How do you manage your diabetes

I have Insulin (novaRapid in the day and Treseba at night) also Metformin and forxiga tablets and have had Diabetes for twelve years now.

I manage my diabetes by counting carbs and using insulin with technology. I have a CGM and a pump.
I exercise a lot but I don't do it to reduce my BG, I do it because I enjoy it. It increases my insulin sensitivity but that is a double edged sword because it can cause hypos.
I do not restrict my diet. I preferred to learn to use the tools I have available to me - insulin and technology. I find it works incredibly well for reducing the spikes.

Carb counting/technology/swimming. On injections of Tresiba and Fiasp. Eat relatively low carb during the week, more relaxed Friday and Saturday. Swim three times a week 70 lengths in 40 minutes. The knock on effect from this carries for about 24 hours though the initial swim raises levels and I take insulin not food beforehand. I don’t find going for a walk after food helps, it also tends to raise my levels. Best exercise for reducing highs-vacuuming!

Keto and intermittent fasting. Suits me.

T2 on metformin and gliclazide. I try to manage my diabetes with exercise (cycling/walking) and intermittent fasting with a lchf diet on a one meal a day scheme and generally managing it well I think.
Edit: Started using the freestyle libre in march 2021, it told/learned me so much!!! Expensive if it's not covered like mine but worth every nickel.

Challenges: Loosing weight seems near impossible for me. Tried everything under the sun in the last ~18 years. The only thing that helped last year was not eating 72 hours straight, then have 2 carnivore omad days and repeat. But even that bottomed out at 92 point something kg. Returned to omad lchf and now back at the weight I started with ~18 years ago. (So frustrating reading the success stories on here about people loosing nearly half their starting weight) But the diet keeps my bs levels in check. I want to try it again, but I don't see myself combining 72h fasts with cycling...

Challenge 2: Managing my dawn phenomenon spike in the morning which shoots up the moment I wake, peaks at a level of ~10 between 9 to 10 and then tapers off to return to normal values (6’ish) after 1 o'clock. Tried apple cider vinegar/green apple/cheese etc etc before going to bed with to put it mildly limited success. I started last Friday with berberine capsules, to early to really tell but it seems to do wonders for me. The dawn peak is not as high (even had a day it was hardly there at all) and it is certainly shorter. New problem: It also lowers my bs significantly during the rest of the day. So I am now trying cutting some of my metformin and gliclazide and see how it goes…

Antje77 said:

I guess you have already tried this

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I have indeed . Most suggestions I read meant eating something before going to bed as a way to keep the liver sleeping. Have tried the eat something in the morning route too but that was some time ago. Could try again I guess, but by the time I get downstairs most of the time the bs is already way up. Find something I can keep by the bed than that the cat doesn't like too. (Does such a thing exist? )

Coming up to almost 12mths since joining the T1D club. Still learning something new all the time.

On a bolus/basal regimen and started carb counting very early on after diagnosis. I haven’t gone down the low carb route and just bolus for what I want to eat. I do try to eat well - so have cut out alot of snacks and maintain a healthy BMI.

I am on my feet all day for work and do a decent amount of walking but not much more in the way of exercise. I am very lucky that this level of activity works for my body to maintain good BGLs.

4/5 fingerpricks a day which are mostly in range and HB1AC’s 6.0/42 and below suggest decent management but definitely room for improvement.

I am about to try CGM for the first time now they are available/affordable to more Aussies. Looking forward to the information they can provide but also apprehensive of what they could show.

RoughcutAU said:

I am about to try CGM for the first time now they are available/affordable to more Aussies. Looking forward to the information they can provide but also apprehensive of what they could show.

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You won't (want to) believe what you will see I promise you. But so so so worth it. Couple of weeks ago bought 3 different types of sugarfree liquorice of the same brand. two of them were fine, the third send my bs skyrocketing. Without the cgm I wouldn't have known and just assumed it's sugar free, no problem...

Antje77 said:

Even langs de Blokker!

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I know I know... Pork scratchings by the bed, love it!! (and the "wallpaper")
Good suggestions me and my cat thank you! Every now and again I try fried eggs with bacon but by the time thats ready I don't have to bother any more.

EBe66 said:

You won't (want to) believe what you will see I promise you. But so so so worth it. Couple of weeks ago bought 3 different types of sugarfree liquorice of the same brand. two of them were fine, the third send my bs skyrocketing. Without the cgm I wouldn't have known and just assumed it's sugar free, no problem...

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Unfortunately, sugar free does not mean carb free and all carbs turn to sugar when we digest them.

I'm on a basal/bolus regime, stay lowish carb (goal is 100/day), carb count, long walks, monotonous diet, finger-prick to measure blood glucose. In range 95% of the time.

After my T2 diagnosis (Feb 21) I launched into weight loss, exercise and low carb all worked and got my Hb1Ac down to 37 pretty quick. But my improvement just plateaued and I found carbs gave me significant spikes. Then I started resistance training and really shifted my body composition dropping to 17% fat. That has been the game changer for me. My carb spikes now top out at between 6.5 and 7 and I have been able to relax my diet a lot more. I’m still relatively low carb, average about 120gms per day but my body just seems to handle it so much better. I do also walk and swim but it has been the weights that have made the real difference.