Like most type 2 sufferers I was told that test strips would no longer be available and in fact are no longer needed for type 2. So I didn't test for months but then for some unknown reason I thought i ought to be doing it so I bought some strips and tested. I'm glad I did. My diabetes was completely out of control and i was getting early morning readings of 15.9 and before meals and after exercise of anything between 22 and 25.9. Eventually I managed to get help but it wasn't easy and now I'm on insulin for the first time. How long were my readings so high ? I hate to guess. How long would they have continued if I hadn't decided myself to test - God only knows. Do you want my opinion of the NHS ? Better not - I'd be banned if I posted my true thoughts on the NHS today
Test Strips
- Thread starter Doughboy2
- Start Date
mo1905
BANNED
- Messages
- 4,334
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Rude people !
I bet there are 1000's in a similar situation to yourself who have no idea what's happening to their bodies ! Good job you bought those strips and tested ! I personally have always had good service from NHS but I agree the penny pinching is starting to bite !
if, like me you do a lot of driving, i can cover anything to 500 miles a day, and you are controlling your diabetes by drugs like Gliclazide, zilch CAN cause hypo's, YOU HAVE GOT TO TEST BEFORE DRIVING, AND EVERY 2 HOURS IF ITS A LONG JOURNEY! I have a petition on here to stop doctors refusing to give test strips, lancets etc, i will find it and post it on this conversation, but in the mean time, you may like to look at this
http://iddt.org/news/fight-for-your-test-strips
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http://iddt.org/news/fight-for-your-test-strips
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
pav
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 361
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
I was in the same boat in Dec / Jan when noticed some thing was wrong BS levels were in the 20's and don't know how long they had been high. I followed doctors advice for type 2's, if I followed correct monitoring I could / would have noticed things going haywire earlier.
Now on Gliclazide and having to test a lot more often as per DVLA's requirements, and had to justify why I wanted more test strips. Its surprising how many extra tests a week I use just because of the driving requirements. Just put a repeat in and now waiting to see if its fulfilled.
Now on Gliclazide and having to test a lot more often as per DVLA's requirements, and had to justify why I wanted more test strips. Its surprising how many extra tests a week I use just because of the driving requirements. Just put a repeat in and now waiting to see if its fulfilled.
destiny0321
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 219
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- people who think nothing is wrong with you because they do not see blood or a plaster cast, i suffer with arthritis & use a zimmer & wheelchair but because they cant see anything wrong people assume nothing is wrong with you.
went to my drs today for toe dressing & asked if it was possible for lancets and strips.
as it was first time i needed some from my new surgery. no problem they said i think it depends which area you live in post code lottery i am type 2 i had to buy my first meter as was told you do not need one good job i did they were up in the 20 area.
so is really best to check your bs.
as it was first time i needed some from my new surgery. no problem they said i think it depends which area you live in post code lottery i am type 2 i had to buy my first meter as was told you do not need one good job i did they were up in the 20 area.
so is really best to check your bs.
I am a Type 1 diabetic with exceptionally good control.
This control is mostly a function of two factors: firstly, it's a function of what I eat. (I couldn't possibly achieve HbA1Cs typically of around 5% without eating rye bread, from morning to late afternoon; and I eat very little of the typical supermarkets' junk food, which I believe is what most people mostly eat.) Secondly, my blood-sugar control is a function of testing: I test my blood-sugar around 15-20 times per day.
Crucially, apart from the meter-read strips, I test using visually-read testing strips. And the only such testing strips that are functionally practical, in my opinion, are Betachek Visual. But there is currently no UK distributor for them.
I use the meter-read strips only first thing in the morning and last thing at night (or if I'm in a desperate hurry). Using meter-read strips all day long is simply unnecessary, and a considerable waste of money.
This control is mostly a function of two factors: firstly, it's a function of what I eat. (I couldn't possibly achieve HbA1Cs typically of around 5% without eating rye bread, from morning to late afternoon; and I eat very little of the typical supermarkets' junk food, which I believe is what most people mostly eat.) Secondly, my blood-sugar control is a function of testing: I test my blood-sugar around 15-20 times per day.
Crucially, apart from the meter-read strips, I test using visually-read testing strips. And the only such testing strips that are functionally practical, in my opinion, are Betachek Visual. But there is currently no UK distributor for them.
I use the meter-read strips only first thing in the morning and last thing at night (or if I'm in a desperate hurry). Using meter-read strips all day long is simply unnecessary, and a considerable waste of money.
