"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

Annb said:

This BG thing is getting very confusing. These last couple of weeks for me have been much the same as yours, it seems. Rising to the heights without food (even higher with) and topping off at 16.1 a couple of days ago despite taking insulin for food. Then I take an amount of insulin that I would normally take for the food I am going to eat, and I drop down into the 3's, and on one occasion the 2's. Something odd going on but I can't figure out what. Also putting weight back on. Must go through everything I am doing and try to sort it out. I thought I had arrived at a stage where I understood this BG business, but clearly not.

Today I started out on 8.1 and had one cup of tea and my painkillers, plus basal insulin. Now 10.9 and rising.

I will eat though and take some insulin before I do so.

Bacon and eggs is usually a good option and doesn't affect my BG.

Later I have some haddock and will do something with that.

I wonder if, somehow, I am absorbing carbs through my fingers, or the air, with all the baking I've been doing.

Click to expand...

Despite doing everything right @Annb, you're having to use insulin to manage your type 2 diabetes.
May I ask when you were diagnosed and how long you've used insulin?

Meanwhile, bacon and eggs for breakfast and haddock for lunch sound like an excellent plan.
Bon appetit!

LivingLightly said:

Despite doing everything right @Annb, you're having to use insulin to manage your type 2 diabetes.
May I ask when you were diagnosed and how long you've used insulin?

Meanwhile, bacon and eggs for breakfast and haddock for lunch sound like an excellent plan.
Bon appetit!

Click to expand...

I've probably been diabetic for 57+ years. That was when I was 21 and pregnant with my first son. He weighed in at over 10lb and according to the diabetic nurse I used to see, I probably had gestational diabetes. I did have symptoms, but they weren't recognised. My 2nd son was equally heavy and that may have reinforced the gestational aspect of my diabetes, or maybe just brought it back, if it had gone away. It clearly didn't go away after his birth because I kept going to a GP (several different ones) with what I now know were symptoms of diabetes. I eventually self diagnosed in 2008 and went to a locum GP and asked "Am I diabetic?" I'd taken a urine sample with me. He checked and said that I was. So the fact that a long standing condition is stubborn in responding to treatment is no surprise.

I was on just Metformin for a while, and did fairly well with that but had the normal problems that people have with Metformin so had a colonoscopy at the local hospital. That was about 2015. Because I couldn't eat beforehand, or take Metformin, I was put onto an insulin pump - just for the duration. They discovered bowel cancer, so just as well I did have the procedure. I went back on to Metformin after consulting with the surgeon and the unfortunate results just kept on going. I never came off of the insulin again. Hands were thrown up in horror when I suggested it. I knew very little about diabetes at the time and went along with it.

Very soon I was on very high doses of insulin to keep BG under some kind of control - only some kind, not good control. When I realised how much weight I was putting on, I consulted the hospital dietician who told me I would never be able to lose the weight because I was taking insulin! She also gave me advice on what to eat, which was a very high carb, low fat diet. Why must I eat carbs? Because the insulin needs carbs. Why can't I eat less carbs so I can reduce or stop the insulin? Horrors! No way. Use the Eatwell model and keep up the carbs. Reduce sugar if you want to, but eat potatoes, bread, pulses and grains.

I found the Diabetes UK website and decided to do my own thing, reducing carbs and insulin and it has worked to a degree. I've lost weight and reduced the amount of insulin I'm taking. I have lost several kilos in weight and all my blood tests and BP have shown improvements, or not got any worse. Not gone far enough, although I was doing pretty well a few weeks ago but at the moment it doesn't seem to be working. I have found that taking carbs at all, shoves my BG up, whatever insulin I take, but recently I've been able to take small amounts of carbs in vegetables and low levels of insulin or none at all, other than a basal dose, which is also down on what I used to take. Not these last few weeks though. Bacon and eggs yesterday required a fairly hefty dose of insulin, and even then never came down into the 7's. In fact, last night, before bed it was 15. Not the highest I've had recently but too high for comfort. I decided not to take a correction dose because I was going to sleep and might not have been aware of dropping too far, which is the other danger that has been happening - yo-yoing between high and low when I take even a small correction dose. Woke up about 03.30 with BG 7.5, so just as well I didn't take insulin last night.

