Where's the best place to inject insulin and what to eat to lower blood sugars

Marvel_champ · Sep 13, 2016

I'm still running high blood sugars even though I've been exercising everyday and taking my medication. I inject my insulin in my abdomen both tresiba and novorapid, but lately when I inject it's really painful. Also I've been eating quite alot since I've started my new job and it's been mostly junk food, drinking alot as it's a stressful night job and after I go the gym, the next stop is the pub for a few pints.

GrantGam · Sep 13, 2016

Morning,

Your abdomen is the best place to inject rapid acting insulin as it has the quickest absorption. The back of your arms are also an op to, but there's an art to it that I've not worked out!

I think it's good practice to not inject basal insulin and bolus insulin near each other. As a result I put my basal into the top of my buttocks and thighs, and bolus insulin in my abdomen. There's not really a need to put basal insulin in your abdomen as it does not require any of the quick absorption properties that your abdomen offers. Not injecting basal in your abdomen also gives that area a wee break as it tends to be the most used site on everyone's body.

This information and template on the RHS of the page will help:

http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&id=7282

Junk food will do nothing for your BG. We all eat it at times, but keeping these occasions to a minimum will help you control your BG and your health.

To answer your thread title, there are no foods that will lower BG. Protein will have minimal effect on your bloods, although some claim different. Fats when eaten with carbs help to reduce the rate at which the carbohydrates are converted into glucose, but it's important that they're healthy fats.

Have you learnt much wrt to carb counting? Also, correction doses? A correction dose of 1u will typically lower BG by 2-3mmol/L. It's advisable to speak with your DSN before trying this, especially if you've not done it before?

Is your basal insulin set properly? Are your bloods roughly the same on waking as before bed?

Cheers,
Grant

lynn007 · Sep 13, 2016

My cousin inject in her stomach too but you can always ask the nurse or DR.

tim2000s · Sep 13, 2016

@Marvel_champ as you are a type 2, and therefore very likely to be very insulin resistant, what you really need is to eat in a way that reduces the amount of insulin you need, and this means cutting the carbs and cutting the pints out. I know it's not really what you want to hear, but you won't reduce your insulin requirement without doing so and you won't reduce your insulin resistance without doing so. I assume you are still on Metformin?

Marvel_champ · Sep 15, 2016

GrantGam1337 said:
Morning,

Your abdomen is the best place to inject rapid acting insulin as it has the quickest absorption. The back of your arms are also an op to, but there's an art to it that I've not worked out!

I think it's good practice to not inject basal insulin and bolus insulin near each other. As a result I put my basal into the top of my buttocks and thighs, and bolus insulin in my abdomen. There's not really a need to put basal insulin in your abdomen as it does not require any of the quick absorption properties that your abdomen offers. Not injecting basal in your abdomen also gives that area a wee break as it tends to be the most used site on everyone's body.

This information and template on the RHS of the page will help:

http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&id=7282

Junk food will do nothing for your BG. We all eat it at times, but keeping these occasions to a minimum will help you control your BG and your health.

To answer your thread title, there are no foods that will lower BG. Protein will have minimal effect on your bloods, although some claim different. Fats when eaten with carbs help to reduce the rate at which the carbohydrates are converted into glucose, but it's important that they're healthy fats.

Have you learnt much wrt to carb counting? Also, correction doses? A correction dose of 1u will typically lower BG by 2-3mmol/L. It's advisable to speak with your DSN before trying this, especially if you've not done it before?

Is your basal insulin set properly? Are your bloods roughly the same on waking as before bed?

Cheers,
Grant

My basal and bolus are set properly and I've been told about correction doses by my DSN, but not about carb counting as she said that I don't need to count carbs. My bloods are in the twenties when I go bed between 9 and 10 am and low teens when I wake up later in the afternoon, before I have my tea and head off out to work the night shift. I only test my bloods twice a day.

tim2000s said:
@Marvel_champ as you are a type 2, and therefore very likely to be very insulin resistant, what you really need is to eat in a way that reduces the amount of insulin you need, and this means cutting the carbs and cutting the pints out. I know it's not really what you want to hear, but you won't reduce your insulin requirement without doing so and you won't reduce your insulin resistance without doing so. I assume you are still on Metformin?

I don't take Metformin as I find it hard to take tablets, even though I should and prescribed to take two 500mg twice a day. I should do a lot of things differently as I test twice maybe three times a day, sometimes I miss my injections and eat way too much fat as it's been pointed out to me tonight at a Diabetes UK support group as it was a Cook and Eat Well session and this evening the menu tonight was garlic bread for starter, pizza for main and jelly with ice cream for dessert which was all home-made.

tim2000s · Sep 15, 2016

Marvel_champ said:
a Cook and Eat Well session and this evening the menu tonight was garlic bread for starter, pizza for main and jelly with ice cream for dessert which was all home-made.