I haven't had routine test strips for a number of years,[ I buy from Abbott] but if I'm not well [thankfully a rarity!] I get a pack from doctor.
Hana
Hana
http://www.betachek.com/uk/bv.htm
Gives more details for peeps... doesn't give you a link to buy them from though
I think the disinterest from our NHS is that they don't keep a record of readings like the meters do so they can't go over your test log without suspecting that you're hiding the real figures (ie hiding hypos).
Gives more details for peeps... doesn't give you a link to buy them from though
I think the disinterest from our NHS is that they don't keep a record of readings like the meters do so they can't go over your test log without suspecting that you're hiding the real figures (ie hiding hypos).
michaeldavid said:
can i ask, what benefit do you get testing more than once an hour?
do you think you could achieve the same level of control testing once every other hour?
if not, do you mind if i ask why not?
I tend to test my blood-sugar around once per waking-hour, on average. But I often go several hours without testing at all. And I'll turn your question around, ilnar: Don't you think you would achieve better control if there were some kind of strip attached to your wrist which gave you a constant blood-sugar reading? (I'm thinking of something like one of those body-temperature strips people use nowadays instead of a thermometer.)
At around 2p per test using Betachek Visual (with each strip cut into five), I can unhesitatingly test as often as I like. With the test being so inexpensive - and with the risk of making a mistake being so dire, and with the long-term health-benefits being so significant - why NOT test as often as you like?
Indeed, especially at certain times - such as first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or after having taken Novorapid insulin in the late afternoon - I will test several times within, say, half an hour. And I often do that the using meter-read strips. For one thing, the meter-read strips are not so accurate as some people seem to believe them to be. I use OneTouch Ultra; and sometimes I get variations of as much as 2 or 3 mmol/l within a couple of minutes. That kind of variation is fairly rare. But one experience of such a variation is more than enough to convince me not to rely on the result that they give if there is even the slightest doubt in my mind. And here's another thing: if I want to know how fast my blood-sugar is rising or falling, then clearly I need to test more than once in fairly quick succession.
I might add that I never use those spring-loaded gadgets to obtain a blood-sample. Rather, I simply take the lancet in my hand, and gently stab myself. Even when I go the diabetic clinic I tend to do this myself, rather than let anyone come near me with those wretched gadgets: they're far too severe.
I think you're right, Paul_c: the meters keep a log of results, and the medical professionals like that. However, I also think that both you and the medical professionals are wrong, in this respect: blood-sugar readings do not necessarily inform of the occurrence of hypos.
Last night, for example, I got a reading of 2.2 just before bed (using my meter, of course). And almost all medical professionals would count that as me having a hypo. But despite that very low blood-sugar reading, I insist that I was NOT having a hypo: that low reading was merely A SYMPTOM of a hypo. The etymology of the word 'hypoglycaemia' is 'low blood-sugar', of course. But in practice, every time, having a hypo is something BEHAVIOURAL: to be having a hypo, I would have to be at the edge of 'falling off a cliff', so to speak. At 2.2 mmol/l, I was certainly very close to the edge. And if I had spent the whole day eating white bread and potatoes, then I probably would not now be sitting here writing this. But almost all day every day (until late afternoon), I eat rye bread. And for me, having a hypo is more like slipping over the lee-side of the crest of a wind-swept sand-dune: I tend to notice what's happening, and I can fairly easily climb back up. Moreover, at 11.00 in the evening, the effect of the insulin I take during the day is nearing its end: my blood-sugar is going down only very slowly. So despite that very low reading, I was not in great danger.
A lot of medically concerned people reading the above paragraph (that is, practically everyone who reads it at all) will be horrified. But I believe that is a function of an attitude that's fostered by medical experts. I was told by the professor at the diabetic clinic I attend that any reading below 4mmol/l is a hypo. But that is simply wrong. And moreover, it's a dogma: it's a dogma that infects the thinking of all the other medical professionals who look after people with diabetes. And that, in turn, tends to adversely affect the thinking of people who are diabetic.
During the hour or so I've taken tho write the above, I have tested my blood-sugar just once. And I took my Novorapid insulin 40 minutes ago, so I'm close to the edge of that sand dune. It's time for dinner.
At around 2p per test using Betachek Visual (with each strip cut into five), I can unhesitatingly test as often as I like. With the test being so inexpensive - and with the risk of making a mistake being so dire, and with the long-term health-benefits being so significant - why NOT test as often as you like?
