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im on a low carb high fat diet and struggling

jackie_oates_123

Active Member
Messages
40
Location
hyde cheshire
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Im doing really well and i have got my bs to an average of 5.2 to about 8.9 but . Yesterday i struggled to get my bs up above obove 3.8 as i was eating chicken cheese olives peanut butter and celery my bs dropped to 2.8 what am i doing wrong please help i ended up having some chocolate
 
eat some carbs now...you will need to change your diet with your HCP help because the glicazide and insulin will need adjusting as you go. you may even need to stop them
 
Thats ok, basically you had a hypo. are you on any meds?

to save you eating so much I would have a piece of fruit, maybe something you wouldn't normally have, a banana or couple of grapes?
 
thanks for advice, i just dont like the idea of getting on that slippery slope of chocolate ive tried so hard to keep off it, ive been following the advice of diabetic nurse and as usual they advise carbs, ive been diabetic for a few years and only just got my bs down to near normal for the first time
 
your page says T2..it hasn't taken long to get onto insulin..is it posible your T1.5

you may need to stand your ground, they are there to help you with your decisions, get them to do their job or change to someone who will help you adjust your meds.
If the nurse won't, I would see you Dr and see if the Dr will help... if you have never adjusted your insulin, now isn't a good time to learn
eat carbs for now but you need help to reduce meds before you get to hypo territory
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Chocolate isn't the best way to treat low bg levels, better to have something like Glucotabs, Jelly Babies or full sugar coke. As your on insulin and other bg lowering drugs you need to discuss reducing your meds with your diabetes team when reducing the carbs in your diet.
 
Hi and welcome. The hypo indicates too much Gliclazide or insulin. I asked my DN who put me onto insulin to stop the Gliclazide as there is no point in taking both; she agreed. Do discuss this with the DN. Do let us know what insulin regime you are on i.e. Mixed or Basal/Bolus. If you are not overweight then as others have said you could be T1.5 (Late onset T1) in which case insulin is almost certainly the right medication in the long-term. If you come off Gliclazide then your insulin dose may need to be adjusted as well as matched to your diet
 
jackie_oates_123 said:
im on a background insulin only take 22 mls once a day
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You still need to speak with your HCP's about reducing your meds if your having hypo's all the time, just eat more carbs until you get some guidance from your diabetes care team.
 
You can't change everything at once.
AFAIK a low carb, high fat diet doesn't cause a hypo - I've never had one in 7 years, but I am on metformin only. But insulin acts on the blood sugars & if you are not eating sugar nor carb, you are likely to hypo as the insulin reduces what blood glucose there is.

I can't give medical advice, but the advice you are likely to receive is either to increase carbs in your LCHF diet that you are finding so helpful, or to cautiously reduce the medication. Blood testing is key to successful diabetes management - you find out in an hour how things are going.
 
Sorry to hear about the hypos.

Can I just check that you know that if you reduce your carb intake, you must reduce your intake of insulin and other blood-sugar-lowering drugs? This is not optional. If you don't reduce your meds, you *will* go hypo on any reduced carb diet. Do you know how to carb count, how to check your basal insulin, and how to check your ratios? If not, it may not be a good idea to go on a low carb diet just yet.
 
Ive been in contact with the nurse this am and she has reduced my insulin by 4 units, we talked about reducing more insulin and glicazide in the future and she has told me to phone her and keep her up to date on monday
 
Sounds like you have a great nurse. It's good news that she didn't just advise you to eat more carbs. She's actually helping you to achieve your goals, which is great.
 
jackie_oates_123 said:
Ive been in contact with the nurse this am and she has reduced my insulin by 4 units, we talked about reducing more insulin and glicazide in the future and she has told me to phone her and keep her up to date on monday
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Hi Jackie. Both the insulin and the glicazide are essentially extra insulin in your body. The insulin injections are obviously externally provided insulin, while the glicazide internally stimulates your pancreas to release more insulin. The point being that both of these medications give your body more insulin, and as such they must be adjusted with any dietary changes.

When I went low carb it literally halved my insulin requirements (from 20 units per day down to just 10, and some days as little as 6 or 7). Can you estimate roughly how many grams of carb you were having before you went LCHF and what you're on right now? In my case I reduced my carb intake by about 100 grams per day, and as I expected this reduced my insulin requirements by 10 units per day. (That can change from person to person depending on your insulin sensitivity, but personally I need about one extra unit of insulin for each 10g of carbs eaten).
 
I was in denial and ate what I wanted then my mum passed away and then I had a new focus me, I'm very poative and really want to do my best. All the help I can get much appreciated thanks all
 
Spiker said:
Sounds like you have a great nurse. It's good news that she didn't just advise you to eat more carbs. She's actually helping you to achieve your goals, which is great.
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She used to but she has become diabetic recently so I think she's interested in the lchf diet herself lol
 
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