Coping with Diabetes and being in a wheelchair

[WheelyFun]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you could help me.

Since being diagnosed in 2016, I have struggled to keep my levels anywhere near okay without just literally not eating for a few days. Something which has landed me in hospital a few times. I am on Gliclazide (I had an allergic reaction to Metformin), along with Lantus (45u once per day, am) and also on Novorapid (3u for every 1mmol my insulin levels are above 15, and 2u for every 1g of carbs above 5g of carbs I have for each meal, around 30 minutes before the meal).

One of my biggest problems is that I am trying to lose weight, I have been in a wheelchair since age 14, and am using a large quantity of morphine in tablet form, plus around 100mg of morphine in liquid form spread over the course of the week as breakthrough (that's an average), which is effectively sugar syrup with a little morphine inside it.

I am trying to lose some weight, which I have managed to do in the past, but only because of the whole not eating thing. I had several doctors moan and complain (for the right reasons, I do understand that) about doing this, and that I needed to eat sensibly. However, if I do, two things happen.

1. I put weight on, around 1 or 2 kg a day (not fluctuations, but steady increases in weight), whilst eating somewhere between 800 and 1200 calories a day (around 12g of carbs across two meals, so each one being around 6g of carbs)
2. My insulin levels go crazy. I mean one minute they are showing 15mmols and two hours later they are showing 6mmols, despite not having eaten for around 5 hours at that point.

The nurses are wonderful, but they are only allowed to work with you for 3 sessions here, during which time they are meant to stabilise you before passing you back to the family doctor. So that avenue, is not really that open to me, despite trying to keep it that way, and arguing that if my levels aren't improving then things aren't stable, and therefore I shouldn't be discharged, but it fell on deaf ears. Unfortunately, living on the edges of London, that is a reality of life.

So, what can I do? Am I missing something which will keep my insulin levels magically in check. I basically eat soup and salad almost every day, with once slice of bread included in my soup, I have a banana in the morning. That is it.

I am genuinely scared right now, I stopped eating because that was the only way to keep the insulin levels down, but it had other consequences. Funnily enough, my insulin levels didn't go high or low after the first 48 hours of not eating. I am a big guy, due to bad diet, no exercise, etc...in the past, but I am trying and largely making progress, but the weight isn't shifting, and my insulin levels aren't getting better.

Erm, help!

 

[Diakat]

@Guzzler may have some tips.

What does your daily diet look like when you are eating?

 

[Freema]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you could help me.

Since being diagnosed in 2016, I have struggled to keep my levels anywhere near okay without just literally not eating for a few days. Something which has landed me in hospital a few times. I am on Gliclazide (I had an allergic reaction to Metformin), along with Lantus (45u once per day, am) and also on Novorapid (3u for every 1mmol my insulin levels are above 15, and 2u for every 1g of carbs above 5g of carbs I have for each meal, around 30 minutes before the meal).

One of my biggest problems is that I am trying to lose weight, I have been in a wheelchair since age 14, and am using a large quantity of morphine in tablet form, plus around 100mg of morphine in liquid form spread over the course of the week as breakthrough (that's an average), which is effectively sugar syrup with a little morphine inside it.

I am trying to lose some weight, which I have managed to do in the past, but only because of the whole not eating thing. I had several doctors moan and complain (for the right reasons, I do understand that) about doing this, and that I needed to eat sensibly. However, if I do, two things happen.

1. I put weight on, around 1 or 2 kg a day (not fluctuations, but steady increases in weight), whilst eating somewhere between 800 and 1200 calories a day (around 12g of carbs across two meals, so each one being around 6g of carbs)
2. My insulin levels go crazy. I mean one minute they are showing 15mmols and two hours later they are showing 6mmols, despite not having eaten for around 5 hours at that point.

The nurses are wonderful, but they are only allowed to work with you for 3 sessions here, during which time they are meant to stabilise you before passing you back to the family doctor. So that avenue, is not really that open to me, despite trying to keep it that way, and arguing that if my levels aren't improving then things aren't stable, and therefore I shouldn't be discharged, but it fell on deaf ears. Unfortunately, living on the edges of London, that is a reality of life.