Indeed, especially at certain times - such as first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or after having taken Novorapid insulin in the late afternoon - I will test several times within, say, half an hour. And I often do that the using meter-read strips. For one thing, the meter-read strips are not so accurate as some people seem to believe them to be. I use OneTouch Ultra; and sometimes I get variations of as much as 2 or 3 mmol/l within a couple of minutes. That kind of variation is fairly rare. But one experience of such a variation is more than enough to convince me not to rely on the result that they give if there is even the slightest doubt in my mind. And here's another thing: if I want to know how fast my blood-sugar is rising or falling, then clearly I need to test more than once in fairly quick succession.
I might add that I never use those spring-loaded gadgets to obtain a blood-sample. Rather, I simply take the lancet in my hand, and gently stab myself. Even when I go the diabetic clinic I tend to do this myself, rather than let anyone come near me with those wretched gadgets: they're far too severe.
I think you're right, Paul_c: the meters keep a log of results, and the medical professionals like that. However, I also think that both you and the medical professionals are wrong, in this respect: blood-sugar readings do not necessarily inform of the occurrence of hypos.
Last night, for example, I got a reading of 2.2 just before bed (using my meter, of course). And almost all medical professionals would count that as me having a hypo. But despite that very low blood-sugar reading, I insist that I was NOT having a hypo: that low reading was merely A SYMPTOM of a hypo. The etymology of the word 'hypoglycaemia' is 'low blood-sugar', of course. But in practice, every time, having a hypo is something BEHAVIOURAL: to be having a hypo, I would have to be at the edge of 'falling off a cliff', so to speak. At 2.2 mmol/l, I was certainly very close to the edge. And if I had spent the whole day eating white bread and potatoes, then I probably would not now be sitting here writing this. But almost all day every day (until late afternoon), I eat rye bread. And for me, having a hypo is more like slipping over the lee-side of the crest of a wind-swept sand-dune: I tend to notice what's happening, and I can fairly easily climb back up. Moreover, at 11.00 in the evening, the effect of the insulin I take during the day is nearing its end: my blood-sugar is going down only very slowly. So despite that very low reading, I was not in great danger.
A lot of medically concerned people reading the above paragraph (that is, practically everyone who reads it at all) will be horrified. But I believe that is a function of an attitude that's fostered by medical experts. I was told by the professor at the diabetic clinic I attend that any reading below 4mmol/l is a hypo. But that is simply wrong. And moreover, it's a dogma: it's a dogma that infects the thinking of all the other medical professionals who look after people with diabetes. And that, in turn, tends to adversely affect the thinking of people who are diabetic.
During the hour or so I've taken tho write the above, I have tested my blood-sugar just once. And I took my Novorapid insulin 40 minutes ago, so I'm close to the edge of that sand dune. It's time for dinner.
frankly, replying to that is going to take much longer than i have now!
when i get home and have a nice glass of something ill give you some time
when i get home and have a nice glass of something ill give you some time
CollieBoy
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,974
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Hi carb Foods
michaeldavid,
Sorry for being overly suspicious, but do you have any connection with Betachek other than as a customer as you have only posted 3 times, no intro and always about the strips ?
Sorry for being overly suspicious, but do you have any connection with Betachek other than as a customer as you have only posted 3 times, no intro and always about the strips ?
Your suspicion is not unreasonable. But I have no connection with Betachek Visual, or National Diagnostic Products, at all.
My main concern in these posts is other people's diabetic control, which (generally speaking) appears to me to be pretty shockingly bad: I believe this is a function of the poor professional advice that they're given, combined with the kind of food that most people seem to tend to eat..
My other main concern is the appalling waste of NHS resources spent on the blasted meter-read strips. The cost of OneTouch Ultra - and presumably pretty well all other meter-read strips - is around 40p per test. (E-bay is loaded with these meter-read strips put up for sale, which presumably have been prescribed to people WHO DO NOT USE THEM.) So that's around 20 times the cost of the Betachek Visual strips, when each of those are cut - using a good pair of scissors - into five.
I might add that Betachek Visual are really quite accurate for any reading below around 7mmol/l, but not so accurate for anything above that.
Also, I would very strongly advise people to try eating rye bread rather than wheat bread (even wholemeal wheat bread). I could not safely keep my blood-sugar near normal most of the time without eating rye.
