Eating habits

[TH3_J0K3R]

I seem to be unable to sort my portion control I just seem to eat and eat.
And our house is just full of cap food full of sugar and carbs. But I have only just started trying to look after myself.

 

[noblehead]

Make the adjustments slowly, if you suddenly reduce your portion sizes your going to feel the effects more.

As your on mixed insulin doses I'd run things by your diabetes team and they will advise you on adjusting your insulin if your reducing your food (carb) intake, also maybe ask about changing to a basal/bolus regime which will give you more flexibility around food.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

Ok thank you but will that mean more injections because I'm not a big fan. I've been waiting nearly a month for a letter to tell me about a hospital appointment.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Ok thank you but will that mean more injections because I'm not a big fan. I've been waiting nearly a month for a letter to tell me about a hospital appointment.

Unfortunately, if your goal is to take better care of yourself, it may mean giving yourself injections. If you count all of the time I spend giving myself injections and testing, it literally takes less than 15 minutes each day to perform all of them. I'd much rather do that than wake up at 1am at night and test my blood sugar every hour to avoid serious hypos.

Bottom line, you're eventually going to have to switch to a basal/bolus insulin approach and learn to carb count. Otherwise, you need to be okay with eating the exact same things at the exact same times each day.

No one enjoys them, but they're necessary to live an otherwise normal life. Personally, I'd much rather give myself a couple extra injections each day if it meant steadier blood sugar levels and less chances of complications later on in life.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

I completely understand where you're coming from but
It takes me about 15 minutes to do one injection. I feel like I'm pushing the needle in but nothing seems to move and by the time I've finished I'm drenched in sweat.
Silly question cos I should probably know thus but do you know how much carbs I should be eating per meal?

 

[Diamattic]

Thats awful man, it seems you have an aversion to injecting, so the amount of carbs that is best for you is as little as possible!

I sometimes use a technique (thats not a good habit, but oh well... ) where I will estimate what i plan to eat and inject. Then i weigh the container of food and write it down (like the bag of chips, or jar or PB) and then I usually end up on the couch eating for a while (much longer then i should) and when I am finally finished i weigh the container again, and work backwards to determine how many grams of carbs I have eaten and top up my injection.

Its bad practice as you are supposed to inject before eating, but like we all do - overeating happens, especially with junk food. This is at least a decent way of getting the insulin in for what you have eaten, rather then waiting until you go high and struggling to bring it down.

Moral of the story is that its better then chasing the high, although you will still go high it wont last as long lol A walk always helps.

 

[noblehead]

Ok thank you but will that mean more injections because I'm not a big fan. I've been waiting nearly a month for a letter to tell me about a hospital appointment.

It will mean more injection but if your more comfortable on twice daily injections then just stick with it, hopefully your diabetes team will work with you to get your insulin doses right. Just chase up the hospital appointment, you can ring the diabetes clinic and speak with the secretary who may move things forward for you.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

Thank you so much this forum has given me so much good and helpful advice ☺

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

My eating habits are getting better but I get so hungry, I tried having a snack yesterday and I ended up making a 5 egg roast beef and cheese omelette with 4 sausages and 3 slices of milk roll.
What the hell is wrong with me how can I only weigh like 8ish stone

 

[ElkBond]

I swear that when I started using insulin I felt like eating everything I saw, but in the end I ignored it and it stopped. How are your bloods now? When you get your levels stable the weight should come back on

If your are not using enough insulin your body can't absorb the glucose and your body defaults to body fat for energy, this is when ketones are produced - make sure you monitor them when bloods are over 14 mmols.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

Well I've been checking my blood constantly for about 3 weeks now and they seem to be getting better considering I never used to check them at all I used to run in the high 20s to 30 all the time I think because I used to eat everything and anything and drink alot of alcohol. But since I've begun monitoring them more I went from 7st 7lb to about 8st 4lb in a couple of weeks. I just want to get a bit fatter so I can start working out and get some muscle and toned up.

 

[ElkBond]

Lets walk before we run! I am in the same boat, I am still adjusting my basal so my running has taken a slight back seat while I figure out what my body needs.

Do you have a regime for checking? A good test method that is advised by my DSN is one day check on waking and before meals, and the next day on waking and two hours after food. Then you can build up a picture of what's going on and we can work from there.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

I'm currently still on humilin m3 until I've had a hospital appointment to see what my doctor wants to do

 

[ElkBond]

Do you have a meter? If you went to your appointment with a structured record of your blood the doctor may be more inclined to progress you to the next stage of carb counting with basal and bolus insulin which will give you more freedom of what you can eat and do. I also had needle phobia but that has pretty much disappeared, you get used to it

I think someone previously said that humilin m3 is a mixed insulin so you have to count and limit carb intake for now. So if you are snacking 24/7 this will just push your BG higher. When is your appointment?

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

yes i have a meter i have been testing at least 8 times a day and at most double that. i have been cutting down carbs checking carb info on food that i buy and the snacking isnt all the time just when i do its a bit over the top. im still waiting for letter from hospital atm.

 

[ElkBond]

Ahh awesome! This is positive stuff, I suppose until you have your appointment keep trying to get those numbers nice and low (but not too low!!) and continue monitoring You said you were putting weight back on which is promising news that its going in the right direction.

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

i really hate needles but if a few more injections can make me healthier and put more weight on i'll be happy plus my girlfriend of 2 years is pregnant its not mine because we had a rough patch and my manhood doesn't quite function properly but thats not why we had the rough patch, anyway i just want to be healthy for myself my girlfriend and so i can be a good dad to the baby and be active and go out places, play football, climb trees etc.

 

[BeccyB]

I really feel for you @TH3_J0K3R - when I first did my own injections I used to be like you and take forever and get stressed, fortunately I got used to it eventually. You may want to look into using an injection port, I don't know if they are available generally on the nhs but I would like to think your severe needle phobia would give you a case for them?
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetic-products/iport-injection-port.html

You're doing brilliantly making changes though and I'm sure you'll be able to do all kind of things with your little one

 

[TH3_J0K3R]

Thanks I just looked at that injection port. I see that it needs to be changed every 3 days but what about the actual it that's inside me

 

[BeccyB]

I don't know much about them myself, other than that they exist! @tim2000s has trialled a couple and written some blog posts about them, here: http://crick-tech-munch.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=i-Port Hopefully they'll answer any questions for you