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Advice needed please

Pritchardx1

Pritchardx1

Newbie
Messages
2
Location
Northwich, Cheshire
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello, I need to start by saying that I am not diabetic myself.
The advice I need is for my mother, who has been insulin dependant diabetic for over 30 years and is very very overweight
She has already lost one leg to ulcers and is battling with the other and apents all her time in a a wheelchair
She was recently hospitalised after a heart "episode" and was told in no uncertain terms that she needs to lose weight.
While she was in hospital it came to light that her sugar is going very low overnight (2.8)? and she says this has been happening for quite some time.
The hospital advises that she was taking far too much teatime insulin 58-60) and reduced her to 49.

She is home now but says it is still happening and my question is this, she says she eats two biscuits before bed time, and then again or chocolate instead when the low sugar wakes her up, is this the right thing to eat or should it be something different?

We will also need advice on diet generally as although my partner and I eat a sensible low fat diet the same cannot be said for Mum and neither of us have diabetes so are unsure of what she can actually eat. It just seems to us that some of her choices are perhaps not good, SpecialK for tea, biscuits and chocolate at night, no vegetables, crackers and cheese spread.

Can anybody help please, all suggestions gratefully received!
 
Hi. The important thing is to try to focus on the carbs rather than the fats/calories as carbs affect blood sugar and are really the guilty party when it comes to weight gain in the opinion of many on the forum. Apart from the overnight lows which I will come back to, biscuits are never good for diabetics nor typical chocolate, but 85% dark chocolate is pretty good. Most cereals are loaded with sugar and I think Special K has some added sugar? Try to go for a cereal or muesli that has no added sugar and keep portion sizes as low as you can get away with. Cheese, eggs, bacon etc are generally OK as they are mainly proteins and fats. Fats are OK in sensible quantity but fish with unsaturated fat is always good. Non-root veg are good but as you say they are disliked. Is you mother just on one type of insulin or two types? When you say teatime insulin is that the fast acting or the daily/twice-daily long-acting? Normally when on insulin you try to get the Basal (daily) insulin adjusted to get the morning fasting level around 5-7 mmol. If also on meal-time Bolus insulin as well then that is adjusted for each meal. If you let us have more info we may be able to help a bit more. It is important, however, that anything I have said doesn't override what the hospital says as they are much closer to your Mother's condition and needs. You must make any changes after discussion with them.
 
Thanks for the reply.
She is type 2, using insulin twice a day but only one type.
The only other info I have is Novomix 30?
Most concerned with finding something I can suggest she eat tonight to try and get through to morning without the low, the 2am panic is starting to affect my Father's health too!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi there sorry this may not be much help but could her gp maybe refer your mum to a dietician specially trained in diabetes? I'm very new to this diabetes lark (im type 1) but I am waiting for an appointment with a diabetic dietician to basically tell me what to eat and when. Like I say this might not be much help but might be worth a try :)
 
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