My main concern in these posts is other people's diabetic control, which (generally speaking) appears to me to be pretty shockingly bad: I believe this is a function of the poor professional advice that they're given, combined with the kind of food that most people seem to tend to eat..
My other main concern is the appalling waste of NHS resources spent on the blasted meter-read strips. The cost of OneTouch Ultra - and presumably pretty well all other meter-read strips - is around 40p per test. (E-bay is loaded with these meter-read strips put up for sale, which presumably have been prescribed to people WHO DO NOT USE THEM.) So that's around 20 times the cost of the Betachek Visual strips, when each of those are cut - using a good pair of scissors - into five.
I might add that Betachek Visual are really quite accurate for any reading below around 7mmol/l, but not so accurate for anything above that.
Also, I would very strongly advise people to try eating rye bread rather than wheat bread (even wholemeal wheat bread). I could not safely keep my blood-sugar near normal most of the time without eating rye.
Hi MichaelDavid
Never mind working for Betachek - do you produce ryebread?!...
Just to say I would happily use the old-fashioned BM style sticks if they saved the NHS that much money. Surely they would really help T2s not on insulin who just need to see if they are under 7ishmmol?
I test around 9 times a day but ideally would like to test more, however I am sure my GP would not prescribe for that.
Can I ask how much (inc postage) you pay for a tube and how many strips they contain? I use a pump with integrated meter so would still use the electronic strips before eating and going to bed so maybe my team would supply them if they are being used to see if my BG is rising or falling rather than decide basal / bolus rates? (Sorry, thinking as I type!)
I agree with you that much of the advice given to diabetics is nonsense - I eat reduced carbs / lo GI. I find it worrying how Professionals choose to sometimes apply blanket rules, such as "you can eat whatever you want as long as you take the right amount of insulin". I wish that were true for me - but it isn't.
Never mind working for Betachek - do you produce ryebread?!...
Just to say I would happily use the old-fashioned BM style sticks if they saved the NHS that much money. Surely they would really help T2s not on insulin who just need to see if they are under 7ishmmol?
I test around 9 times a day but ideally would like to test more, however I am sure my GP would not prescribe for that.
Can I ask how much (inc postage) you pay for a tube and how many strips they contain? I use a pump with integrated meter so would still use the electronic strips before eating and going to bed so maybe my team would supply them if they are being used to see if my BG is rising or falling rather than decide basal / bolus rates? (Sorry, thinking as I type!)
I agree with you that much of the advice given to diabetics is nonsense - I eat reduced carbs / lo GI. I find it worrying how Professionals choose to sometimes apply blanket rules, such as "you can eat whatever you want as long as you take the right amount of insulin". I wish that were true for me - but it isn't.
Hello kt78,
So I'm not from Mars, or planet Zog. What a relief!
The visually read strips would help anyone with ANY kind of diabetes.
Betachek Visual are on the Drug Tariff. But there is currently no UK distributor.
In the long term, the NHS would save an enormous amount of money if they were prescribed in addition to the electronic strips. (Never mind about the simple health benefits for the likes of you and I.) If your GP won't give you a prescription, I suggest you try changing your GP.
I'm not as familiar as I would like to be about Type 2 diabetes, but I wonder if some with Type 2 couldn't do without the expensive electronic strips altogether. (No doubt some with Type 2 will now proceed to inform us about that.)
Regarding rye bread, I discovered the amazing difference it makes by accident, several years ago. (I happen to live close to an excellent baker, in Norwich; but any old rye bread, or rye flakes, or rye whatever, will do the same job.) I'm a carer for my elderly mother, and she too noticed the tremendous, moderating effect it has: suddenly, I was no longer experiencing dreadful hypos. I still have to be careful, of course. But I cannot overemphasise the difference it makes. (Nb. Don't overdo it, or you'll get high blood-sugar later on in the day.)
What really staggers me is that I can mention this to diabetic experts, and I might just as well shout into the wind for all the difference it makes. There is something pathologically awry with the thinking of the experts, and this affects the thinking of those who they're genuinely trying to look after. I believe it all comes down to what people generally tend to eat, doctors included. (If he could be lured away from his current dalliance with UKIP fruitcake, I wonder if Jamie Oliver might find that Betachek Visual could help him get the mass of people away from the lure of supermarkets' junk food - people who will otherwise surely become diabetic in due course.)
