Can anyone help?

[Cumberland]

Then you need to break down the amount in 1 shot because 100 units in one go is far to much and all you are doing is pooling the insulin so it wont absorb. You could end up with a massive hypo if you are not careful

I split it to 50 units in one upper leg and 50 units in the other (am), then at night 50 units in one side of my tummy and 50 units in the other side of my tummy I was told to do this by the diabetic nurse

10am and 10pm I inject Humulin I

I tried my upper arms but I don't like injecting there I cant get away with doing that

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Wow, you have my sympathy as you are obviously a very difficult case of diabetes. The one thing I would say is to completely stop the bananas and have non-tropical fruit. It may not make a lot of difference but in your situation every little helps.

 

[iHs]

Diet is generally good
I carb count and use a carb counting book it has become my bible
Usually a Banana for breakfast (sometimes 2 Bananas or sometimes no breakfast at all)
Soup around 11am
Sandwich around 2pm
Main meal, around 5-6pm (meat, fish, vegetables & potatoes) I have a small amount of potatoes
Supper around 8pm Boiled or Poached egg

I am not obese, I drink plenty of water especially at work (hospital) I rarely have hot drinks
Always look at food labels for sugar content when shopping
I admit I am not always perfect KFC is a big downfall for me but I don't have the time to eat them every day LOL

Hi

With bg levels as high as yours, you will be drinking and weeing for England and will feel thirsty, tired and very fed up.

First off your diet

Bananas for most diabetics cause bg levels to go upwards very quick so until you get the insulin ok, best to knock them on the head and eat something far less carby. How about a low carb Lidl Hi Protein roll which is very nice to eat and is about 12g carb for the whole big roll and wont cause such a whoosh upwards in bg levels. They are also fairly filling so wont feel hungry.

Can you do away with the soup at 11am and just have an Oxo cube crumbled up in a mug of boiling water

How much carb is in the bread sandwich? Most are about 36g carb so wont do high bg levels a lot of good. How about a Lidl roll again or a large 2 egg omelette with some prawns or whatever meat filling?

Main meal needs to be eaten about 6.30 to 7pm so that you allow about 5hrs to go by from eating the sandwich. Again, knock off the potatoes which are high in carb and replace with more vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, frozen peas etc. Celeriac is nice boiled in a saucepan and can easily replace potatoe and can also be roasted or fired too. Celeriac is about 4g carb per 100g weight whereas a small potatoe is 10g carb.

Supper can be a boiled or poached egg but cut back on the carb.

If you cut back on the carb, the bg levels will fall so until you get yourself sorted with insulin ok, that's the best advice I can give you otherwise you will find yourself needing hospital fairly frequently and will be at grave risk for developing nerve damage. If I was your consultant or dsn, I would be worried sick about you

 

[Cumberland]

Hi. Wow, you have my sympathy as you are obviously a very difficult case of diabetes. The one thing I would say is to completely stop the bananas and have non-tropical fruit. It may not make a lot of difference but in your situation every little helps.

Thank you for your post
I am convinced I have had hereditary connections from my paternal side regarding diabetes and CKD
I take on board your point about banana breakfast but some days I don't bother with them at all

 

[Cumberland]

I am going to bed now folks but thanks for your contributions I will try and respond to those as yet not acknowledged in due course

Good night

 

[Mike d]

I would be revising that diet .... a LOT ..... back to eggs, bacon, mushrooms for starters, potatoes out completely, bananas never even if you do eat them infrequently, no sandwich breads, lots of oily fish and a heap of above ground veg.

 

[ladybird64]

Hi again. While you are getting good advice on your insulin needs, I'm going to pick your brain on something else (dog with a bone me lol). You mentioned KFC as being a problem (which it kind of is) but it seems like you are looking more at fats being a problem than carbs? That sandwich will be very carby, do you have any bread with your soup, or your egg at suppertime? I would certainly try cutting those spuds by half, if not more, because they will be contributing to the glucose levels. Bread (wholemeal/granary too) is one of the worst culprits for raising bg levels. It would really be beneficial (as Noblehead has pointed out) to try and reduce your carbs. Flour based products, cereals are all things to be suspicious of - maybe while you're waiting to get the insulin sorted, have another look at the diet?

