HIGH B/S

Hi Jackie, just a small first note: the caps makes it a touch harder to read what you're saying

Are you confident with adjusting your insulin doses?

I say this as to jump to a no carb (or almost no carb) diet could see you having a greater risk of hypos.

I would generally say it's better to ease the level of carbohydrate down bit by bit.

For me, I was yo-yoing all over the place with my sugar levels until I reduced my carbs down. Now I've got a much better control of things.

Ed

Hi JACKIEC, and welcome to the forum.

You said you went from T2 to T1? Did your medical team tell you this? Because you can't change from T2 to T1. Even if a T2 has to start using insulin, they are still T2, or were you misdiagosed as a T2?

Helena

Goodness! I bet it does.

I can't help you with that being T2 but I hope you can soon get it sorted.

Best Wishes,
Helena

hey Jackie,
have they offered you any kind of advice and help at your diabetes clinic or have they just left you to get on with it? Eg have you had advice on what foods have carbs in, and as Ed says, how to adjust your insulin to match the carbs? ANd have they explained about the effect of exercise on blood sugar, since you are planning lots of it with the marathons?
would love to try and help, but it would be good to know what you are already doing and what you already know so that we can maybe give some useful advice.

Jackie...

Night time hypo's are often a sign that your background insulin is incorrect. With this sort of regime it is super important that your background insulin is right at the right time of day or you will spend your whole time chasing highs and lows.

Appologies if I am telling you things you already know! but to sort your background insulin you are going to need to carry out fasting tests over a couple of weeks.. Firstly split the day into four parts.. morning, afternoon, evening and night.. we are going to address each one individually until your levels are correct in all four..

Firstly you are going to look at the morning... take a blood sugar reading 1 hour after you have got up... do not eat anything! drink only water.. for each hour in the morning you are going to test your sugars.. if your dose is correct they shouldn't vary by more than 1mmol/l (clearly don't do anything to taxing!)... at lunch time eat and inject your rapid as usual.. if you see them rising or falling in the morning then adjust your background insulin down or up by 1 or 2 units and repeat.. until the levels are stable..

Do this with each slot of the day until your blood sugars are stable in that slot and don't vary by more than 1 mmol/l... then you know that your background is correct.

You may find that you need to split the dose.. i.e. you need more background in the morning than in the evening / at night.. in which case start with a 50 / 50 split and then adjust up and down.. this will give you more control and flexibility.

As you can see this process might take a couple of months to complete.. but at the end of it you will be a much better controlled diabetic.

Hi Jackie,

I fully understand your frustration as I have the same problem and I am using the same insulin as you. I have been a T1 diabetic for 31 years, and have been on a variety of insulins and regimes over years. I have good and bad days, but last year I was seriously ill and since then everything has gone to pot again

If its any consolation to you I have managed to see the local diabetes specialist nurse last week (after having a major run in with my GP who was less than supportive!) and she has suggested that I take half of the lantus at night, and the other half in the morning. I was on 44 units and having readings in the morning of 18+ - no hypos in my sleep, so no idea what was causing this. I agreed to give this a try as if it helps then it can't be that bad, but she did say that this is only one option to try and that there may be others we need to look at.

I also now have the Insulinx blood glucose monitor, which also helps with insulin adjustment and I am finding this a big help - I'm only onto my second day of using it properly but my bgs are coming down from 16 - 10's. Your DSN would be able to discuss this option with you. Hypos are a nightmare and I drop like you have described - is there a pattern to them i.e particular time of day etc?

Diabetes is hard work and quite frustrating at times, but if you can get help and support it will get easier. I felt very alone last year, but am now being listened too and supported (after a bit of a battle mind) :thumbup:

Good news about those single figures Jackie