Have severe hypoglecemia - because of lack of stress!!!???

[faithelliott]

My boyfriend lives in Serbia (where I currently live) and has type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was 18 years old and is now 27. He takes Actrapid Novolet Insulin at 9 in the morning and at 6 in the evening. He has been injecting 36 Isulatard in the morning and 14 actrapid; in the evening he was injecting 16 Insulatard and 6 in the evening. To explain a bit about his life: he is living in a small village in Serbia, his diet before he had diabetes was very bad - chocolate, white bread, alcohol. No fruit, no vegetables. He lives in a gypsy village and there is abosultely no education about diabetes and diet. He had a huge huge amount of stress in his life - tried to kill himself twice and lives with an insane aunt...its really been very very bad, lots of domestic violence and continuous stress, violence and physcological problems. Since he got diabetes he stopped drinking alocohol entirely and was eating a small amount of chocolate. He was eating eggs, white bread, crisps, milk for breakfasts - and similar food all day - and repeated stress all the time, feeling suicidal. He once injected 1 weeks worth of insulin in 2 hours and was in hospital for a long time.
I have been his girlfriend now for 1 year. We started living together 3 weeks ago. Since he left his house and the incredibly bad conditions in the house his stress has disappeared. He has not been eating white bread any longer, no potatoes, very very little chocolate, little cheese - vegetables, fruit - his diet has completely changed and he has no stress and feels like he is happy for the first time in his life. But now he keeps feeling like his sugar is very low. He started lowered his insulin to 32 Insulatard and 10 astrapid in the morning, and then 12 Insulatard and 4 astrapid in the evening.
We have not consulted a doctor because the doctors will not listen to him or help him here - they just say he is crazy - stress cannot affect diabetes. He still feels now that every time he injects insulin his sugar goes dangerously low: he does it right - injects and then eats good food. Today he injected his insulin late (7 oclock) and then ate healthy food; then half an hour later he went into hypoglecemia - he was shaking, couldnt speak, sweating, extremely scared and didnt know where he was. And this was injecting a lot less insulin than before.
He strongly believes that stress created his diabetes - and now his has none, and has entirely changed his diet, he could rid himself of type 1 diabetes. Can anyone advise us of what to do as it seems very dangerous that he keeps injecting this amount of insulin - and the doctors here will not help us. Thanyou so much, Faith Elliott

 

[Elc1112]

Re: Have severe hypoglecemia - because of lack of stress!!!?

You say his diet has changed - I'd imagine this is partly to blame also. As for stress, it does funny things to my sugars too. It seems to affect different people on different ways - some people experience a drop on sugars; others, like me, seem to experience a rise in sugars when stressed.

Anyway, I'd give it a few weeks of self adjustment before panicking too much. Look at the number of carbs he is eating and adjust the dosage accordingly.

Good luck!

 

[Fallenstar]

Re: Have severe hypoglecemia - because of lack of stress!!!?

Hi Faith
Sorry to hear your boyfriend has been through such a hard time, I can fully understand how his diet had fallen by the wayside in such a stressful way of life, thank goodness you are both in a better place.
Stress does cause rises in Blood sugar, especially chronic ,long term stress. Steroid hormones stay raised over time due to the stress and this raises Blood sugar even when the diet is good, so as in your boyfriends case,to top this off with a poor diet rich in fast release Carbohydrates,a person will find they probably will need more insulin, and sometimes a lot more.

Your boyfriend will start to need to gradually reduce his doses ,hopefully he has access to be able to test as regularly as he can . He should start to write his results down and see how his new diet is affecting him.
If he can test before meals ,then two hours after eating , and before bed then hopefully he will see a pattern emerging and he can start to adjust accordingly. Maybe he could eat similar healthy foods, as it sounds like he is doing now ,for a week or too. Just so changes in his diet do not confuse things too much, until he gets more stable control.
It would be good if he had the help of his Doctor over there ,but it sounds like he may have to do as much as he can by himself from what you have said.
Writting it all down to show to his Doctor may help the situation though .

I wish you both well And the best of luck with it all