Please can you, or anyone else, tell me what all this 'basal/bolus rates' stuff means? I'm afraid it's just jargon to me.
Also, if it isn't too embarrassing to explain, what does 'size=85' mean?
So I'm not from Mars, or planet Zog. What a relief!
The visually read strips would help anyone with ANY kind of diabetes.
Betachek Visual are on the Drug Tariff. But there is currently no UK distributor.
In the long term, the NHS would save an enormous amount of money if they were prescribed in addition to the electronic strips. (Never mind about the simple health benefits for the likes of you and I.) If your GP won't give you a prescription, I suggest you try changing your GP.
I'm not as familiar as I would like to be about Type 2 diabetes, but I wonder if some with Type 2 couldn't do without the expensive electronic strips altogether. (No doubt some with Type 2 will now proceed to inform us about that.)
Regarding rye bread, I discovered the amazing difference it makes by accident, several years ago. (I happen to live close to an excellent baker, in Norwich; but any old rye bread, or rye flakes, or rye whatever, will do the same job.) I'm a carer for my elderly mother, and she too noticed the tremendous, moderating effect it has: suddenly, I was no longer experiencing dreadful hypos. I still have to be careful, of course. But I cannot overemphasise the difference it makes. (Nb. Don't overdo it, or you'll get high blood-sugar later on in the day.)
What really staggers me is that I can mention this to diabetic experts, and I might just as well shout into the wind for all the difference it makes. There is something pathologically awry with the thinking of the experts, and this affects the thinking of those who they're genuinely trying to look after. I believe it all comes down to what people generally tend to eat, doctors included. (If he could be lured away from his current dalliance with UKIP fruitcake, I wonder if Jamie Oliver might find that Betachek Visual could help him get the mass of people away from the lure of supermarkets' junk food - people who will otherwise surely become diabetic in due course.)
Please can you, or anyone else, tell me what all this 'basal/bolus rates' stuff means? I'm afraid it's just jargon to me.
Also, if it isn't too embarrassing to explain, what does 'size=85' mean?
Hi MichaelDavid
No, you're not from Planet Zog!
Firstly, that "size 85" thing is a typo - it's the number of the font and for some reason I can't edit it!...
I'll have to be brief now as dinner is almost ready, later. Just to say thank you for your reply - I did ask about the old BM sticks last year but was told they don't make them any more. Quite a few nurses still call the new ones "BMs" though!
The basal/bolus amounts are terms used to describe your background insulin dose (basal) and your insulin for food (bolus) - of course on a pump you only use one kind of fact acting insulin that is drip fed in differing tiny amounts over 24 hours (measured in fractions of a units per hour) and administered ,in my case, every 4 minutes. You take larger amounts when you eat or to correct a high so it is more similar to how your body produces insulin compared to using lantus or glargine etc.
Thank you for the info! :thumbup:
No, you're not from Planet Zog!
Firstly, that "size 85" thing is a typo - it's the number of the font and for some reason I can't edit it!...
I'll have to be brief now as dinner is almost ready, later. Just to say thank you for your reply - I did ask about the old BM sticks last year but was told they don't make them any more. Quite a few nurses still call the new ones "BMs" though!
The basal/bolus amounts are terms used to describe your background insulin dose (basal) and your insulin for food (bolus) - of course on a pump you only use one kind of fact acting insulin that is drip fed in differing tiny amounts over 24 hours (measured in fractions of a units per hour) and administered ,in my case, every 4 minutes. You take larger amounts when you eat or to correct a high so it is more similar to how your body produces insulin compared to using lantus or glargine etc.
Thank you for the info! :thumbup:
If you're testing that often how did you allow yourself to get as low as 2?
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Thanks for the simple and clear explanation, kt78.
That prompts me to clarify my own regimen. And in doing so, I'll respond to Mr Happy's query.
A few years ago, my diabetic control was described to me by the professor at the Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre (with disparaging intent, I believe) as 'feeding the insulin'.
And indeed, that's just what I do.
Before I became diabetic (in 1983) I ate breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. (I'd often tend to stuff myself in between: I've always had a good appetite, though I've never been overweight.) And albeit with cultural variations, that's more-or-less the way normal, healthy human beings eat - if they're fortunate enough - all over the world.
Moreover, I believe that's pretty well how most diabetics continue to eat. You yourself, kt78, have effectively just alluded to such a regimen: you said you were about to eat dinner, so you will have given yourself an extra dose of insulin.
