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Am I being irresponsible?!?

S

Starstruck111

Active Member
Messages
28
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Diagnosed almost 6 months type 1. No underlying conditions. No family history. When I first found out I was careful with what I ate, however I have soon fallen back into my old habits. What can I say I have an extremely sweet tooth and love my carbs. My sugars are usually in range, between 5 and 9 most of the time. However I have found I am injecting more because I’m eating more like the old me. I only take 9 units of background tresiba but some meals I am injecting 10 units of rapid! Am I causing myself unnecessary damage? On diagnosis I weighed 7 stone 10 and looked ill. The weight gradually crept on and I’m now a healthy 8 stone 8, can fluctuate up and down a few lbs. should I be taking more care or my diet is what I really need to know???? TIA
 

As a T1, theoretically you can eat and drink as you wish, provided you match the insulin you inject, with the food and drink yo consume, taking into account, exercise and all the other factors in pay.

From what you write, you appear to feel you're overdoing things a bit. If that's the case, then maybe have a think about things, but in reality, using more rapid than background insulin isn't in itself an issue, if your numbers are pretty much running in range.

I'm not T1 myself, but hopefully one of the T1 members will drop in soon and comment.
 
Starstruck111 said:
... I have an extremely sweet tooth and love my carbs. My sugars are usually in range, between 5 and 9 most of the time. However I have found I am injecting more because I’m eating more ...
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No, you are not being irresponsible. Just short sighted. Be aware that you are still in your honeymoon, making a lot of your own insulin. The amount of insulin you have to inject will continue to increase as beta cells die off and matching insulin action with glycemic effect of food will become challenging. Especially if the sweet tooth is being indulged. The only way of dealing with it is by reducing carbs and bolus dosages. Now is a good time to start curbing that sweet tooth. The taste for sugar and carby food is purely acquired. You can change it it simply by changing eating patterns, but it takes time. Initially you will miss the the carby foods but it won't be long before you don't want them anymore.
 
It sounds as if you lost weight before diagnosis. If that’s the case then you may have an urge to eat more in order to regain it. You may find that once you’re back to your pre-T1 weight your desire for lots of sweet foods will diminish.
As @MarkMunday says, as long as insulin is matched to carb eaten then there’s no reason to be worried. However, once the honeymoon period is over you may find that your food choices begin to change. Don’t forget, too, that protein and vegetables are good for rebuilding lost weight and regaining health.
 
I have always been told that I can eat normally so long as my insulin is correct for what I eat

If you are in your honeymoon period control will be easier for you... I was in that stage for some years

But you will find I gets harder to control as time goes by especially when eating too much.. another thing you may find is that if you eat too much the insulin will force your body to use/store the energy from the food so there could be weight gain

I go through phases of eating too much.. but what I do now is try and get stuff that is less harmful to snack on... sometimes even carrots as the are dense so give that full feeling
 
@Starstruck111 Not irresponsible just human. My advice would be enjoy eating a healthy diet. Even non diabetics should in theory eat one. Sweet foods for anyone should be a treat. As @MarkMunday says a sweet tooth can be curbed and the less you eat the less you will desire. That treat will also change over time to something less sweet. You could also cut other carbs on your plate so you feel less guilty about the sweet treat when you decide to have one. It’s all about balance. Your numbers are very good at the moment just keep an eye on them.
 
No, you're not. You are being human and like any other human you may be choosing to eat things that are not necessarily good for you. Yes, at the moment you are covering it with relatively small amounts of insulin possibly due to being in the honeymoon period. Personally, I try to watch what I eat most of the time over & above the general public because at the end of the day I DO have a condition which is strongly associated & managed by the food that you eat. Of course I can eat whatever I want and if I can match it with my insulin then great, if I have a very carby meal I also take around 8 units for it, if I have a not so carby one then its a few units or none. I just think that I like to put less pressure on my digestive system because it probably has to work harder than a 'normal' persons so I do eat all sorts of stuff but keep the very carby ones to a minimum (Balance as said above). x
 
Everything comes with a learning curve. You just have to learn what you need to do. The hardest part is deciding when to choose to do it. A body is a crazy, resilient thing and can heal and turn itself around. You just have to determine when to begin, and then start learning and applying the knowledge that you’ve determined.

Diabetes isn’t an easy thing. We are better people after we figure it out.
 

We’ve been diagnosed around the same time. Initially I went a bit psychotic about going low carb but then I realised that good blood glucose control is all to do with how planned your injections are.

