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New to Low Carbing - Need reassurance pls!

M

ma5on

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Guys

I have been overwhelmed by the success stories I have read on this forum and truly believe when people say that carbs are not tolerated well by Diabetics....so why force them down?!

I started low carbing on Sat and felt great. My sugars were all single figures (after persistently remaining at 12-20) and my fasting sugars around the 6 mark.

However, this morning it was 14.4!!! Yesterday I ate the following:

Breakfast: Small slice wholegrain toast, peanut butter and some parma ham (c20g carbs)
Lunch: 2 Chicken thighs, green salad leaves and a tblsp coleslaw (c5g carbs in the coleslaw)
Dinner: 2 Pork belly slices with green salad, 2 tbslp of bbq sauce (c10g carbs in the sauce)

I work on a ratio of 2ui Novorapid per 10g carbs so gave the following doses:

Breakfast: 4ui
Lunch: 1ui
Dinner: 2ui

In addition to this I also did correction doses of 3ui at lunchtime (BS was 10.5), 2ui when I got home (BS was 12.3) and dinner 2ui (BS wa 10.9) - (I unit brings my BS down by about 2mmol)

Total Novorapid for day was 14ui with a bedtime dose of Levemir 30ui.

Throughout yesterday my sugars remained in the low double figures, and I can't understand why!!!

Also, I am now peeing ketones at the second to highest level - is this safe? I have only expereience this level before when heading into DKA, and although I have read on here that ketones are part of low-carbing, I was only expecting trace to small amounts so need reassurance this is ok.

Aside from this feel ok generally (no other signs of DKA), just 'Atkins Flu' methinks!!! :!:

Could this be my liver dumping some stores of glucose as it's not getting much sugar now?

Thank you all in advance!!!

ma5on
 
Hi Ma5on!

The carbs you ate and the insulin you took should have worked out ok. Maybe something else is going on.
Could you be coming down with an infection? Did you perhaps do a lot of exercise? That can sometimes put your BG up.
Are you sure you didn't have a snack which you forgot to calculate?
Someone else might have more suggestions
 
Hi Hana

Thanks for your response!

I honestly don't think so....I had a Pepperami and a Cheesestring, both of which are minimal carbs and wouldn't need injections....

I took the dogs out for their usual 20 min stroll, but nothing major.

I don't feel great to be honest but am pretty sure it's just carb withdrawal - What I don't get are the high sugars but was wondering if this was normal when starting out???

Thank you again though!!! x
 
Hi ma5on,

One mistake sometimes made is that people reducing their carb intake still rely on a carb./insulin ratio to calculate their doses. On a diet low in carbs but higher in protein, a greater proportion of that protein will be metabolised into glucose. A zero carb breakfast, bacon and eggs for example,will still need insulin to cover it.
I noticed your lunchtime dose was very low - 1 unit - for chicken, salad and coleslaw. A bit too low a dose for me, and for you too it seems. Lunch for me today is chicken breast, mayonaise, pesto sauce, 2 celery sticks, 1 slice low carb bread with butter & cheese, coffee with cream. 2.5 units insulin.
Try increasing your doses a lttle. The ketones also are likely a symptom of insufficient insulin and will subside as you adjust your doses to suit your new diet.

All the best,

fergus
 
Thanks Fergus!

I hadn't considered that the proteins would be released as glucose - they never tell us that when they're trying to ram pasta and rice down our necks!

Will add a couple of units and see how I get on....

This low-carb bread of yours....where can I find the recipe please? It sounds fab!

I won't give up!!!

Thanks again

ma5on
 
Ok, sorry to be a pain, but followed your advice Fergus and upped my lunchtime dose (in the end got pulled into a meeting and only managed a chicken drumstick!)

So, lunch BS was 12.1, injected 4ui of NovoRapid, and BS 10 mins ago was 16.9!!!!

Is this still me being a muppet or am I getting something wrong?

Feel quite sick now and a bit out of it! Could I be mistaking all this for a bug??? (Perhaps 'Bird-Flu' would be more realistic than 'Swine Flu' )

Thanks

ma5on
 
keep a close eye on your bloods and if u feel any worse seek medical advice as u may be getting an infection/illness
 
Thanks Totsy - appreciate your advice.

I got home from work yesterday (after my 1 chicken drumstick with 4ui of insulin for lunch!) and my BS was 20.3!!!

I really am struggling with why this is happening as it just seems to go up and up.

Went to bed with a sugar of 11.5 last night (feeling a bit better!) so injected 30ui Levemir (my usual dose), and another 3ui NovoRapid as a correction - really thought "I'm going to get it this time!!!". More fool me - I woke up this morning and my sugar was 15.9mmol!!! I truly feel lousy now!

Thing is I've had DKA a few times (in my very uncontrolled days!) and honestly don't feel like that's happening. I also feel lousy but can't pinpoint it to anything specific - I actually feel it's the sugars making me feel ill more than illness itself.

I also have a splitting headache (started yest morning) that I can't shift. Got home from work last night and my husband woke me up when he got in at 7.30 as I had fallen asleep......very weird (although I know a high of 20 would have contributed towards this!)

I would go to the doctors but to be honest find them useless. They don't seem to get that even if I increase my doses, nothing happens!!!

I know I'm a bit loopy usually but really feel like I'm losing my mind now! (And am seriously going to have to change my hair colour :wink: )

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
Hi ma5on,

Sounds like you are coming down with something. Recently I had a heavy cold sore throat etc. Strange thing was that when the symptoms appeared my bg levels were fine, but the few days before the symptoms manifested themselves I had higher than normal bg readings. Maybe it would be a good idea to visit the doctor though because your readings are high. Those readings alone will make you feel awful. Hope you get it sorted.

Caitycakes x
 
Thanks Caitycakes

Think you might be right (although I feel like the 'sicknote' of the office as there always seems to be something!!! - I wish I could chuck the odd 'sickie' but actually NEED the time for genuine reasons! )

Tested now and my BS is 14.9. I had one slice of toast for breakfast and injected a total of 8 units of NovoRapid (4 for the toast as I'm on a 2ui/10g ratio) and another 4 ui corrective dose.

My level is unchanged.

Roll on 4pm - I need my bed!!!

(Wonder if this qualifies as 'Bird Flu', or is that passe now we have the Swine variation? :wink: )

ma5on xx
 
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