Edited to say goodnight,and hope that you are feeling a bit more positive tomorrow morning. You have lots of support here

 

[ewelina]

Apart from cutting carbs (but to be honest I don't think its your main problem, as insulin should cover them) I think the only way to become more sensitive to insulin is to be more active. Sports helps a lot and can make MASSIVE difference. Try something what suits you, can be fast walk for 30 mins, swimming or cycling and see if it helps. I walk to work every morning (40 min) and it halves the insulin I take for breakfast

 

[Ski fit]

I too sympathise, you must feel awful with those high bg levels, I remember how I felt before going on insulin. Have had a number of acute pancreatitis attacks too , extremely painful as you are no doubt aware. You say your pancreas is dead, I presume, therefore, that your pancreas doesn't produce amylase either (which is secreted into the duodenum to break down and digest fats?). I'm no expert but his could be having an affect on your bg levels and may be worth testing for.
You're quite right too that those with morning levels of 6-7 should be thankful it's not a lot higher, that's perfectly acceptable for a t2 diabetic.
Am going to bed now ( like most it's work tomorrow ) but shall monitor your thread and think some more about your plight.
Sleep well

 

[Jaylee]

Apart from cutting carbs (but to be honest I don't think its your main problem, as insulin should cover them) I think the only way to become more sensitive to insulin is to be more active. Sports helps a lot and can make MASSIVE difference. Try something what suits you, can be fast walk for 30 mins, swimming or cycling and see if it helps. I walk to work every morning (40 min) and it halves the insulin I take for breakfast

Ewelinia. I love yer posts & your an absolute gem.

But @Cumberland 's exercise on his profile consists of.
"Tennis, Squash, Badminton & Lakeland Walks"..

 

[ladybird64]

I too sympathise, you must feel awful with those high bg levels, I remember how I felt before going on insulin. Have had a number of acute pancreatitis attacks too , extremely painful as you are no doubt aware. You say your pancreas is dead, I presume, therefore, that your pancreas doesn't produce amylase either (which is secreted into the duodenum to break down and digest fats?). I'm no expert but his could be having an affect on your bg levels and may be worth testing for.
You're quite right too that those with morning levels of 6-7 should be thankful it's not a lot higher, that's perfectly acceptable for a t2 diabetic.
Am going to bed now ( like most it's work tomorrow ) but shall monitor your thread and think some more about your plight.
Sleep well

Um..I really don't wish to derail this thread in any way but do feel obliged to comment on your "should be thankful" comment. I understand that many don't reach these numbers no matter what but I will say that those that do normally put in a lot of effort into getting to those levels, it doesn't just happen by itself. For me personally 6 -7 isn't acceptable, which is why I try and stay below it. Each to their own

 

[tim2000s]

Reading yours and everyone else's comments, I'd sum it up like this.

1. Your pancreas is dead. You need insulin as a result. This is normally described as type 3c diabetes I believe.

2. You appear to have massive insulin resistance. This is typically considered to be type 2 diabetes.

I don't know whether the two are linked.

3. You don't seem to be overweight but it would be interesting to find out whether you suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver.

Based on what we know about you, a couple of things spring to mind.

A. You need insulin to survive
B. You need to reduce the amount of insulin you are taking.

With these two items in mind, I'd suggest that those who have suggested you stop eating carbs are in the right place. You are hugely insulin resistant at the moment. Eating carbs will only make that worse. Stop eating carbs and you'll reduce your insulin needs.

You also need to undertake some form of activity that will reduce your insulin resistance. Resistance training is typically the best approach to this.

Once you start on both these things you'll hopefully see some level of improvement by way of reduction in the insulin you need, which will start to make things easier. Good luck @Cumberland and I hope our community of type 2s and type 3cs can help you.

