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Quick question

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Carl40

Well-Known Member
Messages
106
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Insulin
So I was diagnosed on friday and am using insulin. Have to use before meals. My glucose levels are really high (25 ish). Anyway, today I;m absolutely starving in spite of eating.

My reading was 17.8 mmol/l (lowest I've seen since Friday).

Clearly my body is "used" to the higher levels at present. Is this why I feel starving? I've had to eat now but assume (ketones present but can't measure - last checked Friday - very high).

Guess this is what the nurse meant about my levels starting to drop (would feel pretty grotty).

Not sure what to make of it, just feel a bit weird and really hungry!

Thanks
 
Hello and welcome.

Can you let us know what type of diabetes you have please? Filling in your profile is really helpful so we know how to answer, as different types have different needs.
 
lucylocket61 said:
Hello and welcome.

Can you let us know what type of diabetes you have please? Filling in your profile is really helpful so we know how to answer, as different types have different needs.
Click to expand...
Hi

Will do that. Not sure as yet but looking like type one.

Need some further tests to be sure from what I can gather.

Thanks
 
Hi Carl I think excessive hunger can be a sign of both hypo & hyperglycaemia. In your case the latter is more likely and could just be your body adjusting and levels coming down from being super high.

It’s a good sign your starting to see numbers in the teens, as you slowly increase your insulin doses they will continue to fall & this symptom of hunger will hopefully disappear.

When are your team next checking in? Maybe just mention it to them when recapping your weekend. Try & eat non-carb snacks if your really hungry & have to snack.
 


Thanks tash


Without a doubt have experienced hyperglycaemia over the last few weeks. Part of which alerted me to the possibility of diabetes.

The worst effects have tapered off now as I'm on insulin but building dosage up slowly.

Was never starving before diagnosis as I'd just eat whenever hunger struck.

Are and monitored my bloods an hour later. Peak was lower than those previously so looks like I'm trending downwards which is great.

Was very uncertain what was happening before but think you're right. Seems body is now deriving some energy from my food intake but not all as yet. Guess that's why I'm suddenly feeling starving when I wasn't before.

The lowcal snacks are a good idea, have bought some as you recommended yesterday and will explore more as time goes on.

Seeing the nurse on wed. Will see how things are tomorrow and give her a quick call ahead of that if it doesn't resolve.

Thanks very much
 
May I ask why you have no method to test ketones? This is extremely dangerous to have no way of checking them xx
 
kaylz91 said:
May I ask why you have no method to test ketones? This is extremely dangerous to have no way of checking them xx
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Hi Kaylz

Not really sure tbh. When the nurse checked the figures on Fri she suggested I go to hospital as the numbers were so high.

She agreed that because of how I presented that she would discuss whether starting my insulin at home would be an acceptable option - as was my preference.

She spoke to him for quite some time and it was agreed.

It's on my list to ask when we have our next session. Is it common practice for people to have a means of testing this?

Thanks
 
Him = GP btw..
 


Hi Carl, yeah it’s a really important part of being diabetic to be able to easily test for ketones. These days you can do a test similar to a blood glucose test on your meter that tests ketones. Diabetic DKA which is what you get when you have high ketones is actually a life threatening problem. What was your ketone reading when the nurse tested?

Your part about being hungry, I actually get more hungry the better my control is. When I’m in the higher numbers I feel full & can’t be bothered to eat, but when I’m in good control with normal levels I’m usually starving
 
If you feel hungry, how about eating something with low or no carbs to satisfy your hunger?
Something like cheese (without crackers), nuts, eggs or bacon.
 
Carl40 said:
The lowcal snacks are a good idea, have bought some as you recommended yesterday and will explore more as time goes on.

Click to expand...
what snacks did you get/snacking on? You’d be better off getting low carb snacks rather than low cal snacks as they are usually very high in carbs.