Okay, I'm going to be blunt here. Whether it's home made or not, Garlic Bread, Pizza and Jelly, whether home made or not, for a Type 2 is not eating well. That is a terrible menu and Diabetes UK should know better.

The main symptom that T2 has is insulin resistance. What this means is that every time you eat carbohydrate (Starches ,as in flour, bread and pizza and sugars) your body doesn't respond to the insulin that you produce or inject and you need to produce or inject more to get any kind of result. If you don't, the breakdown of the food results in an increase in glucose in the blood, which your body can't use. The excess insulin also causes the body to store fat.

Whether you like it or not, unfortunately, it's not insulin that's going to fix you from here. You need to give your body a chance to recover insulin sensitivity and the only way to do this is to cut Carbohydrates, and not Fat from your diet. You may not ever be able to come off insulin. That depends on the condition of your beta cells, but you'll be able to reduce it substantially and get better results if you can reduce your insulin resistance.

GrantGam · Sep 15, 2016

Marvel_champ said:
My basal and bolus are set properly and I've been told about correction doses by my DSN, but not about carb counting as she said that I don't need to count carbs. My bloods are in the twenties when I go bed between 9 and 10 am and low teens when I wake up later in the afternoon, before I have my tea and head off out to work the night shift. I only test my bloods twice a day.

I don't take Metformin as I find it hard to take tablets, even though I should and prescribed to take two 500mg twice a day. I should do a lot of things differently as I test twice maybe three times a day, sometimes I miss my injections and eat way too much fat as it's been pointed out to me tonight at a Diabetes UK support group as it was a Cook and Eat Well session and this evening the menu tonight was garlic bread for starter, pizza for main and jelly with ice cream for dessert which was all home-made.

If your basal and bolus are set correctly then you SHOULD NOT be going to bed with BG in the twenties! The same is even more true if you are aware of bolus correction doses.

I second what @tim2000s has said, he's covered everything you need to know to make the necessary improvements.

Good luck,
Grant

Marvel_champ · Sep 15, 2016

tim2000s said:
Okay, I'm going to be blunt here. Whether it's home made or not, Garlic Bread, Pizza and Jelly, whether home made or not, for a Type 2 is not eating well. That is a terrible menu and Diabetes UK should know better.

The main symptom that T2 has is insulin resistance. What this means is that every time you eat carbohydrate (Starches ,as in flour, bread and pizza and sugars) your body doesn't respond to the insulin that you produce or inject and you need to produce or inject more to get any kind of result. If you don't, the breakdown of the food results in an increase in glucose in the blood, which your body can't use. The excess insulin also causes the body to store fat.

Whether you like it or not, unfortunately, it's not insulin that's going to fix you from here. You need to give your body a chance to recover insulin sensitivity and the only way to do this is to cut Carbohydrates, and not Fat from your diet. You may not ever be able to come off insulin. That depends on the condition of your beta cells, but you'll be able to reduce it substantially and get better results if you can reduce your insulin resistance.

So basically I should disregard what my GP, DSN and the people at Diabetes UK North Staffs group have told me about what to buy and eat and get rid of this checklist.

tim2000s · Sep 15, 2016

@Marvel_champ Sadly, most of the guidance from Diabetes UK, the GP and the DSN only makes progression to medication worse. Have a read of this topic: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/ and you'll see that the majority of successes come with a low carb diet. Diabetes.co.uk runs a low carb programme to help with that: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/lowcarb/

Of that list you were given, flour is 75g carbs/100g, rice is 37g per 100g, dried fruit is 67g/100g and 48g of that is sugar.

As you can see, while it's well meaning, where you have a condition that means your body reacts badly to carbohydrate, eating foodstuffs like that really doesn't help it.

GrantGam · Sep 15, 2016

Marvel_champ said:
So basically I should disregard what my GP, DSN and the people at Diabetes UK North Staffs group have told me about what to buy and eat and get rid of this checklist.

Going by your latest HbA1c result, yes. There are changes required for you to improve.

What @tim2000s has said is solid advice.

Grant

iHs · Sep 15, 2016

As a long term type 1 diabetic, I'm afraid to say that everything @tim2000s has mentioned in the messages on this thread, is very correct.

azure · Sep 15, 2016

Marvel_champ said:
So basically I should disregard what my GP, DSN and the people at Diabetes UK North Staffs group have told me about what to buy and eat and get rid of this checklist.