I often only have one meal a day, if it is something like bacon and eggs which will sustain me all day. That was what I did yesterday. The fish is waiting for me to use it for breakfast. If I don't have anything carby, I can do that, but if there is anyting sort of carby, I get very hungry and want more carbs and more food. That sounds, to me, like an addiction to carbs.

Long reply - sorry. I'll shut up now and go and get washed and dressed before having that fish and ratatouille.

Annb said:

Long reply - sorry. I'll shut up now and go and get washed and dressed before having that fish and ratatouille.

Click to expand...

I'd like to add something amazing you did as a T2 on insulin that very few T2's have done.
In the years I've known you on the forum you've started with following dosing advice from your HCP and being completely frustrated with it not working but not daring to go against doctors orders really.
You were on a typical T1 basal and bolus regime already, but without the guidance T1's usually get with it, because non specialists are generally clueless so they couldn't have advised you even if they wanted to.

It took a lot of courage from your side to slowly move to a typical T1 treatment where you adjust your insulins to all the factors weighing in when it comes to the right dose. Not only did you have to fight your sometimes horrified HCP, you also had to fight against your own deeply ingrained sense of 'having to do as the doctor says', something most of us grew up with.
As most on here know, it's hard enough to fight your own lifelong beliefs on carbs and fats, even if you see the results for yourself we often feel guilty for a long time when eating more fats. With a deadly medication like insulin, taking things in your own hand against doctors orders is even harder.

Once you started experimenting, and truly understanding how your insulins affect you, things got better pretty fast, and now you're juggling your insulin like a very well controlled T1, all without official guidance or courses and while being actively discouraged by your HCP's!

Never mind the occasional blip when diabetes doesn't play fair, that's what diabetes does, you're doing very well @Annb .

Antje77 said:

I'd like to add something amazing you did as a T2 on insulin that very few T2's have done.
In the years I've known you on the forum you've started with following dosing advice from your HCP and being completely frustrated with it not working but not daring to go against doctors orders really.
You were on a typical T1 basal and bolus regime already, but without the guidance T1's usually get with it, because non specialists are generally clueless so they couldn't have advised you even if they wanted to.

It took a lot of courage from your side to slowly move to a typical T1 treatment where you adjust your insulins to all the factors weighing in when it comes to the right dose. Not only did you have to fight your sometimes horrified HCP, you also had to fight against your own deeply ingrained sense of 'having to do as the doctor says', something most of us grew up with.
As most on here know, it's hard enough to fight your own lifelong beliefs on carbs and fats, even if you see the results for yourself we often feel guilty for a long time when eating more fats. With a deadly medication like insulin, taking things in your own hand against doctors orders is even harder.

Once you started experimenting, and truly understanding how your insulins affect you, things got better pretty fast, and now you're juggling your insulin like a very well controlled T1, all without official guidance or courses and while being actively discouraged by your HCP's!

Never mind the occasional blip when diabetes doesn't play fair, that's what diabetes does, you're doing very well @Annb .

Click to expand...

Thanks for that encouragement Antje. Without this forum I wouldn't have known to start on this journey, never mind how.

Just back from having a US scan of my bladder and kidneys. Had to drink a whole lot of water before I left and I'm kind of sloshing around at the moment. Had my breakfast fish, but was hungry and had the same thing for lunch. Took normal insulin before breakfast but BG refused to come down so took a slightly higher dose before lunch and had to take emergency action to stave off an unwelcome drop while I was at the hospital. I think my pancreas is playing games.

Anyway, despite my kidneys being in the wrong place (as is my heart) and having a duplex kidney (never knew that), all's well. Me being my usual awkward self, of course.

Had a call today cancelling tomorrow's eye surgery. Next date 4th Sept.

Bg was 7-9 throughout the night so stayed fasted until 13:30. Was out for lunch so had a portobello mushrooms and various other lc bits in a burger but I ate only a quarter of the bun. Drank ginger tea and still saw jump to 10.
Only slowly went down over 3 hours. Not my normal pattern at all.

Have been about 7 ever since ( tea was pork with courgette and green beans).

Definitely go to use another libre straightaway because I'm now wondering if this has been going on for months. My only "symptom" is weight gain.

