Help with my type 1

[Olifa]

Hello
My name is Ollie, I'm 26 and have been diabetic for 24years.

Now I want some tips, tricks or any life hacks you all know.
I have had diabetes a long time and in my younger years it was fairly well controlled. I was told once I got over the age of 21, my blood sugars would get better.
Now I was always a good diabetic, however the last 5years I'd say I've been less good, I drink more alcohol now and I do smoke weed, I don't want anyone pointing out that smoking is bad I am well aware of this. It is a vice I don't plan on changing right now.
However I know alcohol is bad and I will at some point give that up.

Now to the meat of the question.
My blood sugars are almost always high, I wake up with a high blood sugar every day. I'm waiting to see the doctors but they're not that great here, I've been waiting for an appointment for some time.
I'm realising now I may have DKA and if I do I shall be having a loud word with the diabetic doctors.
So due to my high blood sugars I don't eat during the day, I tend to pig out at night.

I don't want to be told it's all bad n I need to change my life, I'm aware of this but maggot change won't happen. I need tips n tricks if possible to help me get there a bit at a time.

So I would ask anyone who has some tips on waking up with high blood sugar, and what to do when you're meant to eat during the day but feel unable to.

I feel as though while I know about having diabetes, I don't truly understand it, I know there are some of you that do.
So let's pretend I'm a diabetic newbie, I need some tips that you have found helpful over the years and things you think it is important to know. Sorry for the essay but it's long over due. The docs have been little help so maybe you guys can save me.

Any more details I will happily provide.

 

[Ewb10]

Hi Ollie,
How often do you test? I found even increasing testing to be more frequent a huge help so I had a starting point of what was going wrong...as well as the fact my BG wasn't always high as assumed.
This has also allowed me to begin to work out my insulin to carb ratio and correction doses.
Obviously you don't need to do all this at once...small steps as too much and you'll give up trying before you've even begun x

 

[Olifa]

I've started an in depth diary today. Today I have done 15 BG tests

 

[palind]

We are naturally diciplined species of earth ....dont spoil the dicipline bro...

 

[palind]

Do some excercise like yoga at night..my high FBG goes low effectively...

 

[Missygold]

Hi Ollie
been there for over thirty years - avoid all flour products - all fizzy drinks and white bread, avoid all pastas and noodles have GI bread - have eggs -- swop potatoes for sweet potatos. avoid flours and breads where you can and carbs like,

 

[tim2000s]

Hi Oli, you tell us you wake with high sugars. What numbers are you seeing and what are they throughout the day? There are lots of basic things you could go back to, but giving us some idea of where you are starting would help. Put your diary entries in a post and we'll have a better idea.

 

[Olifa]

I was an 8.1 before bed lastnight n have woke up with a 16.3
I did eat a lil before bed so that must be why.
I will put up yesterday's diary a little later today so u can see what I did. Thank you all for your help.

 

[Olifa]

Hi Ollie
been there for over thirty years - avoid all flour products - all fizzy drinks and white bread, avoid all pastas and noodles have GI bread - have eggs -- swop potatoes for sweet potatos. avoid flours and breads where you can and carbs like,

What do I eat if I cut all them out? I'm on my way home from college n want some lunch, I have not eaten today due to high blood sugar, so what do I eat if I can't eat all of those things?

 

[Olifa]

And I've injected 1unit this morning because I was so high, but that's done nothing. I can feel in still high. If i inject without food (when I'm high)
It doesn't work. So what I surely have to do is have something small when I get home and inject extra..?

 

[tigger]

3 causes of high sugars in the morning.

1. Eating too much close to bed, not enough exercise to let the insulin work
2. Not enough insulin to cover the night
3. Too much insulin to cover the night leading to a hypo in your sleep, corrected by glycogen produced by your liver which means you wake up on a high.

To work out if it's the 3rd you'll need to wake up at some odd times of night and test.

Blood sugars not coming down.

Someone posted recently about having a different ratio for bringing down blood sugars the higher you are e.g. 3 mmol for 1 unit when in 4-7 1mmol for 1 unit when 17+. Try experimenting.

When you're high you can usually eat some low carb but that depends on you as an individual as some people still go up when doing this. Olives are my usual snack. Eggs, meat, cheese, low carb veg (if you don't know what these are get the Carbs and Cals app on your phone)

Drink lots of water too as it dilutes the blood concentration which also leads to your blood sugar coming down faster.

Hope that helps.

