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Not much energy

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cuillie

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Hi, I wonder if anyone can help ? I have been LCing for 6 weeks now and BS have come down dramatically and in the early weeks I was feeling fine, but this last week I have felt very tired, I seem to feel exhausted without doing all that much. At the begining of last week I felt so awful that I couldn't go to work, my limbs were very achey, well really my legs, feeling chilled a lot of the time. I thought it was some sort of fluy thing, but that didn't feel right it call it that. anyway, I thought the best way to to treat myself was to that paracetamole and rest. So i did this and feel somewhat better, but still have very little energy. Is this the result of LCingdo you think? My legs still ache.

The other thing is that my BS can sometimes be very low, in the 3s. and I wonder if how I was feeling is all related. I also find that I am not getting warnings when BS is so low.

I do what to carry on with LCing as I really over did the carbs previously especially sweets, cakes, and the like, but I can't keep taking time off work.

I'm not sure if I am eating enough either as I don't count the carbs, I,m afraid that if I had to count I wouldn't follow the diet, so basically I am eating much the same amount of protein as I did before, probably more fat, but way less carbs. But, maybe I'm not doing it correctly.

I would just like to say I felt really good.
 
cuillie said:
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help ? I have been LCing for 6 weeks now and BS have come down dramatically and in the early weeks I was feeling fine, but this last week I have felt very tired, I seem to feel exhausted without doing all that much. At the begining of last week I felt so awful that I couldn't go to work, my limbs were very achey, well really my legs, feeling chilled a lot of the time. I thought it was some sort of fluy thing, but that didn't feel right it call it that. anyway, I thought the best way to to treat myself was to that paracetamole and rest. So i did this and feel somewhat better, but still have very little energy. Is this the result of LCingdo you think? My legs still ache.

The other thing is that my BS can sometimes be very low, in the 3s. and I wonder if how I was feeling is all related. I also find that I am not getting warnings when BS is so low.

I do what to carry on with LCing as I really over did the carbs previously especially sweets, cakes, and the like, but I can't keep taking time off work.

I'm not sure if I am eating enough either as I don't count the carbs, I,m afraid that if I had to count I wouldn't follow the diet, so basically I am eating much the same amount of protein as I did before, probably more fat, but way less carbs. But, maybe I'm not doing it correctly.

I would just like to say I felt really good.
Click to expand...

Having looked at meds ie insulin, my view is you need to count your carbs and adjust your insulin acordingly. Running as low as the 3's is a no no on insulin as no room for error (Coma). The reason you feel as you do is due to low blood sugars I would have thought your body is shutting down to protect it's self so either increase your carbs or better still reduce your insulin.

If you drive a car then you need to stop as no hypo warnings means no licence and a danger to every other road user.
If you don't do so perhaps check blood sugars on rising 2 hr after breakfast before lunch 2 hrs after same with evening meal and before bed. Then do some night time testing. This will give you a better idea of what is going on.
 
I agree entirely with CarbsRok and would like to add that I've had a tiny bit of similar while I was adjusting to low carb.

I am type 1.5, so I have some insulin of my own, much like you probably do.

I have found on low carb I have reduced my basal by about 25 percent and my meal time insulin by about 50 percent.

What you could do to sort out whether it is related, which I believe it will be, is if you have a similar thing happen again, add 5-10g of carb to the equation. If this makes you feel better, next time you have a similar meal, reduce your mealtime insulin dose by 1 unit.

For me, 5g carb means a rough 1-2 mmol rise in blood sugar so in the short term while you are adjusting doses, it is probably a good idea to have just a few raisins around, or something similar that you like. I like raisins because they work fast enough for me, and I can adjust them in doses small enough to not ruin anything.

If you are having a hypo though, treat it - if you are having a 'near hypo'/mini hypo, I would do small amounts of carb - not enough to ruin my results with a big spike, but enough to get you to 4.5 and then think about dosage adjustments.

I think it would be safe enough to say that for the meals you eat, you are having too much insulin. Omiting one of your meal time units would land your blood glucose 2-3 mmol higher, and if that is from 3, it means 5-6 mmol as a result, and that sounds more like it?

If you find this still drops you too easily, I would reduce my basal by 5-10 percent.
 
Thank you both for replying, and sorry not to have replied sooner.

I have taken your advice on board and reduced my insulin and hoping that will make the difference.
Don't worry CarbsRoc, I always test before driving anyway, but thanks for the reminder. Because I am in the process of change at the moment I am very aware that I need to be extra careful regarding driving.

Mileana, I have never heard of someone being a 1.5 type before, what on earth does that mean?

Thanks again, kate
 
LADA/1.5 diabetes is a diabetes that starts out looking like Type 2 and you may get along fine on diet and meds. As it, like Type 1, is really caused by an autoimmune attack on insulin producing cells, just slower than type 1, eventually, a person with LADA will not have sufficient insulin production of their own.

This form of diabetes normally does not continue to respond to tablets and in an amount of years, normally the person will need insulin injections. It does not have the sudden onset that type 1 has but it has the potential to have the same end result. LADA people sometimes share aspects with Type 2 also, such as increased insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. However, a fair amount of LADA diabetics are normal weight and don't share these characteristica to a significant degree.

You hear about it on here sometimes when people complain that meds are not working for them and diet even at a minimum of carbohydrates are failing to control the diabetes, that people recommend having an antibody test.

I am a big woman myself and have some of the Type2 characteristica such as apple shape and high triglycerides. However, my diabetes is caused by antibodies and I don't need the very big doses of insulin that you might see in some type 2s with a lot of insulin resistance.

I have some insulin production left, and it seems to be stable at the moment, however, it is not enough to keep my blood glucose down so I have been put on injections about a year and a half after my initial (type 2, now LADA/1.5) diagnosis. I was diagnosed with having LADA after my GAD65 antibody test showed 561 with a reference number of 'below 25'.

Hope that clear it up.
 
OMG!, although I have been diagonsed since 1999, i now realise how uneducated i've been all these years about the condition and have learned more in the few short weeks from this forum than I ever did from DUK, GP, clinic at local hospital.
This is such a valuable site.

Even your explanation of your type of diabetes is amazing in terms of how you were diagnose. I went to my GP asked to be tested for the condition as I had a few symptoms which made me wonder if I could be diabetic, she tested my urine then phoned me the next day to say my BS was at 36. So that was me diabetic and put on metformin. No other test was done, never in my life have I ever had a fasting test done. What I didn't tell GP was that about an hour before my visit I had a cold fizzy drink as It was such a hot day.
After reading some of the info here, I wonder just if my diagnoses was wholly correct. I wasn't even given an opportunity to try and manage with diet.

Anyway, the positive side is that I'm managing now so better late than never.

Thank you for your reply, Kate
 
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