So, what can I do? Am I missing something which will keep my insulin levels magically in check. I basically eat soup and salad almost every day, with once slice of bread included in my soup, I have a banana in the morning. That is it.

I am genuinely scared right now, I stopped eating because that was the only way to keep the insulin levels down, but it had other consequences. Funnily enough, my insulin levels didn't go high or low after the first 48 hours of not eating. I am a big guy, due to bad diet, no exercise, etc...in the past, but I am trying and largely making progress, but the weight isn't shifting, and my insulin levels aren't getting better.

Erm, help!

Hey well Yes I have some suggestions

Skip the banana in the morning and eat a slice of chicken with some chopped tomatoes and some cucumber instead . Or just 1 or 2 egg for breakfast . No bread

The banana is pure carbs and so is bread and all carbs raise blood glucose

The chicken meat or the eggs are almost pure protein and that is not raising blood glucose much


Having this kind of breakfast will help you not get so High the rest of your day ,

Besides that try to eat you in between meals also from low carb foods like avokado or olives or salmon or cheese sticks

Some People do lose weight much easier when their first meal of the day is a High protein meal

A grown man need around 1 gram of protein Pro kg bodyweight ; 1 egg is around 7 grams of protein

A man of 90 kg should have circa 90 grams of protein to maintenance of muscles many people do eat far too little protein and fat too much carbs ....

 

[Guzzler]

Hello and welcome.

I am a wheelchair user but I am afraid that is where our similarites end. However, I can tell you of my experiences. I am not on the same pain medication as you are but am on three which are known to raise blood glucose levels. I have tried to adjust these in the past without much success but I do intend to try again.
I was not overweight on diagnosis but after starting the LCHF lifestyle I lost weight as my bg levels came down. As you are on insulin (I am not) if you choose to lose weight and gain better management of your Diabetes then you you must understand the process fully before you start making any changes. There are members who use drugs/insulin who have fantastic results this way and they would be the people to listen to for advice and encouragement. Please stop avoiding eating, it is not a wise choice at this stage.

Excercise. I cannot do it so I do not break my heart over it. I can tell you that after about six months of LCHF I find it a lot easier and less painful to transfer so I am hoping this improvement carries on. If you are able there are resistive bands that you can use to improve your health.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, we are all in this together.

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi there @WheelyFun . Your predicament is tricky one.

Things like pain, stress and some medications can also have a bit of a hand in raising blood sugar numbers. Of course, not bothering with those things, but of course those things are rarely under our control. If only, eh?

I can tell you've been diagnosed a couple of years now, but not how long you're been taking insulin. I do appreciate it takes a while to settle into that.

When you were diagnosed, what tests did the medics do; in terms of testing. Are they certain you are Type 2? I have no idea how old you are and if you were carrying any weight when diagnosed, but sometimes the Docs just assume T2 for adults, and particularly so for those carrying a few spare pounds.

I'm not an insulin user, but I think your carb counting might be a bit off the mark. If I look up the Tesco website, for bananas and look at the nutritional values they list (they're usually fairly accurate), a small banana is listed at almost 35gr of carb.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/285157326

Similarly for a slice of bread (unless it's one pf the specialist low carb breads), I've just randomly picked Kingmill 50/50. That comes out at 17gr carbs, per slice. So, that may go some way to explaining why your sugars might be running a bit high.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/261738730

Your soup and salad will also have a few carbs in them, although the salad probably not many at all. Do you check everything you eat, or do you use a guestimating process?

And finally from me, for now; have you asked if your oral morphine is available in a sugar-free format, or if there's another way of taking it?

I'm not sure if I have helped or hindered to be honest, but my post will bump your thread up the lists and back into easy viewing for the slightly later member traffic.

 

[bobcurly]

Sevredol tablets (morphine immediate release) instead of oramorph liquid would reduce your sugar intake a lot. Can you speak to your gp or pain team?