Hi everyone
I've been looking in on the forum for the last few days now, and since monday I have been on (what I think is!) a low-carb diet.
I am 30 years old and have been Type 1 since 1986 following a car accident. I was always a fairly well-built child, and had virtually no body fat up until I reached my early 20s, when I began to put on weight. I ended up in hospital at the end of 2001 with acute ketoacidosis following a very heavy night drinking and not testing my BG, then drinking lucozade the next day as I thought I had food poisoning when I started vomiting. It was around this time and the few years previously that my HBa1 figures were around 10-11, and I was ignoring the warnings from my specialist, and burying my head in the sand about the whole thing.
Following the ketoacidosis incident, something lit a fire under me and I decided to go with the basal/bolus insulin regime as had been long suggested by my specialist, from the twice-daily Mixtard that I was on previous to this. I realised that I had been starting to gain weight slowly (although only on my stomach and a little on my face? This is still the case today) for about a year before I went on the basal/bolus regime and I wanted to lose it, and thought that the "miss a meal if you want" ethos of the BB regime would help me do this.
Within six months of my starting the BB regime, my HBa1 had dropped to 6.3 and I began to develop "cotton wool spots" in my eyes, although I was told that these would probably clear up. When i went for a follow-up opthalmic appointment, they had indeed cleared up, but I had begun to develop leaky exudates in my eyes, a condition that I have had repeated laser treatment for since then. I currently have a small "blind spot" in my left eye as a result of this.
My HBa1 control is still usually between 5-6, so no problems there that I can think of, but my blood pressure is a bit high (usually around 140/90) for which I am on 10mg Rampiril a day and I have been put on 20mg daily simvastatin to control my cholesterol.
After trying my best to lose weight (including restricting the booze and exercising every day) I was disheartened to find that I had gained weight after three months of torturing myself trying to lose it....I would imagine that I am not the only diabetic to have gone through this disappointment. I currently weight around 17 stone, when I should really weigh between 11-13 stone, and so my main motivation for trying the low-carb approach is to lose weight, although I would also like to minimise the likelihood of further complications if I can.
I have been told that my kidneys seem to be in good condition (no sign of microalbuminuria as yet) and that apart from my eye, I seem to have been relatively lucky with comps, although I am surprised at this because as a teenager, I went absolutely stupid with alcohol (13 pints of sugary diesel in one night was often the norm on a weekend) and all this without testing BG, so I am somewhat keen to atone for my past mistakes if I can!
Since 2002 I have been almost religious with my BG, somtimes checking 8 or 9 times a day...Like a lot of diabetics, I often wake up with high (12-16) BG readings, although I tend to notice this only really happens when I have been drinking the night before. I tend to stay up late, and often eat supper quite late also. When I don't drink the night before, I tend not to eat so much and therefore don't wake up with as high a BG reading.
The reason for this long-winded post is really to try and give people some idea of the lifestyle I have had that has led to the condition I am currently in. I would like to lose weight, and would like to get the best control that I can have. I am currently on 63 units of Lantus Glargine every day at 5:30pm, and I was typically taking around 40 units a day of Humalog, depending on what I was doing. On a weekend if having a good drink, I would often be on nearer to 70 units a day to compensate for the BG-upping effect of the booze.
Since starting a low-carb plan on monday, this is what I have had to eat and drink:
Monday
Waking BG: 4.9
Breakfast: 5 rashers of streaky bacon
4 units of Humalog
Lunchtime BG: 5.7
No lunch (quite usual for me)
Teatime BG: 10.7
Tea: 2 steamed chicken breasts drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, along with 2 large hanfuls of Tesco mixed veg and red peppers (around 7g carb per serving according to the packet...Probably due to sweetcorn in it?)
12 units of Humalog
Pre-bedtime BG: 3.4 (about 100 ml Lucozade prior to walking dog)
BG Untested again till tuesday morning
Tuesday
Waking BG: 3.8
Breakfast: 5 rashers of streaky bacon
No insulin (due to BG)
Mid afternoon BG (3 hours after breakfast): 11.2
8 units of Humalog
Teatime BG (around 8pm): 4.3
Tea: Salad consisting of a handful of mixed salad leaves, 4 slices of ham, 6 slices of tesco chorizo slices, 12 small green olives, teaspoonful of branston pickle, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 packet of cooked prawns homemade dressing (150ml peppery "organic" olive oil, 2 capfuls balsamic vinegar, capful red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoonful each of lemon juice and lime juice, sprinkling of paprika powder and teaspoonful of french mustard).
No insulin (due to BG)
Bedtime BG (2:30am): 10.3
14 units of Humalog
Supper: same salad as teatime, except smaller amount by about a third.
I also had one can of lager while out walking the dog on her 45 min walk, and a couple of medium-sized glasses of home-brewed Rioja red wine with my supper.
Wednesday
Waking BG: 9.7
12 units of Humalog
No breakfast
Afternoon BG (3 hours after breakfast): 4.8
1 piece of Tesco "Bacon rib" from their deli counter.
BG (1` hour after bacon rib): 5.2
I suppose what I really want to know is what is the best way to proceed with the low-carb plan while I am on Glargine and susceptible to high waking BG readings? From what I can gather, I am supposed to take small amounts of Humalog while having carb-free or low-carb meals to counter the BG-raising action of the protein, but when I do this, I seem to have (albeit very minor) hypos that I then have to correct with lucozade?
Is this just me, or do any other people on here have this trouble? Also, with regards to alcohol, is home-brewed wine any different to shop-bought wine? We generally tend to ferment ours for quite a long time, and don't really sweeten it up very much once it's completed?
Many thanks in advance to whoever answers, you deserve a medal for wading through my essay above!