I quickly discovered I can basically eat whatever I want but I may inject insulin 30 mins to 1 hour before eating, I make myself close to a hypo around 4-4.5mmol/L then eat like a pig but with stuff like cookies and chocolates high blood glucose is inevitable even in non-diabetics. Also I don’t know if it works for you but I find that walking or doing some physical activity eliminates any glucose peaks, after dinner you may go for a tiny 5 mins walk to the shops or something which will make your blood sugar go down rather than up even though you just ate.

The things you’re going through are standard, I’ve read about many people on this forum who were initially in denial about their diabetes so they went keto and avoided any bolus but then over time they just accept that they are a diabetic so start eating normally. Sooner or later you will get bored of the high carb foods because they just make you spike and feel bad
 
Thank u all for replying. I just enjoy eating what I want when I want. Today I’ve taken 25 units of quick insulin for various meals and snacks. I just don’t know if that’s too much. Will I just be making my body more resistant to insulin? Or will the insulin stop working? I wish I didn’t have such a sweet tooth or crave carbs but I just seem too xx
 
Starstruck111 said:
... I wish I didn’t have such a sweet tooth or crave carbs but I just seem too xx
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Your preferance for sweet things has been conditioned over the years. Keeping them that way makes life more difficult than it needs to be. It doesn't have to be that way, but you will have to work at it. Retraining the body to get more energy from fat pays off in the long term.
 

Well if that's 'too much' then your glucose levels will have been 'too low'. If your glucose levels have remained within range, then no, it's not too much in and of itself. A normal body will release however much insulin it needs to balance its glucose levels whether that's hardly any, or 25 units or a 100 units. Generally speaking if anyone (diabetic or not) consumed far more carbs than their body could happily cope with they may also be releasing far more insulin than their body could cope with and this may cause insulin resistance. The same is true for type 1s in that once your body reaches its threshold for anything it reacts. I think you seem concerned about whether 25 units is a lot on average?, if you do then there is no such thing as average really as you take an amount of insulin that keeps you in range (and this varies wildly between people). I think you should get out of your head this 'too much insulin is bad or naughty' thought, take what you need. However, it can be hard to manage diabetes if you are eating several meals and snacks throughout the day as your levels may be up and down constantly and I don't think that is good, also be careful of stacking. What are your levels like? x
 

Hi. I usually have 4 meals a day. Breakfast either. Cereal or brown toast and or fruit. Lunch can be a sandwich or salad and chicken. Evening meal something home cooked. Pasta, roast dinner, meat and veg, jacket potato. It’s later on I can eat bag of choc and crisps. I inject 1 unit for every 10g of carbs and usually my numbers are between 6 and 9. Occasionally if I miscalculate I have the odd hypo and sometimes I can be in the teens. These are my readings last 2 weeks xx
 
@Starstruck111 I would question the after meal snack of chocolate and crisps. To play devils advocate. Why? Was your meal not satisfying enough? Did you really need it? Incorporate that treat into your main meal. If you are too full to eat it then, it is unlikely that your body requires it later.
 
@Starstruck111, well it does look like your levels ARE up and down as mentioned above. I really don't like to comment on anyone elses graph but I would not like my own to be displaying so much variability (up and down constantly), not sure if your graph is reading across one day or several but my own (based on 1 meal a day which I know isn't for everyone and maybe a couple of small, lowish carb snacks) is a much smoother line, it goes up after my meal then remains relatively stable all day apart from slight ups and downs during exercise etc. Each to their own but personally, but if I ate 3 meals a day (which are quite carb heavy) followed by crisps & chocolate (also probably carb heavy) then I know I would be doing nothing but injecting insulin and staving off hypo's and hyper's most likely. You may be different of course. x
 

Ah but Becky, who can say that they 'need' chocolate & crisps and suchlike. It's usually a habit that is simply enjoyable but not necessarily conducive to easier management. x
 
I recommend the course https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/
You can go straight to the quiz. There's a load of graphs to comment on in terms of dosing. I'm sure after completing this you'll realise you're doing a fabulous job.
 

I’m one meal per day too and always have been except when consultants or friends tried to get me to eat more... now 40 years and still lean and fit. No complications.

The worst thing about eating more is insulin stacking. Best thing when I was pushed to by others to eat more was to leave 5 hours inbetween.

However, I now have two different basals, 2 different bolus - and one meal per day. Bloods very rarely above7.0 at any time and very few hypo’s.
Lucky I am with a tertiary care hospital with a superb consultant that lets me have the insulin’s I have asked for and give as I wish.

Fiasp, insulatard morning.
Novorapid teatime or any eating say at Christmas that may be extra.
Tresiba insulatard 10pm.

Heavy carb meals are yuch for my stomach and colon but manageable with insulin’s but generally 99% of time my food is low carb.
 
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