Annb said:

Anyway, despite my kidneys being in the wrong place (as is my heart) and having a duplex kidney (never knew that), all's well. Me being my usual awkward self, of course.

Click to expand...

You're an even more interesting person than I thought.
But I'm pretty sure your heart's in the right place, no matter what the scan said!

My cleaner came back after almost 4 weeks of both holiday and her father dying. She was amazed with how well I had managed to keep up without her and even asked if I had help twice.
Good thing too that I'd managed so well, we needed to catch up so not much time left for work.

After that it was back to the ship, which still had to be moved through the locks and to another spot. Very windy, and very hard to get it there, but with some unconventional techniques we did it.
Dare I mention bitterballen again?
Looks like my friend/skipper has found out I simply can't say no to them. Doesn't help that I found out a very effective way to get my bg back to normal by swimming with active insulin on board, it makes giving in too easy.

So after finishing with the ship it was another portion of them with a generous amount of insulin. Then I drove home by the scenic route with the sheep, where there's a good swimming spot. No-one around so again no hassling with bathing suit, I had the whole sea for myself!
Still a strong wind, and 15 minutes of swimming against the waves dropped my bg right back from 8 to 5.

Annb said:

I often only have one meal a day, if it is something like bacon and eggs which will sustain me all day. That was what I did yesterday. The fish is waiting for me to use it for breakfast. If I don't have anything carby, I can do that, but if there is anyting sort of carby, I get very hungry and want more carbs and more food. That sounds, to me, like an addiction to carbs.

Long reply - sorry. I'll shut up now and go and get washed and dressed before having that fish and ratatouille.

Click to expand...

That makes sense @Annb. Foods which are predominantly carbohydrate pass through our digestive system comparatively quickly leaving us feeling hungry again. In contrast, foods like eggs and bacon which are composed of protein and fat for the most part, take much longer to digest and so keep us feeling full for hours.

No need to apologise. Thank you for taking the time to write a comprehensive reply.

Antje77 said:

I'd like to add something amazing you did as a T2 on insulin that very few T2's have done.
In the years I've known you on the forum you've started with following dosing advice from your HCP and being completely frustrated with it not working but not daring to go against doctors orders really.
You were on a typical T1 basal and bolus regime already, but without the guidance T1's usually get with it, because non specialists are generally clueless so they couldn't have advised you even if they wanted to.

It took a lot of courage from your side to slowly move to a typical T1 treatment where you adjust your insulins to all the factors weighing in when it comes to the right dose. Not only did you have to fight your sometimes horrified HCP, you also had to fight against your own deeply ingrained sense of 'having to do as the doctor says', something most of us grew up with.
As most on here know, it's hard enough to fight your own lifelong beliefs on carbs and fats, even if you see the results for yourself we often feel guilty for a long time when eating more fats. With a deadly medication like insulin, taking things in your own hand against doctors orders is even harder.

Once you started experimenting, and truly understanding how your insulins affect you, things got better pretty fast, and now you're juggling your insulin like a very well controlled T1, all without official guidance or courses and while being actively discouraged by your HCP's!

Never mind the occasional blip when diabetes doesn't play fair, that's what diabetes does, you're doing very well @Annb .

Click to expand...

Completely agree with those sentiments @Antje77.

Wonderful day out in Brum yesterday a terrific get together and concert plus yummy meal at Dishoom. Our day out included a long canal walk and a real treat of a flat white coffee - they are like a pudding really with all the milk to think I used to drink lots of milky coffee daily before went low carb

I've also included a picture for @Antje77 of a canal roundabout seen on our walk thought it was unusual but maybe not?

shelley262 said:

I've also included a picture for @Antje77 of a canal roundabout seen on our walk thought it was unusual but maybe not?

Click to expand...

I've never seen a canal roundabout, pretty interesting!
I'm assuming there are some boat renting places nearby so you get lots of inexperienced people navigating the canals at the same time on sunny days, a roundabout makes sense.

I would add some arrows to show in which direction to take the roundabout, tourists tend to rent boats, and foreign tourists will likely take the roundabout the wrong way, I know I would!

Two appointments today - first for leg bandaging, then - 3 hours later for an orthoptic appointment. Very tiring and a bad day with the arthritis so I haven't bothered much with food.