But I hardly ever give myself any dose of insulin extra, or lesser, than what I normally take. (I've described what insulin I take in the self-description bit you'll see if you click on my username.)
That's not to say I don't eat lunch and dinner: I do - indeed I always cook dinner for my non-diabetic mother. But by far the most carbohydrate I eat, every day, comes in the form of rye bread.
This begins slowly, after coffee (with milk) first thing in the morning: at first, a bite or two of rye bread (almost always with the delicious Biona Pear & Apple Spread); then a slice of rye, then another slice, then another (plus maybe something else).
Soon it'll be eleven o'clock am, so I take the next dose of insulin. Then I'll eat more rye bread. And then it'll be time for lunch: and maybe I'll have a fried egg sandwich (or something like that), with wholemeal wheat bread.
The day continues in that fashion: I effectively build up a store of slowly digested rye bread, all the way through until four in the afternoon. And that is what keeps me fairly safe for the whole of the day. In this way, my blood-sugar never CRASHES.
Okay, it can certainly go low. But it only ever tends to go down gently, slowly.
Of course, if I'm not careful, I may still have a hypo. (I have to be particularly careful after 4pm, when I take the fast-acting Novorapid insulin.) But it's unlikely: I'd have to be seriously distracted for that to happen.
I just now stopped writing to check my blood-sugar, using Betachek Visual: it was around 3-and-a-bit mmol/l. (And I've just eaten a rather nice, crunchy organic apple.) But that is not a problem.
Indeed, throughout the day I very often tend to get low blood-sugar readings. (How else do you think I manage to typically achieve HbA1c readings of around 5%?!) But that isn't a problem. It would only be a problem if I hadn't been eating rye bread throughout most of the day.
So that effectively completes my response to Mr Happy's query. I agree that with a reading of 2.2 mmol/l late the other night, I was pushing my luck a bit. But I live, and I learn.
The problem with the experts is that they tend to take it for granted that everybody should, or desires, to eat normally - with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner - as though they didn't REALLY have diabetes at all. But that simply isn't realistic.
For indeed I do have diabetes, and I must never forget it.
So I believe I MUST feed the insulin, rather than use the insulin to feed what I eat.
As for people who live in my vicinity - like my three sisters and their cohorts who occasionally come to visit - they have to accommodate TO ME, rather than the other way round. (My mother doesn't have a problem with that, and she lives with me 24/7.) And you can bet that I insist on that, very firmly.
As for the experts, they can get stuffed.
Well, that's just what I do: aside from when I was in the TA (before I became diabetic), and did my basic training at the Royal Greenjackets depot in Winchester - where the cooking and the food was fantastic - I have never eaten better than I do now.
That prompts me to clarify my own regimen. And in doing so, I'll respond to Mr Happy's query.
A few years ago, my diabetic control was described to me by the professor at the Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre (with disparaging intent, I believe) as 'feeding the insulin'.
And indeed, that's just what I do.
Before I became diabetic (in 1983) I ate breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. (I'd often tend to stuff myself in between: I've always had a good appetite, though I've never been overweight.) And albeit with cultural variations, that's more-or-less the way normal, healthy human beings eat - if they're fortunate enough - all over the world.
Moreover, I believe that's pretty well how most diabetics continue to eat. You yourself, kt78, have effectively just alluded to such a regimen: you said you were about to eat dinner, so you will have given yourself an extra dose of insulin.
But I hardly ever give myself any dose of insulin extra, or lesser, than what I normally take. (I've described what insulin I take in the self-description bit you'll see if you click on my username.)
That's not to say I don't eat lunch and dinner: I do - indeed I always cook dinner for my non-diabetic mother. But by far the most carbohydrate I eat, every day, comes in the form of rye bread.
This begins slowly, after coffee (with milk) first thing in the morning: at first, a bite or two of rye bread (almost always with the delicious Biona Pear & Apple Spread); then a slice of rye, then another slice, then another (plus maybe something else).
Soon it'll be eleven o'clock am, so I take the next dose of insulin. Then I'll eat more rye bread. And then it'll be time for lunch: and maybe I'll have a fried egg sandwich (or something like that), with wholemeal wheat bread.
The day continues in that fashion: I effectively build up a store of slowly digested rye bread, all the way through until four in the afternoon. And that is what keeps me fairly safe for the whole of the day. In this way, my blood-sugar never CRASHES.
Okay, it can certainly go low. But it only ever tends to go down gently, slowly.
