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To carb count or not to carb count

Q

qbix

Well-Known Member
Messages
79
Location
Scotland
Hi All,

This is my first post, so please be gentle. I am 36 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of this year. I was immediately put onto an insulin regime, but have no idea whether or not I am really a type 1, 1.5 or 2. I don't present like a type 2 and as far as I am aware it came on quite suddenly so have put myself down as a 1.5. My insulin requirements are quite low at the moment as I guess I am in the "honeymoon phase". I take 8 units of lantus in the evening and anywhere between 0 and 5 units of novorapid before meals. I have cut back on processed carbs and am eating more healthly than I have ever done, averaging about 150 to 200 g of carbs a day. My blood glucose has been averaging about 5.7 for the last 30 days, so I am quite pleased with how it is going.

I have the carbs and cals app on my phone and use it to help me calculate my insulin requirements for every meal by entering what I am eating. My wife has said a few times now that I need to start "winging it", by which she means guessing how many carbs there are in my meals and taking my insulin accordingly, as opposed to actually calculating it. Her argument is that she doesn't know any other diabetic that calculates their carb intake like I do (She knows two). I am not convinced that this is the right thing to do, as even with meticulously calculating my carb intake with meals I have still managed a few hypos and hypers.

As a consequence I thought I would open it to the floor to find out what most people do regarding diet and insulin regimes. I haven't spoken to anyone who is diabetic before, so have no clue what anyone else does and would really like some input to this topic.
 
Hello qbix, welcome to the crazy world of diabetes. I am new to the forum too but have been type 1 for 28 yrs. I find it great to be in touch with other diabetics as when I was diagnosed as a child, I had no one.

It is easy for the non D's to say just 'wing it', but you need to do what you feel safe with. I spent yrs just guestimating my carbs and then took the DAFNE course. I was WAYYYY out! now I use the 'my fitness pal' app, (not tried the one you use yet) but it has really helped my control.
I would keep with the app for a while yet. you are still very new and still learning as is your partner.

Good luck and don't worry

Kat :thumbup:
 
Hi,

Thanks for the reply, it is interesting to hear your story, you're right, it is very easy to tell someone with diabetes what you should do, but it is a totally different kettle of fish when you are living and breathing it. I have heard that the waiting list for the DAFNE course is 2 years, but maybe I will go and put my name down. I will also have a look into the 'my fitness pal' app.
 
Hello

I have quite similar insulin requirements to you - 10 Lantus and 2 - 4 units of Humolog (rapid) insulin with food and also am not sure what type I am! I was diagnosed 38 years ago when I was 28 as type 2 but fairly quickly progressed from diet alone, through various tablets to insulin. I feel it is really useful to have a good grip on how many carbs different foods have and I have been through different periods of focussing on this for a while and then relaxing a bit and 'guesstimating' the content. I find I can't go on for too long worrying about measuring or weighing everything - it just makes me anxious which in turn affects my blood sugars! Whether you weigh/calculate obsessively or estimate, you will probably find that you can't control your blood sugars tightly all the time by these means alone. For me, it's a very complex relationship between food, insulin, activity (physical or mental), general state of health, painkillers (some of which really lower my blood sugars), state of mind. I need to tell myself I am doing the best I can although the results are not as good as I'd like ( HBA1C at clinic today, 63 or 7.9% on diabetes uk calculator).

I am usually on a moderate low carb diet but will tighten up a bit to lose a few pounds and hopefully become a little more stable. You seem to be doing really well, I'd be over the moon with results like yours so you've achieved something! I am sure you will soon find a balance between counting and estimating so good luck! Printing out my meter results in bright colours (Lifescan's One Touch Ultra Smart) was quite interesting and a spur to improvement! Also impressed the diabetes consultant .......
 
Well I calculate my food as far as possible even to the point that I weigh the ingredients of my morning porridge....even though I eat it 6 days out of 7 :roll:

With sandwiches say I already know the carb value so don't weigh bread because I stick with the same make, potatoes, rice, pasta and such I do weigh out before eating.

Sometimes I'll guesstimate when eating out or having a Chinese or Indian take-away as I can't be bothered to weigh the food and just want to get stuck in, I would say with an Hba1c of 5.7 qbix your doing all the right things :thumbup:
 
Aye yeye I've learn to ignore people telling me there's no need to be as strict and counting everything like I do, the list of people telling me I'm over counting is almost everyone I know lol, if we don't count how can we know, if we know what we are doing we know what we can do, you count away :)
 
Hi,

Thanks for the response and encouragement. Yeah, I know what you mean, there are so many interconnected parts to diabetes I will never have complete control over my blood sugar. I guess I am a little freaked out by the whole thing as I have seen what happens when you don't control it. I know someone who lost both legs due to poorly controlled diabetes as well as someone else who is pretty much completely blind now. I have already had a few 'what the ...' moments when I thought I have been doing the right thing for my insulin requirements and ended up either high or low. I just want to keep the 'honeymoon period' going as long as possible and try not have too many carb fests as I feel that processed carbs don't help matters.
 
qbix, I don't often recommend books to read but you should purchase Think Like a Pancreas, the author has type 1 diabetes himself and is Diabetes Educator in the USA, it's excellent reading and will give you tips and advice on how best to manage type 1 diabetes.
 
@noblehead

Reading your post is like looking in the mirror. I measure out my porridge every day too :grin:. I do guesstimate sometimes, but in the main I calculate and log the number of carbs I have eaten so I have a record to look back on if something weird happens. Thanks for the tip on the book. Funnily enough my sister, who is an MD, bought it for me when I was first diagnosed, I'll dust it off and get stuck in. I did try reading it, but the first chapter was a bit depressing as it kept telling me all the things that could go wrong.
 
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