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ANY IDEAS??

J

johnoswaldallan

Active Member
Hi All

I have now been on a low carb diet for several months and the results have been incredibly good, in fact this is the best control I have had since I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes many years ago. I have reduced my insulin considerably and I am getting excellent (for me anyway) B.S’s and they are pretty consistent, no outrageously high’s or low’s. I now seem to have reached somewhat of a stalemate. I am now using approximately 100 units of insulin per day and I am consuming approximately 30 grams of carbohydrate per day, most of the insulin being Lantus, as soon as I try to decrease the Lantus even by 2 units at a time my B.S. will increase especially if I try and reduce the evening dose. Any ideas I have listed a pretty typical day below.

6 am BS 6.9 - 7 units Novorapid + 22 Lantus

8 am (Breakfast) BS 5.1 - 4 units of Novorapid

10.30 am B.S. 5.9

Lunch B.S. 6.9 14 units Novorapid

3.00pm B.S. 5.6

Evening Meal B.S. 6.9 -14 units of Novorapid + 44 units of Lantus

Two hours after evening meal B.S. (5.8)


Regards

John


JOA
 
Hi John,

It's great to hear of your success, and hopefully it will motivate other to try it for themselves.

You're using a lot of insulin for a daily intake of 30g carbohydrates, I think. Purely for the sake of comparison, I'm eating ~20g carbs per day and injecting around 12 units of Humalog and 8 units of Lantus.

There will be other opinions of course, but it may be that your previous use of large doses when you ate lots of carbs may have induced a degree of insulin resistance. It will be interesting to see how much this improves as you maintain your low-carb diet. I'm guessing there will be a gradual lessening of insulin resistance, and you'll find yourself needing smaller doses in time.

When I first started, I needed 22 units of Lantus at night, and if I reduced it by 1 or 2 units, I'd pay for it the following day! After low-carbing for 7 years, I now inject 5 units at night and 3 units in the morning - roughly a third of what I used to need. As you have found, my glucose levels are non-diabetic and so consistent it's almost boring!

Keep up the good work!

All the best,

fergusc
 
Hi fergusc

I think you might be right over the last few weeks I have been decreasing the Novorapid very slightly as my B’S’s have been slowly improving. I actually had a 3.8 yesterday. I of course no longer increase my carbs but decrease the insulin. It is however those large doses of Lantus that I would love to reduce but as I say if I reduce the evening dose by just 2 units my 6.00am reading ends up 10-12 . I am sure the longer I stick with it the better it should get. As regards the low carb diet, I don’t think I have ever enjoyed my food as much as I do now. My wife, who is an exceptionally good cook, occasionally makes me low carb pastry (pies) made from gluten flour. I use celeriac instead of potatoes and there are so many other things that can be enjoyed that are no longer in the "forbiden fruit" category. I don’t hanker after my old high carb diet at all.

Regards

John


JOA
 
I agree with you, John. I've never enjoyed my food as much as I do these days. I don't miss the stodge one bit.

A great alternative to rice, we've discovered, is cauliflower rice. A head of cauliflower grated, stir fried with some vegetable oil, herbs and spices is just great. The texture and flavour is so much better than the real thing.

If it helps to reduce the Lantus more gradually, Lilly have recently introduced a HD pen which allows you to dial half doses of insulin. This has been brilliant for me since I use low doses anyway, and a single unit up or down can be a big percentage jump. For you, it might allow you to gradually reduce your Lantus by a small amount each time without too much risk?

All the best,

fergusc
 
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