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Benefits of a T1 needing less insulin

Hi CatLadyNZ! What a wonderful friend you are to try to find ways your friend can improve his health!

I have to say that I really don't know much about low carb diets and that I am still in my honeymoon period, and so my insulin needs vary from week to week and day to day. However, I have been advised by my diabetes nurse that I don't need to worry about increases in insulin, as long as my total daily dose (background insulin plus all quick acting insulin taken in a day) is not greater than my weight in kg. Once your insulin needs are greater than this, you are also at a much greater risk of developing t2 ON TOP of your t1!! This thought terrifies me. I think it is bad enough to have one or the other, I can't imagine the challenges with having both!! Knowing this could be enough motivation for your friend to lower his bg levels to a safe level, lose any additional weight and reduce his insulin in doing so.

Also, I would maybe suggest that your friend speaks to his diabetes team before doing exercise, as everyone is different and to be honest, it has been a complete minefield for me. I enjoy exercise, but due to the stop-start nature of my honeymoon period, it is v difficult to understand what my body needs (eg. Most t1 insulin dependent diabetics need insulin on board when exercising, to use the glucose released by the liver during exercise. I have at times needed no insulin injection and extra glucose, sometimes extra of both, sometimes just insulin and most recently neither???) So it would be useful for him to get some advice from a professional who knows how his body reacts on where to start with exercise.

All the best, and I hope your friend appreciates your concern and care for him x
 
tim2000s said:
I hope this didn't come from your DSN - it could be disastrous advice as it applies only to certain forms of exercise!
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Hi tim2000s! Yes, this did come from my DSN - I actually didn't know that some don't need insulin! It could be that the exercise I do will need insulin once I'm fully insulin dependent (ie. not honeymooning). I do know that some lowers your bg, and some raises (aerobic and anaerobic?). In any case, I would always advise someone to speak to their diabetes team before exercising as it can be so different for everyone.

Thanks for the info! Can you advise which exercises do/don't need insulin? (Just in case I decide to take up some wild sport ;) ) x
 
I think your concern for your friend is excellent, and I think we all need people who care about us around us. One thing I would be cautious about though I trying to advise your friend on how to treat his condition as he may take it badly. Carbs are clearly incredibly controversial on this forum and we as type ones all have our own opinion. To me, it comes down to eating what you enjoy, as long as that constitutes a healthy diet. I love my carbs, and probably consume around 150-180g a day. That's pretty normal for anyone without diabetes. If someone tried to tell me I should be lowering my carbs I'd be pretty offended. My diet makes me happy and I'm healthy, and with so many conflicting views on what type ones should eat, I'm not sure I could really trust one hard and fast opinion on it.
 
@Erin85 - that's pretty much it. Aerobic and Anaerobic is the split. This is usually linked to heart rate (although it's not always as clear as that).

For example, weight training and high intensity interval training results in a blood glucose spike for me. Long distance running doesn't. Cycling to work does (as it is a series of sprints between traffic lights), whereas cycling at a constance pace tends not to.

In terms of heart rate measures, between 60% and 80% of Max Heart Rate (MHR) is considered the aerobic zone and 80%-100% of MHR is the anaerobic zone.

Hope that helps a little.

The other place to go is to http://www.runsweet.org - this page might help explain it a little more: http://www.runsweet.com/DiabetesAndSport.html
 
becky.ford93 said:
I think your concern for your friend is excellent, and I think we all need people who care about us around us. One thing I would be cautious about though I trying to advise your friend on how to treat his condition as he may take it badly. Carbs are clearly incredibly controversial on this forum and we as type ones all have our own opinion. To me, it comes down to eating what you enjoy, as long as that constitutes a healthy diet. I love my carbs, and probably consume around 150-180g a day. That's pretty normal for anyone without diabetes. If someone tried to tell me I should be lowering my carbs I'd be pretty offended. My diet makes me happy and I'm healthy, and with so many conflicting views on what type ones should eat, I'm not sure I could really trust one hard and fast opinion on it.
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I haven't advised him or told him to do anything. I've asked a couple of carefully worded questions and mentioned one or two things I've heard about or found worked for me. He is open to discussing diabetes with me and I think he would like to have lower BGs, but he is unmotivated to change, possible due to his high and fluctuating BGs affecting his energy levels and thought processes. I know when my BGs were high before diagnosis everything seemed harder and I just wanted to go to bed all the time.

If he would eat 180g of carbs a day then he would find it much easier to manage his diabetes but I estimate he eats maybe 600g a day. For example, he eats a large bowl of a breakfast cereal that has 75g of carbs in 100g, so that's probably at least 150g right there, plus the low fat yoghurt heaped on top. Then he has 4 pieces of toast and jam for breakfast as well. Lunch is usually a burger, fries and a coke and 3-4 pieces of fruit. Dinner may be steak and a huge portion of chips or about 6 potatoes, and another 3-4 pieces of fruit. You can see why I am concerned. All I said to him was that because of T2 I'm low carbing, and finding it great. I've said to him that I know T1 and T2 are totally different, so he's well aware I am not assuming T1s should reduce carbs as much as some T2s do. I think if I had T1 I would aim for about 180g a day too.

Last night for some reason he had a really small dinner and afterwards his BG was 3.7 and he looked as white as a sheet. Then he had a huge bowl of cereal and yoghurt. I noticed he didn't have any glucose tablets or anything like that for treating hypos, and he stood in a dazed state staring into the pantry thinking about what to eat. I was keeping an eye on him without saying anything and if he hadn't taken action I would have gently said something or handed him some fruit juice at least. I'm sure he would have been fine about that. He's a good kid, really.
 
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