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Type 1 Diabetic, 8 years and counting. Questions

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hypojam

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Hi, just reading through some previous topics and everyone seems great :D Anyways..

last time i went to the diabetic clinic my HBA1C was 8.6, now does this mean 8.6mmol average or does it mean my average blood mmol was something different, is 8.6 HBA1C bad as such?

My blood shifts around abit but rarely going over 15 i have yearly eye checks to make sure my eyes aren't self-destructing and all is well (Im trying to avoid going blind)

Im 19 years old - male - 6 foot 2

My insulins are:

Humalog : the fast insulin i usually have between 25-30units per meal. Is this too much or too little, seems about right to me

Humilin : night insulin, i have around 55 units of this

before i went onto 4 injections a day i weighed 13 1/2 stone

now i weigh 15 stone, gained a stone and half in just under 2 years, my weight is stable at this now but is fatter than i would like

Anyways thats all any suggestions/help is welcomed, thanks
 
Hi hypojam, and wecome to the forum.

I have to say, your story sounds a lot like mine, until I went on the wagon a few years ago. I put on the pounds, used far too much insulin and had bad HbA1c's. The trouble was, I didn't know what else to do. I'm 6'4" and weighed 16 and a half stone then, my HbA1c's were in the 7's and 8's, I used 70-80 units of insulin every day and I had to crash my car into a lampost, thanks to a severe hypo, before I finally got it.

You'll get a ton of great advice on this forum, but a lot of it will probably be along these lines - you're using far too much insulin, and your blood glucose is much too high.

8.6% HbA1c is not the same as an average blood sugar of 8.6mmol/l. It's closer to an average blood sugar of over 13mmol/l which will do you permanent harm if left untreated. An HbA1c of 7% is roughly equal to an average blood sugar of 10mmol/l which is still too high, although the NHS has set that as an acceptable upper limit in diabetics.

Also your weight gain is probably mostly attributable to the huge doses of insulin you're using. Insulin converts blood sugar not required for energy needs into fat. A more typical and healthy dose of Humalog per meal will be in the single figures, ideally low single figures.

I don't want to scare you off, and you've done absolutely the right thing to ask your questions. If I can ecourage you at all, my results, once very similar to yours, are now HbA1c 4.7% and 12 and a half stone. It CAN be done, so keep asking questions.

All the best,

fergus
 
Cheers for the reply

Its strange im not going madly hypo every two seconds on these doses, and the diabetic nurse or consultant didn't actually tell me i was doing too much :? It doesn't feel like im doing to much if you know what im saying

Although saying that i pretty much eat huge amounts of food most of the time :|
Lately ive been trying my best not to, but sitting around alot of the time leads to extreme boredom which in turn leads to me hitting the freezer :( One of my weaknesses

My physical activity levels are extremely low lately as im currently unemployed and the luxuries of having motorised transport has made me lazy to a certain degree

So what im thinking is to cut back on the food quite heavily, like just to have some slow release breakfast and then just wait till the evening till dinner?

Then in-turn reduce the insulin down to around 18-20 see how i get on and then reduce further if need

when i was on the 2 injection mixtard 30 my hba1c was 9.8 or something, thats when i realized it was time to move over to 4 injections, it then went down to the 8.8, and the most recent i think was 8.6 or around that, im pretty sure it will be slightly lower now, obviously still not ideal

Im hoping that when i find a job and my activity level increases and my boredom level decreases my bloods should be far better and hopefuly loose some weight
 
hello hypojam,
your hba1c of 8.6 averages out at about 11mmol. you're really looking for a hba1c below 7 if pos.
you need to work on getting the number down a bit at a time. you're looking for a balance between having a life worth living and worrying yourself sick about what your blood sugar is
doing 24 hours a day.
I always say the best you can is good enough.
swot up on hba1c here:
http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/prevention/what_is_the_hba1c.htm#example

as far as insulin dose is concerned, you need as much as you need. no two diabetics will
be exactly the same.

at 6'2" and 15 stone you don't really want to be getting any heavier
(unless you're planning on getting taller :mrgreen: )

"the man who knows everything understands nothing"
The trick with diabetes is to make your mistakes small. no diabetic gets it right 100% of the time
-but the smart ones learn from what's happend and next time they don't cuss up quite so bad.
 
Thanks for the reply 'timo2'

'SarahQ' was sinking me into a depressive hole there for a second :(

Between the ages of 11-16 i was riding my bike to school and had a active lifestyle my hba1c was around the 6 mark so i have been well controlled in the past, its just become much harder of late, so finding this forum was just to try and help with the situation

Thanks for the help i will question my diabetes nurse about the insulin doses im taking hopefully she will put me back on track
 
Hi, I feel exactly the same when it comes to food. I have a weakness to the biscuit tin not the freezer. in theory I know what to do but its just a case of putting it into practice. I think that the best way to deal with decreasing your insulin intake would be to seek advice from a dietician. You might be better eating small regular meals instead of what you suggested of eating breakfast and than waiting until tea time. Good Luck (I'm still trying to loose those extra christmas pounds!) :roll:
 
Sorry to have to disagree with you, SugarPie. The last thing any of us really needs is advice from an NHS dietician! They are firmly wedded to the low fat/ high carbohydrate dogma which will do you no favours as a diabetic. If you base your diet on starchy carbohydrates, as they recommend, you will struggle to improve your blood glucose levels, and still need to use too much insulin.

Also, I think eating more, smaller meals, may work for type 2 diabetics who are not insulin dependant, but has serious drawbacks if you're type 1, like us. Even the short acting insulins can take 4-5 hours to work through the system so that if you eat sooner than that, you may have problems with the insulin 'backing-up'.

The best way to reduce insulin use is to eliminate sugar and starch and replace those empty calories with meat, fish, dairy and vegetables.

All the best,

fergus
 
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