Type 1 General GB level?

[LoneWolf]

Hi all, i just recently registered here and was wondering what the average ''good'' levels are for a type 1 adult diabetic? my girlfriend (who is the diabetic, not me ) used to have kind of high sugars all the time, but after going on the DAFNE course earlier this year, and with me moving to live with her, we got them much more under control.
Oh and also our of interest, what types of insulin is everybody on? My girlfriend is on Novorapid, and as of earlier this year Levemir. (She was on 2 injections of insulatard before that as background insulin).

 

[hanadr]

the target BG to aim for is the same as a non-diabetic, which is about 5. lower before meals and a little higher after eating. 7 is the tipping point above which damage is done to the micro capillaries, so It's better to avoid going above 7. there is a belief among doctors ( not all of them ) that this is unattainable for a T1 diabetic. Read Richard Bernstein's " Diabetes Solution". It will show you and your girlfriend how to get to those levels.
I'm a believer in TIGHT control. I know that some people don't agree and consider lesser control to be adequate. If your girlfriend is young, she has many years in which she needs to protect her eyes, kidneys, feet and other systems, including avoiding heart attack and stroke.
The ultimate decision is your girlfriend's. Is she prepared for the self discipline that tight control needs or would she rather take a risk?

 

[LoneWolf]

My girlfriend is 19 years old, and has had diabetes for nearly 6 years, and after seeing peoples posts on here, her levels arnt as good as they COULD be. I'd personaly love to get them down and keep them down, but i'm not the one who has to do it. We go to a good diabetic clinic, and the people we see there are very good, one of the specialists in particular (who actually works in the childrens diabetic clinic) has diabetes herself, and has for about 20 years.
Concidering she has a bit of a .. relaxed, attitude sometimes, doesnt test as much as she should, and eats whatever she likes, she had pretty good control, hardly ever going above 8-9 now, (a year or so ago they were alot worse). She has actually had a few coma's leading into fits so i worry about keeping her levels too low, but i hate to think that its doing her damage by keeping them higher.

 

[jopar]

lonewolf

Having been on the DAFNE course myself, I would follow the DAFNE guidelines (it's in the front of the main book) these are designed to keep good control but keep the diabetic reasonably safe from server hypo's...

To get a good picture of good control you really need to look at both her daily monitoring and the HbA1cs level's together has this can give a clearer picture....

Don't forget whats she looking for in her daily monitoring is, is there a particular time slot that she is going high or low? If high during the morning it could be that she would need to look at her qucik acting insulin ratio or even her background insulin? As well as times she gone low because she hasn't eaten for a long period or high because she under estimated her portions these two later ones she would be aware of at the time i.e me has been that I've spilt my bolus to deal with the meal I having and forgotten to actually remeber to take the other part!

Is there any types of food that pushes the BG's in to wried readings, i.e chinese food, I found that spilting my bolus stopped me from going low before the carbs kicked in and spiking later I would take part before eating and then the rest about 1/2 or so after eating....

Also, she might been over guestimating her portions of carbs, it's wise to regularly to carry out intense monitoring and weighing to keep your eye on portion size, and to see if there is any adjustment due to changes with in control...

With insulin it is very difficult to maintain tight control to non-diabetic levels, this is mainly due to ever changing lifes we lead... Get a cold this could raise your BG's, a bad day at work can effect the levels and there is times that what ever you seem to do or try it just ain't happening ahhhh....

I used humalog and levimer when I was injecting, I am now just using humalog in a insulin pump