What am I doing wrong?

Hi @Rose88

I'm not a type 2, don't follow a LCHF diet and haven't used the insulin Humulin M3 before, but the insulin is a combination of short and intermediate-acting insulin as far as I'm aware.

All I would suggest is you keep a detailed diary and record your doses, food and exercise regime and show it to your DN so they can advise on adjusting your insulin. Good luck.

Hi Rose,
I am no expert, but I have read of other type 2's on this forum who have come off insulin successfully while low carbing.
I would go and see a GP and ask about cutting down your insulin. Some diabetic nurses (and GP's) are good, but yours doesn't seem on the ball.
I say this as someone who used to have a diabetic nurse as a friend and when I low carbed to prevent my prediabetes turning into full blown diabetes she didn't approve!

Hi @Rose88 I would phone your diabetes nurse and tell them about your hypo. I appreciate you've already told them about your change in diet, which was very sensible of you, but it may be they didn't realise how few carbs you'd be eating when they said your insulin didn't need adjusting.

You did the right thing having something sweet/carby to bring your blood sugar up. No matter what diet you're following, hypos need treatment with sugar/carbs.

I agree you needed to eat. Better would have been taking the right amount of insulin for your food. When I started low carbing I had to reduce my insulin a lot. As mentioned it's best to talk to your DN and tell them what's happening. My doc lets me self adjust.

The logic lies in the fact low carb requires less insulin. So much so that some people can come off it. While you reduce carbs, you require less insulin to avoid hypos. When you do eat carbs you'll require more insulin. Do talk to your DN or someone else on your team.

Rose88 said:

I'm keeping a diary of my bg readings, food and exercise and will show this to DN or GP.
This morning bg was 6.8 before breakfast and 6.9 2 hours later, I've just checked it now its 5.6 Thats a huge difference from how high its been the last few years when I had alot of inflammation going on.

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Or it could be that you lowered your carbs. Which by the way lowers inflammation for many of us.

Rose88 said:

So it’s turned out to be quite an interesting day. I wholeheartedly took on board the advice from you lovely people and managed to have a chat with the DN this evening. This was with a new nurse whose recently joined the practice and she promotes low carb and understands why I’d like to come off insulin.

She’s happy for me to reduce the dose to 25 units and check how this affects the blood glucose readings and then further reduce as when required. If my next hbA1c comes down, I might be able to come off the injections completely but as its 70 atm they can’t change the meds.

So I'm a very happy bunny!

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Excellent news happy bunny!!! Just keep testing so you don't hypo. It's a learning curve and best to error on the side of caution!! It's great to get a low carb nurse!! Mine was paleo low carb. Exactly how I eat.

Great, pleased for you

thats good news for you,
id recommend the carbs & cals book

Rose88 said:

I think I'll keep this new nurse as my regular one!!

I like the idea of paleo low carb, I'm a sucker for buying cookery books and have a few on paleo diets. Have you always eaten this way or just since becoming a diabetic?

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I would keep her too!!! I've eaten vlc for 25+ years. 20g carbs or less a day. Since Atkins came out. Along the way I have tweaked to a healthy paleo version. No processed foods. Although I do eat 100% grass fed hormone and antibiotic free beef slices and organic deli turkey slices. Ingredients are just beef or turkey and sea salt. I buy only wild Alaskan fish, grass fed beef and lamb, organic turkey and chicken as well as organic pastured eggs. My tuna and salmon are only wild planet. Awesome company. The veggies I eat are organic if in the dirty dozen but more lenient with the others.
I eat no legumes, sugars of any kind, grain, root veggies, starchy carbs. I eat loads of avocado and extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil. Though coconut oil is allowed it doesn't agree with me. Very little dairy and most often none but sometimes those silly hormones require it ! Albeit just a small piece with Kerry gold butte and a pecan on top. Melted to perfection!
I don't eat a lot of calories or big meals so I make them as nutrient dense as possible. Oops, I love mayo too !!! I get cold pressed non gmo canola mayo that's delish. Not ideal but better than gmo soy. Tastes better than hellmans if there is such a thing. I've always been a mayo junky. Cutting back sometimes a girls ( or egg salad) has gotta have it. Doing the best I can. Diabetes and my stomach are stressful!! Gotta have a few pleasantries. Let us not forget the small bites of dark choco covered pumpkin seeds.

I adore my food, look forward to it at every meal and keeps me healthy and bs great.

Brilliant news! That nurse is a keeper!