 

[mrspuddleduck]

Hi @Cumberland, as one of those "3 somethings" like a drone from star wars, I'm a little confused. You say you have been told that your pancreas is dead. If it is dead then surely you can't be a type 2 as you would have no organ therefore no insulin. Can I ask who has told you this, was it an endocrinologist or a pancreobillary specialist? In my experience only the latter can actually determine the extent of the damage to the actual organ. The endos deal with the results, ie the diabetes.
Whilst I'm not a doctor, it appears to me that your pancreatitis, probably caused by your pancreatic divisum may have damaged your pancreas over the years to the extent that you are a type 3C but obviously no one here can diagnose you! I think you should be demanding further investigation to determine what is going on. Apart from the fact that you can not safely maintain those high blood sugars, I can not understand why your docs are leaving this so long!! And as a final thought you are checking those ketone levels aren't you.

 

[mrspuddleduck]

Sorry to be picky @Cumberland but just reread your posts. You say you inject 10-30 units of novorapid per meal, 10g carbs to 5 units. That means in some meals you are having 60 grams of carbs in a single meal! I don't (can't) low carb but that's more carbs than I have in a whole day!!

 

[CarbsRok]

I split it to 50 units in one upper leg and 50 units in the other (am), then at night 50 units in one side of my tummy and 50 units in the other side of my tummy I was told to do this by the diabetic nurse

10am and 10pm I inject Humulin I

I tried my upper arms but I don't like injecting there I cant get away with doing that

You need to break it down even more.

The norm is to have the basal before breakfast so perhaps discuss injecting when you get up or pre breakfast and perhaps move the evening to before evening meal and see if that helps.

Bottom line though is your hospital team are playing with your life, you need your levels lower and the insulin you are using doesn't appear to be working.
So either a different insulin needs to be tried or a pump needs to be considered.

 

[Mrsass]

@Cumberland I really feel for you it must be exhausting to constantly have bg readings that high, I know how awful I feel with the very occasional reading of around 12 so to be in the 20's so often you have my sympathy!

I noticed in post 10 you mentioned about sometimes you can experience a hypo due to missing lunch, which says to me if you maybe had lunch but without the carbs (as many others have suggested) you will get much better readings. Instead of the bananas on a morning raspberries or strawberries are a lovely replacement and very low carb, also the lidl protein rolls that have been mentioned are great, very low carb and very filling, I do think if you gave it a go of low carbing for a few days (will need to see patterns develop) you may see an improvement.

I have a pump (I'm type 1) and I love it, never had such great readings, but it takes work it isn't magic, for your team to say the are expensive sounds like they are fobbing you off, maybe it's a case of they don't think it would be suitable for you because of the amount of insulin you are on but they should be honest so I would question them again about that.

I wish you luck as I said at the beginning of my post it must be awful to have such high readings and go about your day to day life feeling so rubbish, but think how great you will feel when this begins to get sorted and you have lower readings

 

[AndBreathe]

I'm going to chance my luck here and apply some simple logic to this, if I may. As a non-medicated, non-diabetic levels person clearly I have absolutely zero experience of taking insulin, but in my early days I do consider I had some insulin resistance, so obviously when diagnosed I wanted to focus on my getting my numbers down, then ideally improving insulin resistance.

I'm very much with @Mrsass here, in terms of taking out the rising agents so to speak. If carbs push your numbers up, take down the rising agent. Clearly, you would need to monitor your insulin use diligently (and I couldn't begin to suggest how you would do that), but surely if you are not eating 50-60gr of cab at a sitting your insulin needs would reduce, thus either allowing your bloods to moderate a bit (and hopefully you would feel better in that situation) or allowing you to take less insulin and give your body a bit of a rest.

If you were to commit to a two week period, say, where you log everything you eat, drink, all exercise, all medication, mood and well-being feelings, you could get some clues.

I reiterate, I have never used insulin, and thankfully, I have never, knowingly, had scores as high as yours appear regularly to be, but I do know that as my numbers moderated my mood rose no end, and as my insulin resistance improved I could be a bit more relaxed in my diet/lifestyle choices. Now that I am where I am, I have been asked by normal people, diabetics and HCPs why I don't just revert to a "normal diet". Well, I don't because I feel so well as I am, and I don't want to redevelop insulin resistance.

On my journey I have become very slight, and actually wouldn't mind gaining a couple handful of kilos, but I don't want to add the carbs to be diet to do that, and without them, for me, it's a challenge to gain weight these days. Although your BMI is not obese, or even overweight, it would be interesting to experiment with losing 6-7lbs and see if that makes any difference to things.

