Questions for a new T2 on Insulin

kiwit2

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hey guys,

When I was 18 I was diagnosed as prediabetic, I didn't really get much push from my doctors and avoided them until about 25 when I had my first bout of type 2, went to doc with high thirst, dry hands/lips, peeing every 5 minutes etc etc.

It's then that they told me i'm type 2 and to go on Metformin, I rebelled and didn't really follow it after a month or so and went back to my bad ways.

I'm 28 now and went into hospital with a bad virus which the nurse detected ketones/sugar in my urine and saw that my bloods were high again (not as bad as the last time though)

So I have finally decided to not mess around and actually do something about it, with a clean diet and exercise which i've been following even a 1 month before this diagnosis.

I was 168kg, down to 144kg now (i'm 6'5")

I've been put on 15 units of insulin each night to start along with 2x 500mg Metformin a day (any more and I have terrible diarrhea that really burns)

Coming to turns that I might have to use insulin for the rest of my life is pretty tough, but finding most of my other changes e.g. diet/exercise is really easy to conform too.

My biggest issue is I use to be a bit of a binger, sitting down and eating a bag of chips and M&M's was the norm, at the moment i'm craving to eat a snack in between my main meals that is low carb that will satisfy the crunch factor and volume a bag of chips would bring.

At work I snack on a handful of raw almonds between breakfast/lunch and a protein shake mid-arvo and that generally keeps me going/feeling full.

But in the weekends I don't, i'm craving something crunchy that I can not binge on but snack on while watching a movie or something.

I guess the thing i'm concerned about is the unknown of how quickly carbs are taken up (obviously low/high GI) and sometimes I would like to enjoy a small pizza or similar and i'm afraid if I do that it will raise my BGL too much.
 
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DeejayR

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,375
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hiya. I think you'll benefit from reading through @daisy1's brilliant guide to managing your diabetes (should be posted in a minute). It'll give you a positive angle on what to eat and other stuff.
 
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Astronomer

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Eating the wrong food send bg up very high. I used to have fish and chips in the evening, next day bg was still high( around 10 or 11) so now I just have sandwiches, and sometimes miss out lunch. If I do want to treat myself with a nice meal, I usually take it late afternoon then just water, to keep hydrated. Next day bg would be low (about 7 or 8). I don't have big meals any more just a few sandwiches for lunch and dinner. BG is currently 5.7.
 
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daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@kiwit2

Hello and welcome to the forum :)

Some useful advice above. To add to this, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask more questions and more members will be along to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

eddie1968

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,661
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Pasta, sorry to me it's vile, yeuch lol (and full of nasty carbs)
Hi Kiwi and good post. I was on Metformin for years (I have half my colon missing after surgery) and had terrible runs and told my nurse I no longer wanted to take them. My GP was not too pleased she put me on this drug and referred me for insulin therapy. I have felt better for it and have been on it for over a year now. Insulin has no side effects so I am happy now.
 

kiwit2

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
I think the hardest thing is knowing I will be on this for the rest of my life, while my goal is to get very active and get the weight down and that taking the insulin is easy, at the moment my life feels chained to my main 3 meals and checking bloods.

I feel very dark at the moment, but I know i'm better off then other diseases or even type 1 folk who have it worse....

I feel theres a lot of missing information around how quickly carbs/insulin work and why going up in BG is considered high. When I go to 15 on a bad day, i'm thinking it's not that bad, because when I was diagnosed I was running at 28...
 

kiwit2

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Random question time.

If I wanted to, could I just eat a big bag of chips or have a meat pie or even a tray of sushi/chicken katsu without much issue. Not daily, say one of those items every Saturday or something?

I'm finding it hard to understand long term effects of having bad food, obviously all the time is bad, but once and again is fine?
 

Indy51

Expert
Messages
5,540
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Random question time.

If I wanted to, could I just eat a big bag of chips or have a meat pie or even a tray of sushi/chicken katsu without much issue. Not daily, say one of those items every Saturday or something?

I'm finding it hard to understand long term effects of having bad food, obviously all the time is bad, but once and again is fine?
To my way of thinking, "every Saturday" is a bit more regular than "once and again". Of course, your life and your choice. Then again, I'm a Type 2 not on medication, so I have to be very aware of the amount of carbs and the effect they have on my BG, so eating to my meter is a way of life for me. My meter tells me not to eat more than 25g of carb at any one time, so I follow my meter's dictates.
 

Mike d

Expert
Messages
7,997
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
idiots who will not learn
Random question time.

If I wanted to, could I just eat a big bag of chips or have a meat pie or even a tray of sushi/chicken katsu without much issue. Not daily, say one of those items every Saturday or something?

... and why would you wish to undo the work you put in on the other 6 days? Up to you of course.
 

kiwit2

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
... and why would you wish to undo the work you put in on the other 6 days? Up to you of course.

Thats the problem, I want to understand the impact that an ammount can do to someone with T2..... i've been told that things like cake/sweets etc are fine but for special times e.g. birthdays etc and sure a small slice of cake it would be.

But apart from always sticking to a low carb diet, what can we do to enjoy a decent dry crunch food now and then to bring some sanity?
 
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Mike d

Expert
Messages
7,997
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Other
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idiots who will not learn
No-one here can answer that question as we all react differently. All you can do is test and check your BS levels at the appointed times. Some (emphasis on "some") might be able to tolerate some of what you're contemplating eating and then only in small amounts. Plenty of others could not.
 

axle 222

Well-Known Member
Messages
243
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not being able to do what I would like to be able to do
Hi.I recently attended a diabetic course called carbs and cals and we were shown a book of that title too. Instead of lots of text it shows you pictures of food,snax,take a ways etc with different size portions. It tells you how many carbs fats etc are in it. Really easy to use and I have found like you being recently diagnosed and on insulin it's a lot to understand....
There is lots of help on this forum,from what I've picked up self control is paramount,but we are human and after x amount of years of having free choice it's not easy to have that reigned in......all be it for our own good.

The book is Carbs and cals.by Chris Cheyette and Yello Balolia..it's recommended by diabetes uk..... you can get it from most book shops,Amazon etc....

Just as an example: in a 14 cm bowl a small portion of crisps( looks about 12 crisps) is 10 carbs 95 calories 6 g fat...3 grams saturated fat.....
You might find you can have more of something else....but if you need the crisp crunch it shows you the low down

As others have said it's your choice.....
Wishing you well.....

To the more experienced people on this forum I don't mean to cause any ill feeling with my comments just giving personal experience of starting the diabetic journey be it right or wrong.
 
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Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@kiwit2

It sounds like you need to do a bit of reading to educate yourself about the impact of high blood glucose. The links and books listed in my signature would be a good starting point. Sorry if that sounds unhelpful - it is actually the most helpful comment i can think of making.

We all want to eat snacks, treats and binges that will send our blood glucose up to damaging levels. We all want days, weeks and holidays off diabetes. And there is no one else who can keep us on the straight and narrow. Education and a meter really do help, because seeing and understanding the impact of those damaging highs is a powerful motivator.

Oh, and if you are still experiencing carb cravings, it may be that you are still eating enough carbs to trigger the addictive/carb cravings. Cutting carbs further might eliminate your problem.
 
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