Diabetes

[2480]

Hi I have been a diabetic since the age of 9 now I'm 25  and it seems like nothing I do can get my glucose levels under control. I have tried Lantus 3 times now I'm back on NPH and it normal sometimes but I still suffer from lows at night and highs in the morning. Now Im really upset because I'm getting married in Nov. 2006 and I have been dieting 5 months now I have tried weight watchers, exercising 6 times a week now I'm doing low carbs and out of 6 months i have only losed 5 lbs. Is there some suggestions you can give me to help lose weight and control my glucose levels?

[diabetic4life]

hello everyone, im a regular user of smoking marijuana, and i have juvenile diabetes type one. does the marijuana effect my health in differnet ways becuse i am a diabetic? thanks for the help.
erin

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I have never heard of anything that says a pump is harmful.  I would suggest getting a second opinion, from another endocrinologist about the pump.   I know of kids as young as 22 months to a person about 70 that my pump trainer trained on the pump.  Good luck

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

Lots of interesting & useful info on this thread!

I also want to comment that Type 1s need to discuss "low carb" ideas with our doc before choosing that way of eating.

Many Type 2s and some Type 1s enjoy better control by having less than the traditionally recommended allotment of carbohydrates.  

A very low carb diet -- as in Atkins style -- causes the liver to "give up" stored glycogen as part of the carb-limiting routine.  For folks without diabetes, this may work well.  For type 1s, however, depleting our liver's glycogen store could be DEADLY because when we have a low blood sugar, part of the counter-regulatory response is for our liver to dump glucose into our blood stream.  Our liver uses glycogen stores to make that happen.  No glycogen stores  ... no built-in safety net to a dangerous low getting lower.

A second reason to be cautious about a very low carbo way of eating is that it means we would have a higher amount of fat & protein.  Diabetics are often at risk for kidney disease, and high levels of protein & fat put added stress on everyone's kidneys.

Having said all that, I agree that it's important to limit the amount of pure carbo calories we take on -- and that opting for less-processed and less-refined foods can help us damped the carbo spikes associated with simple sugars.

Please discuss any new ways of eating frankly and openly with your doc because we Type 1s have very special needs.

[2480]

Thanks for the information maybe my doctor will go ahead and let me try the pump. I agree I think the pump is better and the last solution I have left to try but for some reason the last  Endocrinologist I seen said that the pump might be more harmful. I had never heard that comment but I said ok . So maybe when I see him again and he checks over my daily log he will consider the pump.

[paralegal]

I think that what you are eating or NOT eating could also be a very important factor that your doctor may not be tuned into.  I am an IDDM and for the last year I have been overweight - and very uncomfortable with it.  I put it on because I had to be completely sedentary for many months in order to stabilize the injury I received from a high impact accident.  Now starving really does work - don't let them tell you otherwise - but you tend to look absolutely terrible when you do it that way and you get weak and run down. There is a lot of research coming in right now about insulin resistance and C-reactive protein indicators for heart disease being linked to weight problems.  I read Dr. Perricone - he is a dermatologist who started off in med school with a fatigue syndrome that he overcame with high doses of Vitamin C at a time when med schools expelled you for radical behavior about vitamins.  Anyway, he has been conducting his own research into nutrients and inflammatory responses for years.  He found a link between inflammation and wrinkles/acne as well as cancer and heart disease.  He promotes eating wild salmon because it contains a unique anti-inflammatory that is extremely potent.  He also promotes taking Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) because EFA is the key to the body's regulation of food intake as being for storage or burning.  I started eating EFA and Conjugated Linoleic Acid a few weeks ago and finally I am losing weight and my distate for eating right is now gone.  Most Americans don't get enough EFA in their normal diets.  So, try salmon and other anti-inflammatory foods - with salads, etc.  Decrease carbohydrates.  We measure our insulin on the basis of how many carbohydrates a food contains and the less the better - making a high protein diet very desirable from that perspective.  If you lower your need to inject insulin, and keep on an even keel that way, and test about 7 times a day, and get up 3 times a night for a day or two to test, then you will be able to isolate your problem with the sugars.  Injecting high doses to cover carbs in the context of a bad or insufficient diet will cause roller coaster effects hours after the injection.  Thus the lows could be from the dinnertime bolus and they will cause high fasting sugars because of the body's reaction in nighttime.  Try testing at 1am and then at 4am and see if one is at 100 and the next at 250.  So, diet makes a lot of difference.  Also, I have heard of using regular or other intermediate insulin with your nighttime Lantus so that it will kick in around the time your liver is withdrawing the old insulin from your bloodstream.  That might work and I have not tried it - but I don't do well on intermediate insulin unless I am on a starvation diet.  Get a carb counter book, if you don't have one, and make sure you know how many carbs are in your favorite fast foods at the specific ounces given - like an 8 ounce latte is a "small" and a 12 oz. latte is a "tall" and you take 4 units Humalog for one and 6 units for the other.  Memorize these snack food counts.  Try to get more protein and supplement with EFA and vitamins.  Read Dr. Perricone's books or others' that discuss the inflammatory response and insulin resistance syndrome.  Congrats on your upcoming marriage.  Maybe your fiance' would be interested in the reading also.  

[Carolynjuvenillediabetic]

Hi 2480,
I am also a Type 1 diabetic but the only info I can give you is from experience a doctor is your best source of personal advise. I have been on the pump now for 3 years. I can only tell you my control is so much better. I went from an A1C of 8.0 to an A1C of 5.9. In addition after starting the pump and following a low carb diet I lost 35lbs the first year without really trying. It was merely counting the carbs I was eating and making sure the insulin dose corresponded to the food. I must admit that I did not eat a lot of carbs because my control was so much better without them. And with better control I felt so much better so that was my motivation. I hope this gives you some inspiration to try the pump. I truly believe you will be glad you did. Good luck with your upcoming wedding.
Carolyn

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I am not a physician, but a volunteer and the mom of a type 1 diabetic. I understand your frustration.  We felt the same way when our daughter was on shots.   She was on NPH and Humolog.   We gave since switched to the pump 3 years ago.  The pump has made our lives more