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Hello. Type 2

Cumberland

Master
Messages
14,659
Location
Cumbria
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Foodwise Nuts & Mushrooms (Vomit)
Hi
Introducing myself
My name is Ian and I live in Cumbria, 51 and type 2 for 10 years, treated by Metformin, Humulin I & Novorapid
Usually far off my range and almost constantly 20.0 + poor control despite injecting large amounts of insulin, (had the odd hypo and I don't like having them at all). Weight wise I am 12st 6lbs so no problem there.

Looking forward to joining this forum once again Hi.
 
Hello and welcome!

Perhaps your high levels could be brought down by a change in diet. Have a good read round the forum where you will find loads of dietary advice. Perhaps try to cut right down on the carbohydrates? They are the culprits I'm afraid, mainly potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals. How do you feel about this?
 
Hi Cumberland and welcome to this forum where you will find plenty of advice. I agree with Bluetit, 'plain' carbs are usually just as difficult to deal with as the sweet ones, which I discovered after joining. Do you have a meter so you can monitor your bs levels to see which foods are okay for you and which ones spike you...?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Worth trying low carb to see if you can get your levels down
 
@Cumberland

Hello Ian and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members which gives a lot of advice on blood levels. Ask more questions and someone will help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Hi and welcome. Yes, do follow the low-carb diet advice although your weight is not at all bad. Have you balanced your Basal insulin? I wonder whether it's worth discussing changing the Basal insulin unless there is a good reason for choosing Humulin? It may not be the problem, but Levemir or Lantus are very commonly prescribed and have few problems, so trying them may be worth it? I assume you carb count your NovoRapid for meals?
 
Thank you all for the lovely warm welcome and especially the advice. I have had type 2 for 10 years and started off on metformin and levemir, the levemir was switched to lantus and then the lantus switched to humilin my consultant thinks I might be insulin resistant. I was born with a split pancreas this was discovered 10 years ago when I had pancreatitis (not very pleasant I can tell you) the same time I was diagnosed
I do carb count my dietician gave me a book and asked me to take in all my food labels to set up the 'diet from hell' eg the only cheese I can eat is quark and I had never heard of it but I managed to buy some but it is disgusting so I don't bother anymore LOL. I am currently on 60 units of humilin at 10am and 10pm with between 20-30 units of novorapid depending on the amount of food I eat. Yes I sometimes stray off diet but I can't be a saint all of the time.
Cheers folks in glad I found this site thanks once again for the welcome
 
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