 

[iHs]

And I've injected 1unit this morning because I was so high, but that's done nothing. I can feel in still high. If i inject without food (when I'm high)
It doesn't work. So what I surely have to do is have something small when I get home and inject extra..?

Hi

Im a tiny bit puzzled over your msgs asking for some help. You say that youve been type 1 for 24years so am I correct in thinking that youve used twice daily insulin to manage your bg levels and have only changed recently to bolus/basal mdi?

Do you know about the 100 rule at all to determine how much 1u of bolus will make your bg drop by once youve got your TDD total daily dose correct? You appear to be using a lot of guesswork.

It might pay you to buy the Think Like A Pancreas book which is written by an American doctor who is also type 1 and explains how to use bolus/basal to handle todays world of living.

 

[Olifa]

I've been on the MDI a few years. Yes exactly it's all guess work!
I have not seen my doc in over a year and have been fighting to get an appointment. I've asked for help a few times and surely with them seeing my BG readings u would of thought they would be freaking out n trying to help me!
I've been this way for as long as I can remember. I will definitely get that book and have a read. Anything else u point out would be greatly appreciated.

I've been diabetic all this time and still don't understand a lot of it. It is guess work day to day, I have tried speaking to docs but I never get any answers!
Some may be down to me but I feel let down that when I have a hospital appointment, they can see how badly controlled I am but have never said or done anything to help.

Today I rang my local docs n asked to see the diabetic doc but he's off sick so will have to wait till next week

 

[Olifa]

I'm really at a loss of what to do I've been this way for so long that The damage has been done n I feel as if I'm f***ed now. I have no idea what to do
Or how to do it n I've got to wait atleast a week to speck to a doctor. I can feel my BG going up n up right now even though I've injected
Feel so angry that no doctor or nurse has helped me or pointed anything out.

 

[Juicyj]

Hi Ollie - I too wake with high BG alot. Personally I try to eat as early in the evening as possible so before 7pm so that I can digest food fully before bed, I try to cut out carbs too. This means I can correct if necessary before bedtime so I sleep through at good levels and wake at a reasonable level. Drinking water is a massive plus as it flushes your glucose through your system (or at least I think this is what it does but it works fine for me !). You can drink alcohol but it plays havoc with your liver so generally it's not an easy one to manage, I have 2-3 glasses of red wine every once in a while but no more as it's too much effort managing my BG otherwise.

I would also try and eat during the daytime rather than all at night, can you do this ? Might save you going mad at night !

Don't beat yourself up over this, just try to do things slightly differently - no one is going to judge you, least of all the doctors, ask to attend DAFNE, if you haven't already ? Will help you gain a better understanding of dose adjustment and also will help you manage your insulin ratios.

Remember type 1 is work in progress - there are fundamentally no rights or wrongs, but it's making it work for you

 

[azure]

Sometimes you have to be a bit pushy, Olifa. I know it's obvious but do actually say that you need help.

Do you have a DSN you can phone? How often do you see a consultant?

I'm not sure what you mean about insulin not bringing your blood sugar down unless you eat. Insulin should lower your sugars. I use correction doses when I'm high and I don't have to eat at the same time.

Are you able to do a basal test? You should get your basal/background insulin right first.

 

[Olifa]

I agree with all that but my BG is 19 right now, I've been like this for years so think of the damage that's been done, I thought it was normal to feel this **** n have high BG

I can try from now on not to eat at night but that's gonna be hard. I'm so hungry at night n the pills I'm on as a side effect one of them is hunger. I was so hungry before bed lastnight and couldn't resist eating.

And I don't know what I'm meant to eat from now on. Everything has carbs n sugar

 

[noblehead]

@Olifa, have another look at the links that were posted in your other thread as they will help you get on top of things:

http://integrateddiabetes.com/basal-testing/

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

 

[Olifa]

I know it sounds mad but I think it's due to keytones, I injected 1 unit this morning and my BG still has gone up.
I've injected 2units about 40-1h ago and I can feel my BG is still rising.
If I take insulin with food it works. Me having insulin on its own isn't working.

I mean it will normally. If my BG was lower and I did an injection I would start seeing the BG lower. However when I'm really high it doesn't bring me down. It doesn't even effect my BG.

 

[Olifa]

I will give those links a read. I start reading them then find I can't understand things. High BG makes me feel very short tempered n my attention span is not great. Again I thought all this was normal but they're all side effects of be being high all the time