Hello I am new here

[jimmychi15]

Hello everyone here. I am so happy to find this forum today even it is in UK not NZ. I hope that you people still welcome me. There is no such a forum in NZ (sad).
I have T1 since 1982 while I was 15. I am a Taiwanese born in 1967 and emigrant to New Zealand in 1996.
I am not a good diabetes patient from doctor point of view. At beginning while diagnostic with T1, I tried to use lots of traditional Chinese method to avoid needles, but I failed and get into hospital twice and nearly die. I compromise with the needle after one year and become naughty again in 1986. As a teenager it is very difficult to not to have delicious foods. So I start to take some unnecessary sweets and end up with in hospital 3 times. The short acting insulin was not popular in Taiwan in 1986, only hospital has it, not normal patient. So, when the high blood sugar happens, the only way is to send to hospital to do the treatment. The short acting insulin becomes popular not long after that.
Since I move to NZ, I feel so happy that here offers the very short acting insulin (Humalog). My life style changed completely. I am still a naughty patient, but my HbA!C keeps a good level around 6.3 – 6.7. The doctor always told me not to have sweet while my blood sugar is not low, but I have my own method to eat them.
I did some trial to see how much blood glucose increase about the sweets, then, I have roughly idea on the insulin dose on each item. I am now injecting the roughly correct dose before having such as ice cream, cake, chocolate etc. and HbA1C still quite good.
The pain is that I use test strips a lot (at least 3 times a day), some doctor complain about gave me too much test strips. Luckily the family doctor I have so far knows me and offer me enough test strips on the prescription.
Too much that I want to talk but I better stop here. I may talk some of my interested hypo experience later on.
Jimmy Chi

[Basketball Mom]

Welcome Jimmy I too just joined today.

[xMenace]

Edit.

What make you think this is a UK forum? We have a couple of Kiwis kickin' under the bridge ;)

[jimmychi15]

Thanks to remind me that this is not a uk forum. I found it due to the artical in NZHerald yesterday. I search the DAFNE on the Google and get into the DAFNE uk. some of the link bring me here.
I am quite happy that some Kiwis here.
Jimmy

[DanG]

I don't think you sound too naughty.
Your blood sugar readings sound quite respectable - congratulations.

You say that in the past you worked with traditional medicinals to assist in managing blood sugars - this sounds quite interesting - too bad you don't have any success stories to tell about these medicinals.

I prefer to use some off-the-wall methods also - I think they might be marginally useful in managing life and diabetes - I think traditional medicinals is a good thing to pursue.

Perhaps we should have another thread here regarding traditional medicinals and what some of us do in addition to exercise and insulin to assist in blood sugar management?

[Mich]

Hi Jimmy and welcome to the group.

You sound like the same kind of diabetic we all are. We've all eaten things we shouldn't have and learned in the process.

Your doctors are being pretty tight with the test strips. You should be testing much more frequently than three times a day.

While you are still perfecting Humalog dosing, you should test before you eat and two hours after; you should test when you get up in the morning and before you go to bed at night. At the very least, morning, night and before each meal, which is five times--after you know how foods will affect your blood sugar. When I am sick and things aren't working right, I test ten+ times a day!

People here are from nearly everywhere. We are truly an international group!

We are glad you found us. We look forward to getting to know you.

Mich

[jimmychi15]

All the traditional Chinese method I have tried that are very harmful to my stomach, especially the Chinese Yew. They let me feel not want to eat for at least 3 days, and for a T2 patient surely the blood sugar should drop. At that stage I stopped taking insulin and just taking the herbs, that cause me end up with stay in hospital.
I still believe the Chinese herb is very useful for some disease, but at least I know it won’t cure the diabetes, at least not T1.
If anyone wishes to try, please be careful about your stomach. I have a very weak stomach since that and now I need to go toilet to have a big one usually twice a day.
Jimmy

[jillrapp]

Hi Jimmy and Colbey,

Welcome to the DF. There are people from all over the world here and we're all happy to have you. Please share as much as you can and ask questions whenever you have them. The search function on the first page works great too if you want to read up on anything that interests you.

Good luck and welcome to the family.

[jimmychi15]

At beginning I did test heap in a day, but after I found out the rule, I only test when it is necessary.
1. 2 hours after meal.
2. before sleep
3. feel things not right.
I do test 5-6 time a day due to I am naughty all the time, enjoying parties, having birthday cakes etc.
If you do not take any food, then, your blood sugar won’t go high. I have 2-3 meals a day, then, I need only test 2-3 time a day. Test 2 hours after meal and dose correct insulin immediately that will make the blood sugar stay within 4-8 one hour after your dose. So why do another test before next meal, except you calculated the wrong dose. I accumulate the experience and quite confidant about my blood sugar level and the dose in two month time.
When I am naughty to have some unknown sweets, most of the time I miscalculate the dose and test every hour to keep my blood sugar level down. That is why I use quite a lot.
You are right about test 10 times when you are sick. I have same experience that each time I catch cold especially fever, my blood sugar keep at very high level does not matter how much the extra dose is, it just not going down until the fever gone.
Jimmy

[David_S]

Welcome ! This is a supportive place to share information,

[kgm0612]

Welcome to the forum, Jimmy. Glad to have you here!

Karen

[shutterbug]

Jimmy, welcome to DF.

[Tattoo azz]

Hi Jimmy and Colby, welcome to df. I hope to see you around the boards.

[Erin]

If you do not take any food, then, your blood sugar won’t go high.

Only if you have your basal (long acting) insulin set correctly. If you have too little basal you end up high without eating. If you have too much basal you end up low. Exercise or sickness or stress can also make you go high or low without eating.


Test 2 hours after meal and dose correct insulin immediately that will make the blood sugar stay within 4-8 one hour after your dose. So why do another test before next meal, except you calculated the wrong dose.

Do you take insulin before the food? I find taking insulin before the food to be very helpful. Test, measure or guess carbs, calculate correct dose, eat. Test in 2 hours to make sure i guesstimated right, correct if necessary. This way keeps your bsl closer to normal all the time. It sounds like (if I"m reading correctly) that your way allows you to go very high right after a meal, and then you correct it later. If you test before each meal you can take more or less insulin to make sure you stay in range. It's not an exact science, but it works for many of us.

But your A1c results speak for themselves, so if it works for you, keep at it. :)

I also don't think of eating sweets as being naughty. It just means I need to take more insulin. It's being naughty for my diet (trying to lose 5 lbs) but not for my diabetes.

[jimmychi15]

Dear Dorothy,
yes, you are right. test bsl before meal can make the dose more accurate. I do it sometimes, but not all the time.
I have long acting before sleep that keep my bsl stay good level without eating. I then dose short acting before every meal.
I found the body clock will also chnage the bsl. for example if you usually have breakfast, but suddenly stop for one day, the bsl goes up as well. I play table tennis at night, then one night I did not go there, but my blood sugar dropped as well. It requires 2-3 days to re-adjust. so, better keep the live routing same everyday.
I wonder some people get their A1C below6, how can they do that? Will they loss the feeling of hypo?
Jimmy
A1C 2003-2008 6.3-6.4
A1C 2008 May 6.7 (went oversea 6 weeks, ate too much)