Breakfast was some Leeurdammer melted onto RyVita. Not my greatest idea. The cheese was better before melting. Had a couple of extra slices of cheese during the day and one or two cups of tea, but that's all.

BG started on the high side but has come down to normal range this afternoon. No surprise there - no food - no insulin - no peaks in BG.

I've been harvesting a few berries a day over last month or so but missed yesterday as out till late and tonight's crop was magnificent with many more to come looks like I may be freezing some of this year's harvest to avoid eating too many at once! There are also those magnificent wild blackberries in our local forest to pick and freeze! Wet weather in early summer has definitely improved the plumpness of this year's berry harvest.

My outdoor tomatoes are also ripening quickly now

Yes, my raspberries are finally starting to ripen in quantity too, as are the green beans and now the courgettes too.

Had an indulent day today, dancing followed by a trip to a proper lingerie shop for fitting, 3 new bras now on order. Then next door to my favourite independent shoe shop, 2 pairs in the sale .

A much better way of spending an afternoon than on the operating table!

Food was late breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. Dinner was steak with green beans and courgette. Some chocolate was also indulged in while shopping.

Annb said:

Just back from having a US scan of my bladder and kidneys. Had to drink a whole lot of water before I left and I'm kind of sloshing around at the moment. Had my breakfast fish, but was hungry and had the same thing for lunch. Took normal insulin before breakfast but BG refused to come down so took a slightly higher dose before lunch and had to take emergency action to stave off an unwelcome drop while I was at the hospital. I think my pancreas is playing games.

Anyway, despite my kidneys being in the wrong place (as is my heart) and having a duplex kidney (never knew that), all's well. Me being my usual awkward self, of course.

Click to expand...

I've undergone one of those urinary bladder ultrasound scans @Annb. It shows how much urine the bladder holds and whether when passing urine, the patient empties it completely.

After drinking all that water in one go, I thought my bladder would never feel the same again!

shelley262 said:

Wonderful day out in Brum yesterday a terrific get together and concert plus yummy meal at Dishoom. Our day out included a long canal walk and a real treat of a flat white coffee - they are like a pudding really with all the milk to think I used to drink lots of milky coffee daily before went low carb
View attachment 69436
I've also included a picture for @Antje77 of a canal roundabout seen on our walk thought it was unusual but maybe not?
View attachment 69437

Click to expand...

Lovely photos @shelley262. Thank you for sharing.

Breakfast (as yesterday) was RyVita with cheese melted over it with some piccalilli. Just cheddar this time and it was much better.

There's some chicken thighs I need to use so it will be chicken something or other, but no inspiration just yet.

BG was just about OK this morning but after breakfast it started rising and Libre just warned me that it is over 8. Nothing to worry about just yet, but I'll keep an eye on it. Maybe didn't dose enough before breakfast, though I thought I did.

Got woken by a call from an elderly neighbour. Ended up taking her to hospital and staying with her for 6 hours. As we pulled up back at home the ambulance she'd called 7 hours earlier arrived!
She's OK now.

I was fasted for first 3 hours (+ 13 over night) and bg still shot up to 13! Stress I suppose.
Mid morning had a nut bar and a coffee with ordinary milk.
3 pm 2 slices cheese on liv life toast and 2 cc chocolate pots.
7pm 2 glasses wine and 4 slices salami.

Libre ended in the middle of the afternoon and I had forgotten to put the next one on, which was annoying as I was interested to see what was going on.

shelley262 said:

I've been harvesting a few berries a day over last month or so but missed yesterday as out till late and tonight's crop was magnificent with many more to come looks like I may be freezing some of this year's harvest to avoid eating too many at once! There are also those magnificent wild blackberries in our local forest to pick and freeze! Wet weather in early summer has definitely improved the plumpness of this year's berry harvest.
View attachment 69448
My outdoor tomatoes are also ripening quickly now
View attachment 69449

Click to expand...

Yes @shelley262. The wet weather has produced bumper crops of raspberries and wild blackberries here too.

While conditions are increasingly unpredictable thanks to climate change, the season now begins earlier and in some years extends into the first week of November.

Had some spiced vegetables with feta for breakfast. BG still in the 8's and 9's all day.

I do have some of the chicken tagine left, but left it too late and am feeling nauseous now so don't expect to eat any of it. I'll just have some more tea and leave it at that.