• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2026 Survey »

PLEASE NEED HELP WITH SEEMINGLY UNCONTROLLABLE BLOOD SUGARS

Woollie777

Member
Messages
22
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've had Type 1 Diabetes since aged 12 and I am now 51. Not so long back I had no problem in maintaining good blood sugar levels but In the last couple of months I have lost sensitivity to low blood sugars so no matter how hard I try to count carbs and test my blood sugars, the lowest reading I can appear to achieve is about 12.0!!! Does anyone else have this problem? I'm getting really fed up trying to get better results, does anyone have any helpful suggestions please
 
Hi, and welcome!

Hopefully some insulin users will be along in a mo, but in the meantime...

You could help by describing your insulin regime, typical doses, and what is a typical days food, complete with jabs.

That'll help them give advice, when they arrive.
 
It's probably worth going back to basics and doing some basal testing. Once you've got that sorted then you can look at your bolus ratios again.
http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007 (directed at pumpers, but the principles are the same).
Also wonder what your injection sites are like, as they could be causing some absorption issues.
 
Have you checked your basal? Perhaps that needs increasing. You are around the age when hormones go ballistic so that also could be a cause of high numbers.
 
I am a Type 1 Diabetic. Generally for breakfast, I have 100g porridge (1/3 milk & 2/3 water) with 6 teaspoons brown sugar. I calculate this is at 10 carbs and as I am on a 1: 1.5 ratio for my breakfast, I take 15 NovoRapid and extra to counteract any high blood sugars. For lunch I tend to have a sandwich (3/4), 2 mandarins (1), a banana (2) and approx 200g greek style yogurt with some defrosted fruit, tablespoon superfoods, tablespoon ground omega mix nuts, teaspoon ground Chia seeds and teaspoon honey (3) so all in all around 10 carbs for lunch too. I take 24 Lantus at 6pm in the evening. I try to eat my dinner as close to 6pm as I can so I can test my blood sugars (4 hrs later) before going to bed. What I eat at dinner varies a lot but I again count the carbs & calculate my insulin. I am wondering if my scales are faulty!
 
Thanks for the link, I am unfamiliar with Basai testing, will check it out!!!
 
I'm with the others here who have suggested a return to basal testing and confirming your basal level. It looks as though you are using about 45 units of Novorapid a day to your 24 of Lantus, which is a slightly lopsided skew. DAFNE and BDEC reckon that you should start from 50% basal and 50% bolus a day and adjust from there.

It is possible that your high insulin carb ratio is due to your short acting also being used to smooth out peaks because there isn't enough basal, so it's worth going back to basics to check.
 
Must admit I am shocked at the amount of added sugar you are using. This would really spike your blood sugars anyway.
As you grow older in years and length of time for diagnoses things do change in your body, weather also plays a big part so any if not all can play a big part in your problems. So as Tim says back to basics would be a good start.
 
Woollie777 said:
I am right to assume that Basai testing is for all insulin users and not just insulin pump users?
Click to expand...
Yes that's right if your basal is wrong then then you are on a hiding to nothing. Do you have the books using insulin and think like a pancreas? If not worth investing in.
 
CarbsRok said:
Yes that's right if your basal is wrong then then you are on a hiding to nothing. Do you have the books using insulin and think like a pancreas? If not worth investing in.
Click to expand...
Thanks, will check them out
 

Thanks for the welcome!!!
 
Hi Woollie777 and welcome,

Great advice so far. Could part of the problem be from trying to keep your blood sugar a bit higher due to losing hypo awareness? I haven't had any hypo awareness for at least a decade and part of my coping with it was to deliberately keep my blood sugar away from hypo territory as much as possible. Losing hypo awareness really affected how I could manage my blood sugar, I lost not just awareness of when I was low but lost any way of telling where I was by how I felt between glucose tests, I was letting myself drift higher to feel a bit safer. This might not be the case at all for you but just a thought.
 
I would do as Robert72 has suggested and start with some testing, once you get that right you can then look at your insulin to carb ratio's, the following is an on-line version of the DAFNE carb counting course which you should find useful:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

But with regards to your food, I don't like to preach about what food people should and shouldn't eat but you could cut back a little, taking your breakfast for example you don't need the 6 teaspoons of brown sugar for the sweetness, try adding some berries such as blueberries as they will give you the sweetness you desire, also 100g of oats is a lot, I just use 40g of oats and bulk my porridge out by adding seeds, natural yogurt and blueberries as already mention.
 
Hi. Yes, it looks like your Basal needs adjustment? I use a simple way of checking which is easier if you are on one Basal shot a day. Just keep your morning fasting blood sugar between 5 - 7 mmol. You appear to be having a large amount of carbs per day 100gm breakfast, 100gm lunch and you didn't mention dinner? I would move to much lower carbs and make up with proteins and fats where needed. I would avoid adding any sugar other than by exception and honey is just another sugar. Porridge is notorious for raising blood sugar so cold oats e.g. in muesli is better. Bananas are not good so keep them down. I do have one occasionally like today but be aware of their carbs. Can you let us have some idea of your BMI. I wonder whether it is on the high side hence you may have insulin resistance and this makes insulin absorption difficult.
 
Thanks Daibell, I think I do need to do some basic Basai and Bolus testing and I probably need to change my diet drastically! I have no idea what my BMI is, but I do appear to be suffering from insulin resistance/absorption. The pump did not appeal to me but I guess the absorption is much better! Can you possibly suggest any good sources or books to re-educating myself on better eating habits please. Exercise is also lacking and needs to be tackled but I suffer from depression and this hinders me.
 
Hi and thanks for info. I'm afraid I don't have any recommedations for books on diet but I know many others on this forum can. I have sourced most of my information from this website. In many ways it's simple but does require discipline. Read the lables on food packaging and avoid those with high carbs. For fresh food avoid keep bread, pasta, potatoes and similar down. Have protein and fat in prefernece. Avoid root veg and tropical fruit. This doesn't mean none of these foods at all but set yourself a daily carb limit of perhaps 150gm to start with and use the meter to guide you. The web and this website has examples of food and their carb level.
 
Just as a starter try having berries and cream or yogurt for breakfast instead of the porridge and heaping of brown sugar.

My breakfast when I have it is:

Frozen berries from Lidl. Defrosted in a ramekin overnight with double cream in the morning. (I also have flax and chia seeds but that is me).. Lots of oeople here have berries and cream/yogurt.

I don't think your carb counting for your porridge and sugar is quite correct either to be honest.

Are you comfortable with amending your doses downward if you change your foods?

Do you test pre meal and 2 hours afterward?

Are you aware that if your levels rise / lower 2-3 hours after food that your bolus is likely to be the cause? At other times the cause is likely to be your basal?

As we have no real example of your 24hour blood readings or your ffood for a day it is very hard to say for definite that it is your basal.
Definitely worth getting back to basics.
 
You said.....

I have 100g porridge (1/3 milk & 2/3 water) with 6 teaspoons brown sugar. I calculate this is at 10 carbs


A teaspoon of brown sugar us 2.9 carbs and you are sating you are having 6, plus the porridge plus milk....

No way is this 10 carbs!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…