Hi
@ruby_jane26, and welcome to this site. Thank you for letting us know of your troubles -
that takes courage !!
Apologies for being late to reply!! If you take a peek at the Type 1 Forum thread - Type 1 'stars R us - you can see why !!
The following is my own experience and not intended as health professional advice or opinion:
(sorry no theme music, lights or action) !!
But please read and re-read what is below if you need to!
If your mother wishes to also read it, please let her !!
I was 13 when diagnosed, 52 years ago, before pens, pumps, glucose monitors or fancy insulin.
At age 19 I recall, as an male Aussie on a school break, working on a farm shovelling cow pats onto a truck for fertiliser use
and wondering what life held for me. No support groups, email, mobile phones. Nothing romantic about it at all!!
I get the loneliness, the 'being different', and for me, wearing it like a badge - being stubborn and independent helps
but only so much.
But like others with some years under our belts (e.g.
@Knikki,
@Grant_Vicat, and others) you never stop learning -
and the beauty of this site is that you can learn from other's mistakes and experiences!!!
It sounds like your mother's views on diabetes might be shaped by her interaction with Type 2 diabetics at her workplace?
Would she be amenable to learning about the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 - say from info on the Home page here?
And also about the various diets available for T1D and T2D?
I kinda mother-daughter learning experience?
You will see that the variety of diets includes low carb high fat (LCHF) as well as others - they are all regarded as 'legit' with some being better for some than others. You may wish to try them out and see what suits you best.
It is like trying to find common ground between you, using an "external range of experts".
And are there other family members who could be involved?
And please let your mother know that this site in conjunction with medical practitioners who have been running a successful,
now NHS-approved Low Carb programme for T2Ds and about to start one for T1Ds !! (and why would this site and some
doctors promote these programmes if there were major health issues for patients in doing so)?
My experience - and each of us is different so may not apply to you necessarily, is that the two things that in
all my 52 years on insulin made the greatest differences were:
my moving to use of
an insulin pump in 2012 (45 year 'in') and
moving to a
very low LCHF diet this past Xmas. (very low = approx less than 40 g carb per day).
90 g carb per day did not work for me.
As you might imagine I have seen many variations of diabetic diets over the years.
For me only the LCHF diet has really worked and I rate it as the number one influence on my diabetes and the
pump as the second.
For basics of the very Low Carb High Fat diet, I used Dr Bernstein's book and used the dietdoctor.com as a help for when
I started the diet and needed some guidance about issues early on.
As others have suggested you may find others who explain the LCHF diet (Dr B. emphasises Low Carb High Protein)
more to your liking than Dr B..
see post above by
@Mel dCP and
@NicoleC1971.
But ...
I did discuss things with my DSN(= DNE in Oz)! before starting. As I lowered my carb intake my need for short-acting (bolus) insulin before meals was less and also over those first few weeks my long-acting (basal) insulin also decreased a little.
Other wise hypos could happen but any that did were only very mild ones.
So from about 40 units total daily insulin to about 26 units.
But we are talking about on 30 g of carbs per day, and according to Dr Bernstein's advice, - counting 50% of the grams of
protein eaten as carbs also. His book (or e-book, which saves the hassle of ordering and picking up the book) explains why.
Just as the dietdoctor.com, gives the guide on dealing with the changes one undergoes as one's body adapts to the new diet.
Whilst we cannot give professional advice or opinion on this site, we can let you know of your own experiences and make suggestions which you might take to your health team to discuss.
Not all doctors and DSNs know, understand or accept low carb diets - I found my nurse was more relaxed about it than my specialist!!
Several issues: doctors in my experience are often hung up about fat - as you lower carb intake, calorie-wise protein and fat intake increase - and if 50% of one's protein intake counts as carbs on such a diet then protein is not unlimited either.
From my reading* and experience of seeing doctors over the past 52 years many doctors seem to be indoctrinated into believing that saturated fat is bad for health and that low fat diets are best. (but try to find a low fat yoghurt that is low in sugar)!!
Research however does not bear this belief out.*
And then there is fat and cholesterol - again independent research does not bear this out either.*
And even an article in the prestigious Lancet medical journal last year about low carb diets being associated with higher risk of heart disease has been debunked.*
* suggest any doubters to subscribe to zoeharcombe.com (I am sure they can afford UKP 30 per quarter)!!
There are some potential issues with insulin pumps too that may be raised but perhaps let us all wait and meet that issue if it arises.
Briefly:
Emotions:
I learnt to breathe - holding breath in or breathing rapidly made me unable to think clearly
(to think requires brain to be in gear)
Use humour and self humour: injection time was 'javelin practice', an out-of-range (blood sugar level) BSL was due to the weather, the side of bed one got out of that morning etc etc. A husband and son used to bet on what the mother's pre-dinner
BSL would be, and the loser did the washing up !! Stressing about what went wrong only puts BSLs up.
Being prepared to admit a 'diabetes gremlin' within one's body/mind was responsible and working out how to prevent the
problem next time is far less stressful !!
Engage in interests: interests, hobbies can distract us from the unfairness of life, give us initiative, confidence, help us meet people with like interests, be good for CVs, may include healthy (non-risky) exercise
but not to drain one's pocket !!
Awareness: I
agree entirely with @Knikki, as much as we T1Ds would all like a holiday from this condition, it cannot be
done, without risk. I can never take my diabetes for granted. The need to think ahead to prevent problems becomes
second nature and, as I found, helped me develop skills for use in my later life and work career.
Make every post a winning post !!
Best Wishes, and please keep asking questions.
Needles, finger-.....Mistakes........Be not afraid........... Life...............Keep reading.......Nothing is
pricks............................................to ask for help..................................and learning.........impossible
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