10 h1c new to this thread

[CGAGE]

Thanks in advance for your comments. I have had diabetes for 20 years, since i was forty. It was Type 2 but a couple of years ago they changed it to Type 1. My h1c is usually around 10. I shoot a lot of humolg and Lantus and take about 500 Metformin a day. My doc just raised the humolog up about 2 units. I mean, that wont even be noticable on the bs meter. To be specific, I'm using a total of about 60-70 units of humolog a day and about 60 units of LAntus. I drink red wine with dinner and you might thnk that thats the problem but it doesnt get much better when I dont drink alcohol. maybe some.
Metformin seems to help a lot but the doc wont raise my dosage for some reason. I'm even considering raising it myself because it does the job where insulin does not. Maybe I neede a new doc although this one seems real conscientious.
I've been called insulin resistant by one specialist.
I'm going to try to excercise because that does seem to help. The problem is sore joints. I guess I can put up with a little pain if it will help.
The doc talked about a pump but I'm too unorganized to risk that. Counting carbs is very hard for me for some reason.
The only thing that seems as though it might work is to go on a kind of Buddhist monk cave diet. I mean just some brown rice and fruit. That ALWAYS gets results. I dont know if I can do that. It looks like the only option. I'm begininning to see the "give up" look in the faces of my doctors.
Talk about a pharoah's curse.
Any comments would be welcome after years of 10 score h1c's

[jshuffle]

Welcome to DF, CGAGE,

It isn't uncommon to see a T2 diagnosis changed into a T1 diagnosis, especially after somebody is 20 years old. This comes from when T1 was known as "Juvenile Diabetes".

Does your doctor have you on any sort of plan for injecting the humalog?

Red wine is actually seen as a benefit/curse to BG (provided you get dry reds) because it keeps the liver busy processing the alcohol, which allows the basal insulin (lantus) to work unhindered... I also said curse, because it can also cause low BG... YMMV

I don't know why your doctor has you on only 500 mg of metformin per day. I'm not completely positive on this, so we'll need an actual metformin user's input here... but I'm pretty sure that at very low doses, such as 500 mg, metformin has no effect on BG. Again, we'll have to wait for input.

Exercise will help, there is no doubt about that. You can pick low-impact exercises such as swimming to reduce joint pain.


Here's the kicker... you have to learn how to count carbs! That is the only way you'll be able to manage your T1... A "Buddhist monk cave diet" of "brown rice and fruit" is terrible for BG... the only reason it may be working for you is that you know how to count those carbs and can adequately bolus (take humalog) for them...


Bottom line, you need to learn how to count carbs and get your insulin ratios right! Otherwise, you're looking at more years of high a1c's...

[Hooterville]

500 mg. of Metformin is super low. I take 2,500 mg. per day and 2,550 is the maximum dose.

Listen to jshuffle up there. You must learn to count carbs. You've been high a long time and time is of the essence. You need to to get those numbers down.

That's all I've got. I'm T2. I'll let other T1's weigh in with their expertise.

Welcome to the forum here. Please hang around and continue to ask questions and get some help.

[jwags]

Did they do a GAD test to confirm Type 1? Many type 2's use insulin but they are still type 2's. You don't mention diet. If you are insulin resistant carbs could be what is keeping your HbA1c high. I am a type 2 but super sensitive to carbs. I have to limit them to 20-40 per day or I will spike in the 200's. I pushed my doctor to raise my metformin to 2550.

[xMenace]

Counting carbs is very hard for me for some reason.
...
The only thing that seems as though it might work is to go on a kind of Buddhist monk cave diet. I mean just some brown rice and fruit. That ALWAYS gets results. I dont know if I can do that. It looks like the only option.

Counting carbs is easy when you don' eat any or many, and many of us don't. There's lots of web resources out there. Investigate "Primal", "Paleo", and "LCHF" regimens. Dr, Richard BErnstein's "Diabetic Solution" might be the easiest and most thorough plan to follow.

[jbmacomber]

Agree, counting carbs is absolutely necessary. After a while you will remember the carb counts of foods you eat most often. Like xMenace said, you cut out many or don't eat them. There are many low carb recipes out there you can learn to make to replace some. If you don't you are not going to see much improvement. It is work, especially as you start, but you will get better at counting, your BG numbers and A1c's will improve. The brown rice and fruit have to go! Look up low carb high fat (LCHF), lots to eat.

[Moonpie]

welcome to DF. I think carb counting is essential to good BG control for all Diabetics. You can do it, if you want.

[Jan74br]

I think if you spent 20 years without insulin, you aren't T1. You are just an insulin dependent T2, as jwags said.