[gobbly2100]

Well the thing with more injections is that I have a phobia and when I do an injection it can take 10 minutes and I also like doing it sat in a sofa that is of a certain height because I only inject in my legs, before you think about maybe I need to move sites well my legs are not too bad yet.

I think the key here is more exercise from what I am seeing, what kind of exercise is best for lowering sugar? I am guessing cardio related. also I do eat pretty poorly when I do eat as in I don't have healthy foods, here is a rough plan of what I eat in a day and see what you think.

Breakfast: 2 bowls of cereal
Morning Snack: A few digestive biscuits
Lunch: Anything From bacon, soup or something simple
Afternoon Snack: 2 packets of crisps (I think in the states you call them chips)
Dinner: French fries, burgers, chicken, beans and that kinda stuff.
Evening snack: This is where I sometimes eat alot of junk but usualy things listed above like a bowl of cereal and things like that

If fatty foods cause my insulin to not work well and lack of exercise too then I think that is really where my problem lies, I am a very fussy eater but I think I could change my diet alot easier than changing my insulin.

This thread is starting to all make sense with what you are all saying so now it is time to take some action and sort out a gym membership for starters and then look at food intake.

Thanks for all this help guys and girls, if you have anymore ideas then please suggest them because it is really helping me.

[cheryl]

Wow, you eat a lot of carbs, I see why your on a lot of insulin now.......I'd say not eat 2 bowls of cereal maybe one bag of chips instead of two.....and yes the french fries will make ya spike here and there if they arent' dosed for correctly.....lowfat milk if you don't already use it, try some turkey bacon......eat either the burger or the fries not both well not daily anyway.....just my opinion,

How often do you test your number to see what the foods are doing to your blood sugar, just my thoughts, I bet if you cut your meals just by a little you would see a difference.......


I like very active exercise, Have you ever heard of taebo just love it and it burns alot of calories....good luck,

Cheryl

[moorejames]

Originally Posted by gobbly2100

Breakfast: 2 bowls of cereal
Morning Snack: A few digestive biscuits
Lunch: Anything From bacon, soup or something simple
Afternoon Snack: 2 packets of crisps (I think in the states you call them chips)
Dinner: French fries, burgers, chicken, beans and that kinda stuff.
Evening snack: This is where I sometimes eat alot of junk but usualy things listed above like a bowl of cereal and things like that

Without trying to spark a whole debate over the benefits of low carb, I gotta say, you're hitting the carbs pretty hard, and since it doesn't seem to be working for you, you might want to give your diet a seriously hard look.

The cereals are basically sugar, same for the biscuits and the crisps, and fries, an the bread/bun that probably goes with the burger.

And I didn't see a non-starchy vegatable in the lot.

Broccoli and califlower and asparagus are your friends, you should get to know them.

[gobbly2100]

So cereal is a no no which is abit annoying because I always grab a bowl when I dunno what to eat, I have never been a very good eater when it comes to vegetables.

Maybe you could suggest some food that is not so high in carbs that I could eat more of maybe.

What about noodles?

If I was to stick with this kinda high carb diet what amount of exercise should I be doing with it or is it not gonna really work?

I will update you all and the latest is I am managing to see more BG's between 5 and 18 which is getting better, I am starving myself to do it though which is tough but I will learn to not eat so much I guess.

Also what kind of things am I looking for on food to see if it is heavy in carbs?

[BriOnH]

The problem with being on 2 shots of 25/75 a day is you have to be exactly consistent with amount carbs you take in and the amount of exercise you do. With 2 shots a day you aren't really allowed to deviate from carbs and exercise. When you add in stress, sickness, or high blood sugar that needs to be corrected, 2 shots a day just isn't going to cut it. I really wish you would listen to us and get on MDI with lantus or levimer for a 'base' (base = basal insulin.) insulin and humalog or novorapid for meals/corrections (Bolus). Or go on a pump. The pump really would be your best option as it can teach you alot and handle the computations to get you running healthy. Right now your numbers are extremely high as you know, and will stunt your growth and cause havoc on your organs. This is also why you are probably so thin.

Since you insist on using what is now considered an ancient method to treat your type 1 diabetes you are going to be very constricted.

You need to count how many carbs you are taking in a day and with each meal. You can find carb amounts on the sides of food packages. Eventually you will be able to eye ball foods and guestimate accurately how many grams of carbs are in a meal.