Of course, if I'm not careful, I may still have a hypo. (I have to be particularly careful after 4pm, when I take the fast-acting Novorapid insulin.) But it's unlikely: I'd have to be seriously distracted for that to happen.
I just now stopped writing to check my blood-sugar, using Betachek Visual: it was around 3-and-a-bit mmol/l. (And I've just eaten a rather nice, crunchy organic apple.) But that is not a problem.
Indeed, throughout the day I very often tend to get low blood-sugar readings. (How else do you think I manage to typically achieve HbA1c readings of around 5%?!) But that isn't a problem. It would only be a problem if I hadn't been eating rye bread throughout most of the day.
So that effectively completes my response to Mr Happy's query. I agree that with a reading of 2.2 mmol/l late the other night, I was pushing my luck a bit. But I live, and I learn.
The problem with the experts is that they tend to take it for granted that everybody should, or desires, to eat normally - with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner - as though they didn't REALLY have diabetes at all. But that simply isn't realistic.
For indeed I do have diabetes, and I must never forget it.
So I believe I MUST feed the insulin, rather than use the insulin to feed what I eat.
As for people who live in my vicinity - like my three sisters and their cohorts who occasionally come to visit - they have to accommodate TO ME, rather than the other way round. (My mother doesn't have a problem with that, and she lives with me 24/7.) And you can bet that I insist on that, very firmly.
As for the experts, they can get stuffed.
Well, that's just what I do: aside from when I was in the TA (before I became diabetic), and did my basic training at the Royal Greenjackets depot in Winchester - where the cooking and the food was fantastic - I have never eaten better than I do now.
@MichaelDavid - funny story about the rye bread - I read your first post about it, where you said about your hba1c of 5 and how you could never have achieved such good control if it wasn't for rye bread. So I thought, that sounds good, I like rye bread, I'd better buy some. So I dutifully bought some yesterday and had two slices for supper last night.
Disaster. Readings spiked as high as 7.8 (usual post prandial, about 5.5) and what was worse, stayed there for *hours* (at least four hours. Fell asleep after that).
Then I read your post today. "Wouldn't have my good control without rye bread. I'd be having far more hypos". Ah. Right. Yes, I'd guess that rye bread is STUPENDOUSLY good at preventing hypos
Not so good for a tablet controlled low carbing type 2 though!
Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 4.5 and 5.5 mmol. 20kg lost so far
Disaster. Readings spiked as high as 7.8 (usual post prandial, about 5.5) and what was worse, stayed there for *hours* (at least four hours. Fell asleep after that).
Then I read your post today. "Wouldn't have my good control without rye bread. I'd be having far more hypos". Ah. Right. Yes, I'd guess that rye bread is STUPENDOUSLY good at preventing hypos
Not so good for a tablet controlled low carbing type 2 though!
Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 4.5 and 5.5 mmol. 20kg lost so far
Hi Finzi,
I'm very sorry I didn't make clear in my last post in this thread that I stop eating rye bread at four in the afternoon for this reason: otherwise, my blood-sugar is sure to go high later in the evening.
At least it wasn't a complete disaster for you. And not being a Type 2 myself, I'm not sure that eating rye bread will help you at all. But if you think about what happened, I'm sure you'll be able to work out whether or not it might help.
Because it's very slowly digested, rye tends to have a moderating effect: it helps to prevent blood-sugar crashing - ie. it helps to prevent being caught out by a hypo.
If you are not in danger of having hypos, then you've no need to eat it at all.
But if you're careful, there's no reason why you shouldn't eat it. It's very healthy.
Please may I ask: Do you need to have a low-carbohydrate diet? And if so, why?
I'm very sorry I didn't make clear in my last post in this thread that I stop eating rye bread at four in the afternoon for this reason: otherwise, my blood-sugar is sure to go high later in the evening.
At least it wasn't a complete disaster for you. And not being a Type 2 myself, I'm not sure that eating rye bread will help you at all. But if you think about what happened, I'm sure you'll be able to work out whether or not it might help.
Because it's very slowly digested, rye tends to have a moderating effect: it helps to prevent blood-sugar crashing - ie. it helps to prevent being caught out by a hypo.
If you are not in danger of having hypos, then you've no need to eat it at all.
But if you're careful, there's no reason why you shouldn't eat it. It's very healthy.
Please may I ask: Do you need to have a low-carbohydrate diet? And if so, why?
