Good news :-)

Hi,

I hope this is an ok place to post as it relates to 3 things - type 1, low carb diet and diabetic complications.

Anyway I have had type 1 for about 15 years now and not had too many complications yet (fingers crossed it stays that way!). I haven't had great control - my blood sugar levels have tended to swing high and low causing me to feel exhausted and generally miserable, but my HBA1C's have always been ok(ish), so the doctors have never really seemed that concerned. :roll:

However, after attending a DAFNE course I decided to get a pump as I wanted to see if it could improve my control. It helped a little , but not enough that I was satisfied I was doing the best I could - so I decided to low carb (after reading Dr Bernstein's Diabetes book). I have been doing this for about 6 months with a couple of blips along the way (one involving chocolate and the other fruit! and I occassionally have a glass of wine )and tend to stick to around 30g a day. This was hard at first as I LOVE bread and pasta, etc, but now I am used to it and it is just a way of eating (however, it is annoying calculating the protein and carbs in a meal before eating - no more throwing things in a pan and guessing the insulin dose!!).

So the last 3 years I have had background retinopathy which has been monitored with the yearly eye check up (and did not get better or worse with the use of a pump - it just stayed the same). Last week I had another check up and the results have come back normal. NORMAL!! I am very excited about this and I think that the low carb diet and keeping my sugar levels in a more or less non-diabetic range has helped my eyes to get better.

I am hoping that continuing low carb will help me to avoid complications, but I haven't had my latest HBA1C test, so I will have to see how those results come back (fingers crossed they are much improved too!).

My other complication is having to have a B12 injection every 3 months as if I don't I am low in B12 but I don't know if this will ever be reversable or not. 1 out of 2 complications isn't bad though :thumbup:

Patch13

Thank you

Good for you SamJB. It's nice to hear that other people are finding low carbing is beneficial. I was relieved my eye results came back normal. It is definitely going to make me stick with it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my HBA1C results come back improved too!

Are you a pumper or MDI?

Thanks I didn't know the b12 could cause incorrect readings. Something to be mindful of!

For the low carb do you inject twice per meal, e.g when eating and after a couple of hours?

The reason I'm asking is that my sister is diabetic too but worse off than me (she finds it very hard to control her sugar levels). She is MDI and I don't think keen on the pump, but I'd quite like her to have a go at low carb (if she is willing!)

SamJB said:

Sometimes I do yes, but only if I've had a large amount of protein. For example, in work we get a free lunch (if there is such a thing!). Sometimes I'll have half a chicken if they're being offered. I noticed that I rise between my postprandial lunch reading and my pre-dinner reading. Not much, just 2 mmol/l, but that's exactly what 1u of Novorapid will drop my levels by, so I inject 1u 2 hours after lunch.

If I have a mixed grill (or anything else with a ton of meat in it) I'll give myself 2u of Novorapid 2 hours after eating. I didn't notice the protein effect before LCing, so I don't know whether its because my control is tighter or I've "trained" my body to convert protein into glucose because I've cut back on my carbs.

If I haven't had protein, i'll just have one injection. Btw see if you can get your sister to get into the habit of changing her needles after every injection (if she doesn't already). Doing that alone knocked 0.4% off my HbA1c. The insulin crystallises in the needle which means that the next time she injects, the dose may not be accurate. Probably why the instructions say they're single use. Another great thing I learned from this site!

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Thanks for the tip. I will pass it on. Slightly worrying that changing your needles regularly can have such a big impact (especially as I was awful at changing mine!)

I didn't notice the effect of protein before low carbing either, although I imagine that was because my sugar was a bit all over the place! I've heard some people even give insulin for the amount of fat they eat, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet (calculating proteing and carbs is quite a mission!)

Thanks again for the info Sam

gezzathorpe said:

noblehead said:

B12 deficiency seems to be more prevalent in those who have type 2 diabetes and take Metformin, however gastro-resistant meds can also make you low in vitamin B12, if in doubt just ask your gp for a blood test.

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I was 'suspected' as having B12 deficiency 12 months ago, identified, I believe, by an increase in size of my red blood cells for unknown reasons. Having got to my current position since then, including no booze! (a possible suspect ... hepatitis 'A' 40 years ago and a period of heavy drinking), the potential problem has gone away. Maybe my liver has said ... "OK .. I'll give you just one more chance". That doesn't really give you very much to work on, I know, but possibly food (low-carb?? :twisted: ) for thought.

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Excellent to hear that your B12 prob has gone away. I shall keep my fingers crossed that mine does too. At least if it doesn't it is only one injection every three months and not more!

Robinredbreast said:

well done patch, you seem to be going in the right direction

Best wishes RRB

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Thanks

SamJB said:

Like you patch, my background retinopathy has now gone. Sugar levels have never been so good. Going low carb is the best decision I made with my diabetes. :thumbup:

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That's Super SamJB!

I definitely don't see myself giving up low carbing. Now I only have to convince the DN and doctor that I should be doing it (11 days till the appointment - eek!)

I thought I would post an update as i now have my Hba1c result too.

5.7%

I was very pleased as I think this is the lowest I have probably ever got and it has dropped from being in the 7s.

Luckily the DN was ok about the low carbs as long as I'm feeling good and my levels are stable (however I think she doesn't realise quite how low the carbs are, but I will talk about that some more at the next meeting).

However my cholesterol has gone up :-(
I forgot to ask more abut this as I know there's Good and bad cholesterol and some doctors argue total cholesterol doesn't matter so I am currently reading things about cholesterol to see what I could / should be doing. Any advice welcomed (& appreciated!)


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

SamJB said:

Excellent results Patch! My cholesterol went up too, so I got put on statins.

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Thanks I was very pleased.
I would like to avoid the statins route if possible so I'm going to see what info I can find on cholesterol first.