I've been looking in on the forum for the last few days now, and since monday I have been on (what I think is!) a low-carb diet.
I am 30 years old and have been Type 1 since 1986 following a car accident. I was always a fairly well-built child, and had virtually no body fat up until I reached my early 20s, when I began to put on weight. I ended up in hospital at the end of 2001 with acute ketoacidosis following a very heavy night drinking and not testing my BG, then drinking lucozade the next day as I thought I had food poisoning when I started vomiting. It was around this time and the few years previously that my HBa1 figures were around 10-11, and I was ignoring the warnings from my specialist, and burying my head in the sand about the whole thing.
Following the ketoacidosis incident, something lit a fire under me and I decided to go with the basal/bolus insulin regime as had been long suggested by my specialist, from the twice-daily Mixtard that I was on previous to this. I realised that I had been starting to gain weight slowly (although only on my stomach and a little on my face? This is still the case today) for about a year before I went on the basal/bolus regime and I wanted to lose it, and thought that the "miss a meal if you want" ethos of the BB regime would help me do this.
Within six months of my starting the BB regime, my HBa1 had dropped to 6.3 and I began to develop "cotton wool spots" in my eyes, although I was told that these would probably clear up. When i went for a follow-up opthalmic appointment, they had indeed cleared up, but I had begun to develop leaky exudates in my eyes, a condition that I have had repeated laser treatment for since then. I currently have a small "blind spot" in my left eye as a result of this.
My HBa1 control is still usually between 5-6, so no problems there that I can think of, but my blood pressure is a bit high (usually around 140/90) for which I am on 10mg Rampiril a day and I have been put on 20mg daily simvastatin to control my cholesterol.
After trying my best to lose weight (including restricting the booze and exercising every day) I was disheartened to find that I had gained weight after three months of torturing myself trying to lose it....I would imagine that I am not the only diabetic to have gone through this disappointment. I currently weight around 17 stone, when I should really weigh between 11-13 stone, and so my main motivation for trying the low-carb approach is to lose weight, although I would also like to minimise the likelihood of further complications if I can.
I have been told that my kidneys seem to be in good condition (no sign of microalbuminuria as yet) and that apart from my eye, I seem to have been relatively lucky with comps, although I am surprised at this because as a teenager, I went absolutely stupid with alcohol (13 pints of sugary diesel in one night was often the norm on a weekend) and all this without testing BG, so I am somewhat keen to atone for my past mistakes if I can!
Since 2002 I have been almost religious with my BG, somtimes checking 8 or 9 times a day...Like a lot of diabetics, I often wake up with high (12-16) BG readings, although I tend to notice this only really happens when I have been drinking the night before. I tend to stay up late, and often eat supper quite late also. When I don't drink the night before, I tend not to eat so much and therefore don't wake up with as high a BG reading.
The reason for this long-winded post is really to try and give people some idea of the lifestyle I have had that has led to the condition I am currently in. I would like to lose weight, and would like to get the best control that I can have. I am currently on 63 units of Lantus Glargine every day at 5:30pm, and I was typically taking around 40 units a day of Humalog, depending on what I was doing. On a weekend if having a good drink, I would often be on nearer to 70 units a day to compensate for the BG-upping effect of the booze.
Since starting a low-carb plan on monday, this is what I have had to eat and drink:
Monday
Waking BG: 4.9
Breakfast: 5 rashers of streaky bacon
4 units of Humalog
Lunchtime BG: 5.7
No lunch (quite usual for me)
Teatime BG: 10.7
Tea: 2 steamed chicken breasts drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, along with 2 large hanfuls of Tesco mixed veg and red peppers (around 7g carb per serving according to the packet...Probably due to sweetcorn in it?)
12 units of Humalog
Pre-bedtime BG: 3.4 (about 100 ml Lucozade prior to walking dog)
BG Untested again till tuesday morning
Tuesday
Waking BG: 3.8
Breakfast: 5 rashers of streaky bacon
No insulin (due to BG)
Mid afternoon BG (3 hours after breakfast): 11.2
8 units of Humalog
Teatime BG (around 8pm): 4.3
Tea: Salad consisting of a handful of mixed salad leaves, 4 slices of ham, 6 slices of tesco chorizo slices, 12 small green olives, teaspoonful of branston pickle, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 packet of cooked prawns homemade dressing (150ml peppery "organic" olive oil, 2 capfuls balsamic vinegar, capful red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoonful each of lemon juice and lime juice, sprinkling of paprika powder and teaspoonful of french mustard).
No insulin (due to BG)
Bedtime BG (2:30am): 10.3
14 units of Humalog
Supper: same salad as teatime, except smaller amount by about a third.
I also had one can of lager while out walking the dog on her 45 min walk, and a couple of medium-sized glasses of home-brewed Rioja red wine with my supper.
Wednesday
Waking BG: 9.7
12 units of Humalog
No breakfast
Afternoon BG (3 hours after breakfast): 4.8
1 piece of Tesco "Bacon rib" from their deli counter.
BG (1` hour after bacon rib): 5.2
I suppose what I really want to know is what is the best way to proceed with the low-carb plan while I am on Glargine and susceptible to high waking BG readings? From what I can gather, I am supposed to take small amounts of Humalog while having carb-free or low-carb meals to counter the BG-raising action of the protein, but when I do this, I seem to have (albeit very minor) hypos that I then have to correct with lucozade?
Is this just me, or do any other people on here have this trouble? Also, with regards to alcohol, is home-brewed wine any different to shop-bought wine? We generally tend to ferment ours for quite a long time, and don't really sweeten it up very much once it's completed?
Many thanks in advance to whoever answers, you deserve a medal for wading through my essay above!