There is some trial and error here. Test right before you eat and approximatly 2-3 hours after each meal. Take note of the amount of carbs you eat. Once you fine tune the amount of insulin you are taking to the amount of carbs you are eating in each meal to the amount of exercise you do you must stick to that schedule exactly.
-----------------------------------------------------------
You must do this with every meal and stick rigidly to it
Lets say you test and are 4.3 before breakfast, consume 35g of carbs at breakfast and 2.5 hours later you test and are 6.0. 35g of carbs then are what you need to eat everyday at breakfast. You then need to do this with every other meal you eat.
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you go on MDI or a pump you can fluctuate how many grams of carbs you take in, or if you choose to you can even skip meals. You can't do that on 2 shots of 75/25. You also can't correct high BGL's due to a bad carb guesstimate, stress, injury or sickness.

Obviously I can't cover everything and didn't want to overwhelm you, with things like types of carbs, protien, fat. I am sure many can help chime in on this to help you too.

If you go on diabuddies.com and create a diagrid you can paste in your resuts like this:


Which will help us help you.

[SueM]

In the UK there are strict guide lines for a pump and gobbly does not qualify for one.

As he has a needle phobia his best bet would be to have syringes and mix both insulins in the same syringe this way he can alter the amount of shorter acting insulin he needs.
Also a radical change in diet would help
Problem solved.

[cheryl]

Originally Posted by gobbly2100

So cereal is a no no which is abit annoying because I always grab a bowl when I dunno what to eat, I have never been a very good eater when it comes to vegetables.

Maybe you could suggest some food that is not so high in carbs that I could eat more of maybe.

What about noodles?

If I was to stick with this kinda high carb diet what amount of exercise should I be doing with it or is it not gonna really work?

I will update you all and the latest is I am managing to see more BG's between 5 and 18 which is getting better, I am starving myself to do it though which is tough but I will learn to not eat so much I guess.

Also what kind of things am I looking for on food to see if it is heavy in carbs?

Honey you can eat a bowl of cereal just not two bowls.....it is important to stick with a plan that is all.....and insulin that your on can't be adjusted to the amount of carbs you are consuming in a day......Brian really summed it up,up there the best.......From what I can see your just on way too much carbs......but you don't have to go to barely no carbs if you don't want too, that is a personal choice of a lot of people, not all, but the type of insulin you use cannot handle that many carbs and even the insulin's we use it would be hard to figure all those carbs also......my first suggestion is to try to aim for 250 carbs a day then 200...... and let me tell you, you can manage diabetes with the four shots a day on 200 or 250 carbs a day.....it is really just all about balancing........


Cheryl

[moorejames]

Originally Posted by gobbly2100

Maybe you could suggest some food that is not so high in carbs that I could eat more of maybe.

Just google low-carb, you'll get more hits than you'll know what to do with.

I'm not necessarily saying you should go low-carb, btw.

It' just that if you won't/can't change your insulin regimen, then there really doesn't seem to be any other way you're going to get things under control, and that's what's important, getting those numbers down.

I'm not a type one, so take my advice with that in mind, but from I've learned, you really only have 3 options:

more shots with varying kinds of insulin,
really (really( strict carb control
or a pump.

Since a pump may or may not be an option for you, then you're either going to have to learn to live with the shots or get serious about controlling your diet.

You DO NOT want to mess around with this.

jim

[gobbly2100]

This thread should be now called "Lets All Help Gobbly2100" hehe

Well trying this lower carb stuff for just a day and a half is not really working great for me as I am unhappy not eating my usual amount and I seriously miss some of the great tastes of food.

I think this lantis is maybe worth a try atleast, the needle phobia is really going to be a challenge but I need to work around it, I mean surely am not the only diabetic diagnosed with a needle phobia am I?

Also would I be right is saying that with something like lantis I could eat pretty much anything (within reason) and live an almost perfectly normal life?

Some info on this would be great, thanks for help everyone it is really great

[BriOnH]

Gobbly it's great to see you interested in learning and helping yourself. The earlier you take control the less likely you are to develop complications. This is a great place to get help. Many are glad to offer you suggestions and it's your choice (hopefully in conjunction with your dr) what to do with that information.

Lantus is a 24 hour basal insulin (a lot split the dose into 2 12hr shots though). It's your base insulin. You need to then take a shot of humalog/novorapid everytime you eat or need to correct. A fair number of us MDI'ers use an insulin pen which makes shooting up pretty discreet and easier to tote around. There are other type 1 diabetics with needle phobias but the ones I have heard of are on the pump.

Can someone help define basal and blouses a little better then I can to gobbly?