You don't have to totally ignore their advice, but you need to apply it to your situation. If you have insulin resistance, then lowering your carb intake and losing weight should help decrease the insulin resistance.

I have Type 1 and I am sensitive to insulin so have no insulin resistance. However, that doesn't mean I can eat whatever I want. I do need to think about portion sizes for carbs, and I need to count my carbs so that I can adjust my insulin to match what I'm about to eat. After all, that's what non-diabetic people's bodies do.

Diabetes - of whatever type - does mean some kind of adjustments to,your diet, and having to think about food more than others have to.

I suggest you speak to,your diabetes team about a carb counting course. You'll then be able to match your insulin better to your carbs and improve your blood sugar control. But you need to find a good level of carbs for you as an individual so that you can attempt to,reduce your insulin resistance, which, in turn, should help you lose weight - so a win-win situation.

akindrat18 · Sep 18, 2016

@Marvel_champ if I were you, I would listen to the advice given on this site than trust what my doctor, dsn and weight loss clubs tell you what you can and can't eat.

I was in the same spot as you were a year ago or maybe longer and it took me a whole lot of soul searching and I eventually listened to what people on here were telling me when I had a short stay in hospital in Xmas and the food was just all carbs.

It is possible to reduce carbs and to come off insulin. I used to be on 40 units of novorapid per meal, 40 units of levemir twice a day and metformin 2 500mg twice a day at the start of the year and weigh 23 stone. Now since LCHF and taking the advice from several people on here ( I'm talking about you two @zand and @AndBreathe ), I have now reduced my novorapid units to 10 for breakfast and 6 for lunch and dinner, my levemir has reduced to 12 units twice a day and I weigh just shy of 19 stone.

Just follow the advice that you get on here. You will have some good days and some bad days on the journey ahead, but it will be worth it in the end.

AndBreathe · Sep 18, 2016

akindrat18 said:
@Marvel_champ if I were you, I would listen to the advice given on this site than trust what my doctor, dsn and weight loss clubs tell you what you can and can't eat.

I was in the same spot as you were a year ago or maybe longer and it took me a whole lot of soul searching and I eventually listened to what people on here were telling me when I had a short stay in hospital in Xmas and the food was just all carbs.

It is possible to reduce carbs and to come off insulin. I used to be on 40 units of novorapid per meal, 40 units of levemir twice a day and metformin 2 500mg twice a day at the start of the year and weigh 23 stone. Now since LCHF and taking the advice from several people on here ( I'm talking about you two @zand and @AndBreathe ), I have now reduced my novorapid units to 10 for breakfast and 6 for lunch and dinner, my levemir has reduced to 12 units twice a day and I weigh just shy of 19 stone.

Just follow the advice that you get on here. You will have some good days and some bad days on the journey ahead, but it will be worth it in the end.

Wow, wow, wow, WOW! I'm utterly delighted for you. That's quite a quantum shift for you. How do you feel in yourself?

As well as the excellent reduction in insulin (which I'm assuming was due to progressively good blood readings?) and weight loss, are there any other changes in your life and lifestyle?

Once you've turned this corner, please don't look back. Looking back is history and can't be changed. Looking forward is progression.

I'm delighted to see you back in such positive circumstances!

Jaylee · Sep 18, 2016

Marvel_champ said:
So basically I should disregard what my GP, DSN and the people at Diabetes UK North Staffs group have told me about what to buy and eat and get rid of this checklist.

I roll with what @tim2000s is saying too!
Looking at the downloadable PDF? Hell yeah! A lot of that stuff won't do you any favours..
When a well known supermarket chain (bottom right logo.) "endorses" the list? Just looks like the temptation isle unit shifter to me!!

Testing. Try before eating & the two hour mark after.? As well as before bed & waking.. With insulin If you drive? Test too. You gotta be 5 to drive. (In short; Anything below is classed as "under the influence".)
Try the "app" carbs & calls? Pretty helpful at working out how many carbs are going in..

You probably notice I'm T1? But even an insulin sensitive "flower" like me can have difficulty bolusing for pizza..

All the best!

Jaylee · Sep 18, 2016

akindrat18 said:
@Marvel_champ if I were you, I would listen to the advice given on this site than trust what my doctor, dsn and weight loss clubs tell you what you can and can't eat.

I was in the same spot as you were a year ago or maybe longer and it took me a whole lot of soul searching and I eventually listened to what people on here were telling me when I had a short stay in hospital in Xmas and the food was just all carbs.