It almost sounds like your diabetes is a truly portfolio condition - and in this instance sort of 3-sh, with a bit of 2 bundled in. Don't they call a blend of T1 and T2 "Double Diabetes"? It could be you are a bit TOFI (thin outside, but fat inside), with some pesky visceral fat preventing your system coping with the carbs/insulin juggling match.

So, that's my brain dump.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up payments to your mortgage. The value of shares can fall as well as rise, and any other risk warnings you can think of. None of my foregoing are instructions (how could they be?), but hopefully perhaps a bit thought provoking.

Good luck with it all.

 

[Cumberland]

Hi

With bg levels as high as yours, you will be drinking and weeing for England and will feel thirsty, tired and very fed up.

First off your diet

Bananas for most diabetics cause bg levels to go upwards very quick so until you get the insulin ok, best to knock them on the head and eat something far less carby. How about a low carb Lidl Hi Protein roll which is very nice to eat and is about 12g carb for the whole big roll and wont cause such a whoosh upwards in bg levels. They are also fairly filling so wont feel hungry.

Can you do away with the soup at 11am and just have an Oxo cube crumbled up in a mug of boiling water

How much carb is in the bread sandwich? Most are about 36g carb so wont do high bg levels a lot of good. How about a Lidl roll again or a large 2 egg omelette with some prawns or whatever meat filling?

Main meal needs to be eaten about 6.30 to 7pm so that you allow about 5hrs to go by from eating the sandwich. Again, knock off the potatoes which are high in carb and replace with more vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, frozen peas etc. Celeriac is nice boiled in a saucepan and can easily replace potatoe and can also be roasted or fired too. Celeriac is about 4g carb per 100g weight whereas a small potatoe is 10g carb.

Supper can be a boiled or poached egg but cut back on the carb.

If you cut back on the carb, the bg levels will fall so until you get yourself sorted with insulin ok, that's the best advice I can give you otherwise you will find yourself needing hospital fairly frequently and will be at grave risk for developing nerve damage. If I was your consultant or dsn, I would be worried sick about you

Thank you for your post
I usually have a tinned tuna or salmon sandwich at work

Supper is simply a boiled or poached egg by itself and I am fussy I only eat the yolk

The soup is a small flask of either homemade broth or leftover chicken

I can substitute banana for a pear at breakfast I could do that, to be honest I'm not big on breakfasts

I have never tried celeriac I will look out for it though thanks for this

 

[Brunneria]

Sorry to be picky @Cumberland but just reread your posts. You say you inject 10-30 units of novorapid per meal, 10g carbs to 5 units. That means in some meals you are having 60 grams of carbs in a single meal! I don't (can't) low carb but that's more carbs than I have in a whole day!!

Mrs P, if you eat less than 60g carbs a day you are most definitely a card carrying, fully paid up member of the LC Brigade. Low carbing starts at below 130-150g carbs a day. At 50g or below, people start flirting with ketosis, which is often considered a bit hardcore LC.

Sorry for that derailment folks. I will shut up now and let everyone concentrate on helping @Cumberland - to whom i wish all the best! Sounds like a horrible situation and i hope you find a solution.

 

[Cumberland]

Hi again. While you are getting good advice on your insulin needs, I'm going to pick your brain on something else (dog with a bone me lol). You mentioned KFC as being a problem (which it kind of is) but it seems like you are looking more at fats being a problem than carbs? That sandwich will be very carby, do you have any bread with your soup, or your egg at suppertime? I would certainly try cutting those spuds by half, if not more, because they will be contributing to the glucose levels. Bread (wholemeal/granary too) is one of the worst culprits for raising bg levels. It would really be beneficial (as Noblehead has pointed out) to try and reduce your carbs. Flour based products, cereals are all things to be suspicious of - maybe while you're waiting to get the insulin sorted, have another look at the diet?

Edited to say goodnight,and hope that you are feeling a bit more positive tomorrow morning. You have lots of support here

Thank you for your post

I was so tired last night I went to bed with work in mind for today

Soup and Eggs are eaten solo I only have a sandwich (one) around 2pm

Spuds on my plate take up a quarter I could look at this and cut back and add more veg or as suggested try celeriac as replacement

Thanks again