospital and came home to put in an entry for the London Marathon (I hadn't run one before, though I had struggled round a half about 15 years before) It took me another 6 years to get in to that one but I did run a marathon 14 months after diagnosis. I've walked long distance paths in the Pyrenees I have done daft things like joining my grandchildren on a climbing wall and body boarding in the Atlantic waves.

I try to balance things, if I've spent the day walking in the hills with a pack on my back then I have absolutely no problem in eating a carb heavy meal and a pudding or even to have crepes for breakfast. Indeed, I couldn't have done these walks if I wasn't prepared to eat what was on offer ( they don't offer choices in gites in the middle of 'nowhere')
On the other hand, If I've not been doing much I'll be more circumspect, I'll eat less of everything but quite honestly that should apply to everyone diabetes or not. The diabetes just makes us more aware of this than most people.

Probably most of us find that we do have to 'feed the insulin' when we exercise but sorry I would hate to do that all day every day or to be restricted on what I use. (edit , ie because we can't reduce injected insulin we may find ourselves needing to have some carbs to prevent going too low I've used, dextrose tabs, gels, fruits, little tubes of fruit puree, biscuits, cereal bars. It all depends on the situation, and how low you are. It's easier and quicker to use a dextrose tab whilst funning and a lot nicer to use a fruit or a biscuit whilst walking.) The better I've become at using insulin (and I now have a pump) the less I've needed to use them.
You need to learn about how to use insulin for the lifestyle you want to lead . All our lifestyles are different and our metabolisms work at different rates so it has to be personal to us. Michael's method is peculiar to him and what I do is peculiar to me. I also now realise that things can change from season to season and year to year so you never stop having to adapt.

 

[michaeldavid]

Thanks for your help, Omar101.

But what is primarily meant by 'normal eating', in the acronym DAFNE, is surely the eating of normal meals at normal mealtimes. (Though I agree with you, the food such normal meals consist of - here in the West - is unhealthy, not least for diabetics.) And it's the meals, especially any significant late evening meal, that I tend to avoid. (I can readily adapt if I want to; though for the sake of sleeping safely, I will always avoid late evening meals, and associated insulin injections.)

I never eat a normal breakast. (Though I can easily go in for a brunch.) And I'll pick up here on a point made by Phoenix. Not long after I was first diagnosed 30 years ago, I returned to work as a motorcycle messenger in London. And especially in the mornings, I ate then as I do now: I largely tend to graze. (I soon discovered that any significant breakast made my blood sugar rocket.) And one can easily do that, even when working on a motorbike - sometimes in the wet. (One can also easily test one's blood sugar regularly.)

Injecting insulin is intrinsically dangerous. But I take issue with 'reckless', Omar101.

When I was first diagnosed, I tended to keep my blood sugar quite a bit higher than I do now. For it was very much more difficult to manage, not least because then there were ONLY visually read strips: there were no meters.

It was only a few years ago that I discovered the stabilising effect, on my blood sugar, of rye bread. I found that it enabled me to safely maintain my blood sugar at near normal levels at all times. (I'm relaxed about slightly high readings first thing, but it's almost never in two figures at any time.) You will remember, Omar101 and XIX, I asked you about this effect.

It seems to provide a kind of ballast, which lasts late into the evening. (I don't eat any rye bread after 4pm, or my blood sugar would tend to rise in the evening and overnight.)

Before, having a severe waking hypo was like falling from a cliff. Now, at worst, it's more like stepping over the crest of a windswept sand dune: I get a good chance to climb back up.

Incidentally, I am myself an effectively continuous blood glucose monitor. But I find that an average of around once per waking hour is enough.

 

[Donna1]

So I got diagnosed with T1 a couple of weeks ago, and at first I was surprisingly OK with it. Obviously I was shocked as it's a pretty rare disease, and I thought I was past the most common age for diagnosis, but at the time I just wanted to get out of hospital. I went back to uni the Monday after I was discharged and normality resumed.

However, lately I've just been so angry at everything. I know I shouldn't be as everyone around me has been really supportive and there are worst things that could have happened. It's just that it's all so unfair. I know that's how life is but seriously, the chances of me getting this were 17 in 100,000 - that's 0.017%. Yeah, maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.

People keep telling me that it will get easier, and I believe them. But easier is a comparative....it's never going to be easy, and Iife's already hard enough as it is without this thrown in the mix. It dawned on me the other day that I will never "get better", there won't be a recovery, I'm just going to have to deal with this every single day for the rest of my life. It's rather sad when you realise that you can literally die by eating.

I'm scared because it's a chronic condition with the cure still a good ten years away (at least), I'm scared because I'm a recovered anorexic who used to suffer from anxiety/depression and this is going to make everything bad again. I'm stressed because it's March already and my end of year exams are less than two months away and I don't have the time to go to endless GP appointments and clinics even though I know they're necessary.

It annoys me that there are so many foods out there that I haven't tried and now I probably can't. It really irks me that my stomach is now a plateau of small bruises (yes, I'm very vain ). I'm just so sick of everything and I would sell my soul to have a normal functioning pancreas that produces insulin.

The worst thing is I'm a biomed student so I know exactly what's going to happen if I don't manage my diabetes properly. I also know that even with proper management I might still get complications. Because even if it's a small percentage, I'm part of the 0.017%.

(Sorry that this is basically a reeeeally long rant)

XIX

Hey i was also diagnosed 8 month ago at 33 and i am only one of 9 kids that exercise and ate healthy and not sweet toothed, i also was in gym 5 nites a week and loved my food! I can relate to every single thing you,ve said and the bruising etc can be embarrassing!
I get times of anger and feel hard done by but i now have attitude,well i kept fit n healthy and still got it so why not go out with friends enjoy an alcoholic drink etc if its gonna give me probs its meant to be not letting it ruin my life that was! Ye hear of so many folk that have it and until u have it thats when u realise how dibolitating and horrible an illness it is!
Chin up, n enjoy yer life, dont let the horrible illness change who u are! X

 

[Susan1974]

You can certainly enjoy life in the same way as anyone who doesn't have diabetes. You can have alcoholic drinks and party all night if you want to you just need to make sure you take steps to ensure that you don't take massive hypos thru the night as alcohol lowers blood sugars. Do the DAFNE course. It will show you how you can live your life how you want to. It covers exercising sickness missing meals drinking alcohol and loads of other stuff but keep your diabetes under control and yourself healthy at the same time. It is so not worth not looking after yourself with diabetes. It will catch up with you in the end but you can learn to live with it and it'll become second nature to you. Good luck with everything and if you're out tonight have a drink for me (I'm in hospital at the minute so the best I'll get is strong painkillers!!)

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[Donna1]

Yes susan is totally right and enjoy yerself, n we do have to look after ourselves a bit more with diabetes but u also have to enjoy yer life and not worry about it being lifelong etc, but it can take a long time to accept it. If we look after ourselves and still get probs its jus one of those things, but not worth spendin life worrying what if! Get well soon susan!