It is possible to reduce carbs and to come off insulin. I used to be on 40 units of novorapid per meal, 40 units of levemir twice a day and metformin 2 500mg twice a day at the start of the year and weigh 23 stone. Now since LCHF and taking the advice from several people on here ( I'm talking about you two @zand and @AndBreathe ), I have now reduced my novorapid units to 10 for breakfast and 6 for lunch and dinner, my levemir has reduced to 12 units twice a day and I weigh just shy of 19 stone.

Just follow the advice that you get on here. You will have some good days and some bad days on the journey ahead, but it will be worth it in the end.

Good to see you back dude!

I tip my hat to you Sir on the new you..

zand · Sep 18, 2016

akindrat18 said:
@Marvel_champ if I were you, I would listen to the advice given on this site than trust what my doctor, dsn and weight loss clubs tell you what you can and can't eat.

I was in the same spot as you were a year ago or maybe longer and it took me a whole lot of soul searching and I eventually listened to what people on here were telling me when I had a short stay in hospital in Xmas and the food was just all carbs.

It is possible to reduce carbs and to come off insulin. I used to be on 40 units of novorapid per meal, 40 units of levemir twice a day and metformin 2 500mg twice a day at the start of the year and weigh 23 stone. Now since LCHF and taking the advice from several people on here ( I'm talking about you two @zand and @AndBreathe ), I have now reduced my novorapid units to 10 for breakfast and 6 for lunch and dinner, my levemir has reduced to 12 units twice a day and I weigh just shy of 19 stone.

Just follow the advice that you get on here. You will have some good days and some bad days on the journey ahead, but it will be worth it in the end.

Wow! So very pleased to read this post. You have made a good day even better. I am delighted for you.

zand · Sep 18, 2016

Here's a useful list of low carb foods. A much better shopping list than the DUK one. This one has been written by a diabetic.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/a-few-asking-for-low-carb-food-lists.96321/

Mike d · Sep 19, 2016

akindrat18 said:
@Marvel_champ if I were you, I would listen to the advice given on this site than trust what my doctor, dsn and weight loss clubs tell you what you can and can't eat.

I was in the same spot as you were a year ago or maybe longer and it took me a whole lot of soul searching and I eventually listened to what people on here were telling me when I had a short stay in hospital in Xmas and the food was just all carbs.

It is possible to reduce carbs and to come off insulin. I used to be on 40 units of novorapid per meal, 40 units of levemir twice a day and metformin 2 500mg twice a day at the start of the year and weigh 23 stone. Now since LCHF and taking the advice from several people on here ( I'm talking about you two @zand and @AndBreathe ), I have now reduced my novorapid units to 10 for breakfast and 6 for lunch and dinner, my levemir has reduced to 12 units twice a day and I weigh just shy of 19 stone.

Just follow the advice that you get on here. You will have some good days and some bad days on the journey ahead, but it will be worth it in the end.

My last post on this forum so take it as you read it. You got some direct and indirect shoves and deserved them

But it was YOU that put the lessons to work, YOU that listened and now you pass on the baton. NEVER give up.

Well done and with the utmost sincerity, good luck

akindrat18 · Sep 23, 2016

AndBreathe said:
Wow, wow, wow, WOW! I'm utterly delighted for you. That's quite a quantum shift for you. How do you feel in yourself?

As well as the excellent reduction in insulin (which I'm assuming was due to progressively good blood readings?) and weight loss, are there any other changes in your life and lifestyle?

Once you've turned this corner, please don't look back. Looking back is history and can't be changed. Looking forward is progression.

I'm delighted to see you back in such positive circumstances!

@AndBreathe I feel better than ever. I've had the lovely support from my university friends and more importantly my soul mate who has been by my side through the worst of it all.

Other changes in my life has been having a data entry job since July, so no more going the job centre, work programme and a temporary relief from the stress and depression of searching and applying for countless jobs.

I monitor my blood sugars constantly and I've only had them really high twice in 6 months, but they were due to being ill. I'm not strict on how high I want them to be, but anything in double digits, I make sure I take action on it. I haven't gone completely low carb, but I've reduced my intake to a acceptable level and set myself a few days in a month where I look forward to having some carbs, such as my mum's cooking when she has days off. Even then I don't have as much carbs as instead of having just a big slice of lasagna or shepherds pie, I have smaller portions plated with lots of kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, onions or mushrooms. I no longer eat cereal, instead it's poached eggs on top of a half of lidl's high protein rolls. I've cut out all sauces and condiments apart from mayo and I stock up on different meats, fish and cheeses. So yeah everything is great.

Where's the best place to inject insulin and what to eat to lower blood sugars

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