In answer to your other question re testing ketones, in my area it is usual to give you blood testing strips to test your ketone level if you feel it might be high I was given a dual monitor for both blood and ketones. Not sure about other areas.
 
I wasn’t given ketone testing strips until they also gave me a libra. It just so happened that I had to go back 2 days later because levels increased. But having those ketone strips has probably saved me a couple of trips up to A&E.
 

Hi Maco,

Thanks for that. Friday was such a strange day with huge amounts of information to process that I can't recall. Could swear she said something about 130 and I think that was after testing my urine. It was what prompted her to suggest hospital.

Should be able to clear that up tomorrow as I'm going to see her for my second appointment.

Going to have to find ways to manage the hunger although I hope it will settle once I get my levels under control. I'm literally a total novice to this so its interesting to hear how it affects you. Is feeling starving common with diabetes?
 


Best of luck Carl, stick with it & you’ll get there. I’ve been diabetic 12yrs since I was 14 and it’s still a challenge
 

Thanks Flora.

Snacks today has been an orange and two jaffa cakes.

I'm finding it confusing because some people/places say those with insulin can eat anything providing the manage their medication/levels whereas others say not.

Will be discussing the ketone testing tomorrow, its on a very long list of questions I've now accumulated.

One thing I have done today is record all my blood tests on my s-health app on my phone. The good thing is it lets me produce graphs. Early days and made the mistake of recording post meal levels minutes after eating the first 24 hours but getting more used to the routine now.
 
Maco said:
Best of luck Carl, stick with it & you’ll get there. I’ve been diabetic 12yrs since I was 14 and it’s still a challenge
Click to expand...

Thanks! Much appreciated. It's like you have to unlearn everything you took for granted and start again.
 

Hi Carl, as an insulin user, yes you can eat 'anything' in theory but it's not always that easy to manage higher carb foods or to match them with insulin, especially at the start when you are finding your feet. Because your glucose levels were still high, I think the advice for now was to eat lower carb snacks foods to stop your levels going higher in these early stages. Your insulin works in conjunction with what you eat so as you get more experienced you can make your own choices as to how to manage it and how many carbs you wish to eat, etc. An orange by the way (a large one) has around 30 plus carbs in it so it would have the same effect on your levels as a chocolate eclair or 2 or 3 biscuits. Many of us require insulin for any food we consume that is over 10 to 15 carbs but as I say, it's test, test, test and you will become more experienced on how YOUR body reacts specifically. x
 
In theory you can eat whatever you want if you know how many carbs are in the snack/ meal and how much insulin to cover it.

When your on a fixed dose it’s really hit & miss. Over time you will get to know how to count carbs and how many carbs you can eat per unit of insulin. It’s a bit more complicated than I’m suggesting but at this stage you don’t need too much info.

Once your back into normal ranges you & your team will adjust your doses & you can learn how to carb count which will give you more freedom in what you eat. The problem with snacking is it’s spontaneous & probably not covered by your fixed dose. That’s the advantage of low carb snacks, no insulin response required.
 
Carl40 said:
I'm finding it confusing because some people/places say those with insulin can eat anything providing the manage their medication/levels whereas others say not.
Click to expand...

people on insulin can eat what they like, providing they know how to adjust their insulin to deal with the carbs.
This means counting the carbs in their food and injecting with the precise amount of insulin needed, every time you eat significant amounts of carbs (like an orange and jaffa cakes).

you will get to that stage, so there will come a time when you can eat what you like, but you aren’t there yet. Until then, snacking on cheese, cold meat, veg, or a handful of nuts will have a lot fewer carbs than bread or cakes. Once you are confident with adjusting insulin, you can eat cakes and stuff as often as you want.

have you been told to inject set amounts before your meals? Or have you been shown how to carb count and adjust your doses?

ed for clarity.
 
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I think the reason you are starving is because of the insulin. When I was on insulin I was starving all the time it was horrible I’m glad I’m not on it. And no I have no way of testing ketones.
 
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