[HelenM]

Gobbly, I’ll try to explain a little bit about how MDI works in practice for me.
I take lantus and Novorapid.. The lantus ‘mops’ up glucose between meals and needs to be accurately adjusted for the individual. Mine is and at the moment and I am able to go to bed knowing that my BS will be within 1mml of what it was when I went to bed. Last night my BS was 88(4.8) at bedtime , this morning it was (4.1). (this was a slightly higher drop thanusual but I had run 5miles yesterday in the afternoon). The Novorapid is taken with a meal and varies according to what I eat , what my BS is and my activity level. Using this method I have been able to keep my average BS in the normal range without eating a restricted diet. (although I try to eat healthily)
Todays schedule:

I have a fairly regular breakfast (porridge) and know how much rapid insulin to take for it .As I am going to sit in the car doing very little this morning I did not adjust it and took my normal amount.(4u).
At lunchtime I am going to eat out, so having read the menu, ordered and waited to see my meal I will estimate how many units to take . I will check my BS and then inject the dose at table. (I use a pen and it easy to do it discreetly). Again I will probably take a normal dose since in the afternoon I’m going to watch a Carneval, so I won’t be active. If I had been going for a long walk or a run I would reduce the amount of insulin. After about 2 hours I will test my BS again , just to make sure that I dosed accurately at lunchtime. If I took too much insulin and my BS is a bit low then I will eat a biscuit or a handful of smarties.
I will repeat the same test, estimate, dose procedure for my evening meal, it will be easier to do since I will be at home and know from experience how much insulin different meals need. I will also take my lantus at this time. I sometimes test at two hours after my evening meal, but often leave it until 3 hours so that I know what my BS is for bedtime and whether I need to eat a few carbs before bed.

Not all days are as simple as this because I exercise a lot and have to take this into account but it really does allow flexibility.
The other day I started a journey at 4am and just had a cereal bar before travelling with a small dose of insulin, I had my next meal 7 hours later at 11 am (traditional breakfast) at the airport and at 6pm a dinner at my destination. My BS fluctuated a bit more than usual (especially after a 40min hold up on the M25) but relatively little.


For both my lantus and my Novorapid I use pens with tiny 5mm needles. If you can overcome your fear of needles I’m sure that you will be able to both control your diabetes and lead a flexible life. I think that you will need to learn more about nutrition etc but that really isn’t difficult. If you do decide to change you will need the support of your doctor to help you adjust doses etc. I’m not in the UK but from what I have read this help is more likely to come from a clinic than from many GPs

Sorry to be a bit long winded but I think like others here I’m a bit worried about your high BS and would like to convince you that MDI does work and is really not a big hassle.

[DeusXM]

At the risk of chucking in a spanner in the work....

...whilst I will continue to absolutely insist that the only real option for you is to go on MDI, if you really do have a severe needle phobia then you do have a couple of last gasp options on Mixtard. There are other Mixtards available - when I was on 2 jabs a day I would have Mixtard 30 (30% bolus, 70% basal) in the morning and Mixtard 50 (50% of each) in the evening.

However this is only a stop gap and won't actually solve the underlying problem.

[cheryl]

Hi,

Lantus is a base insulin, this is to keep your blood sugars level when you are not eating......This is taken once a day, most of the time at night, there are some who take it twice a day, but we won't go into all those explanations and confuse you right now.......


But, then you will be on a fast acting insulin, which would either be Humalog, novolog or novorapid, or even apidra, well those are the different type. Now you inject these insulins with every meal........See how this works, you are thinking like your pancreas on this type of insulin regimine.....

You are right in thinking that you will have more control of bg's with the lantus, and you can, but it takes a little work at first in knowing how your body works and what your body needs......but hey, your bg's were higher on this your doing anyway, and it is not working so it is decision time to what you want health wise to live a normal, healthy life. Diabetes takes a little work anyway, but once you got it down it becomes so normal that it becomes second nature.......

Do look into atleast the insulin pens if you can, because a few people who do have needle phobia do better on the pens and what not if a pump is not an option for you, but a pump takes a lot of work to even more than all the shots so after you do change you med's and figure the pump maybe an option then go for it, but I suggest you go on mdi's first.........

Cheryl

[LancetChick]

You know something Gobbly, Lantus will not make it possible for you to eat everything you want. And you can't eat whatever you want on 2 shots a day without paying the price in complications down the road. Aside from sugary sodas, I actually do eat whatever I please, live on a high carb diet and get away with it, but I inject many times a day, test 15x a day and keep a log of everything that affects my blood sugar. People who don't take this disease seriously don't fare well, and I don't feel like you really get that blindness, dialysis, Charcot foot and early death are par for the course for people with uncontrolled blood sugars. Screw your needle phobia and screw your junk food...... one or the other has to give, and it isn't even as simple as that. At least you're looking for answers, though. You definitely get points for that.

[HollyB]

You know, a psychologist could help you with a program to desensitive your fear of needles. There are a number of strategies that really help -- but it's really worth getting a pro to guide you. You might ask your doc?