brittle diabetes

[msorgen]

My blood sugar bounces like a yo-yo. On an average day my swings go from 155 - 290 and it flucuates by hour. I can't seem to find a solution to help me regulate the swing. I've been told that brittle diabetes is caused by food intake, but I watch carefully what I eat. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Oldsalty]

You could start by reading Dr Bernsteins book Diabetes Solution, here is the web page,
http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/index.shtml
His clinic is in New York I think and you could visit him there, If you call he may also answer the phone..

Good luck

[tomoolson]

Can you give us your sample menu? Maybe someone can help with what you should/should not eat. I am not diabetic (was diagnosed as reactive hypoglycemia but my bs shoots up over the normal range with wrong kind of food.)

For me, any starchy grains like rice and potatoes, and fruit are basically totally out except in a very very very very small portion right after a big protein meal.

[a.j]

Hi, I have the same difficulty. Are you on insulin? What type? Delivery method?

I too would be curious as too your sample menu. I have learned the hard way about lots of foods with hidden carbs. Although sometimes I can get it bang on, other times it makes no difference what I do, my sugars go wacko.

The medical profession just says to keep better track and try to relax. Hmmmmm.... easy to say.

Take care.

[msorgen]

A sample daily menu for me consists of the following:
Up until yesterday a whole wheat bagel. - I stopped as of today.
Breakfast - either Kashi cereal or Post shredded wheat and 2 decaf coffees.
Lunch - small salad, can of tuna fish with nothing on it. 2 glasses water. 2 fruits (apple, peach or nectarine)
Dinner - Baked or broiled fish, and a vegetable like peas or a sweet potato/w margarine.
Snack before bedtime - small bag of pretzels or 2 cups of popcorn or another piece of fruit.
I know I should be drinking more water, but Im not a lover of it.
I believe I'm averaging 90 - 100 carbs on 1800 calorie day.

[a.j]

Kashi cereal,Post shredded wheat
2 fruits (apple, peach or nectarine)
sweet potato/w margarine.
pretzels, popcorn or another piece of fruit.

I gotta tell ya these foods will all raise your sugars significantly. 80 to 100 carbs per day? If I consume that much my numbers shoot way too high even with insulin.

Breakfast - Swap cereal for eggs, meats, cheeses.
Cancel fruit completely for now.
Green veggies are your best bet. Salads are great. Just take it easy on the tomatoes as they are a bit on the carb side.
Do you like butter? If so, switch. I read the margarine label once and decided if I couldn't pronounce the ingredients then I wouldn't touch it. (By the way, my pet rat Elvis will !!not!! touch margarine... Hmm.. makes you wonder)
Bedtime snack of cheese, meat or nuts wouldn't bugger up your sugars.

I am going out to buy Dr. Bernstein's Diabetic Solution after having read all the excerpts online. It sounds like it could teach me alot. Check out the web site, it is well worth it.

Let us know how it is going.

Cheers,

AJ

:daizy:

p.s. you didn't say how you treat the diabetes. Insulin, pills, diet, excersise?

[maggie3456]

I have to agree with a.j. ......all those things would bring my sugar up.....I am a type 2 diabetic on lantus and other meds and i have found that if i go over around 20- 25 carbs a day my sugar levels spike....even with the low carbs i still have trouble with my morning fasting levels being high .....around 140ish every day.
I found fequent testing after foods to see what my reaction to them is helpful.......
I did try a cheat...reward meal this past sunday of a hamburger with the bun and fries and my blood sugar went through the roof....284 over 2 hours after so i know i cant cheat at all.
I also had a meal the other night of steak, butter and mushrooms and i did eat a lot and found my sugar actaully went down an hour after to 95
but i have to add ....not know if its the meds or what ?...i am not looseing weight and i have remained very low carb since june except for the one cheat meal. and in the last 2 weeks i have even gained 6 pounds :(

Have you tried putting your foods in at fitday.com? it will give you a good idea of what your eating and the number of carbs.
I have ordered Dr. Bernstein's Diabetic Solution book and am still waiting for it to arrive........grrrrrrrrrr amazon had to put it on back order. I think that it would be good to read what he recoments for insulin dependent diabetics.
take care
maggie :)

[msorgen]

I am on glucophage twice a day and I walk two miles every day monday-friday.

I will try what you suggest for a week and see how it goes.
thanks

[msorgen]

Whats the lesser of two evils? No carbs or high cholesterol. If I ate bacon and eggs every day I'm sure my carbs would be low but my cholesterol would be over 300. I don't know what to do. My nutrishionist told me not to go on the atkins diet and gave me what I'm on now. But what you are saying makes a lot of sense. But the Cholesterol. How can everyone eat that much eggs and not raise their level?

[Rosebud]

Hi Msorgen,

One of the many reasons we suggest you do some reading about low carbing is that then you'll gain an understanding in how low carbing actually lowers cholesterol.

I repeat Old Salty's advice (and mine from another thread) read Dr Bernstein's book and also do some other reading, too.
You can start with Dr Bernstein's website - you will find Dr Atkins' website at www.atkinscenter.com

:rose:Rosebud:rose:

[Oldsalty]

There is scant if any evidence that cholesterol levels have any impact on heart disease. There are now many more compelling theories as to the cause of heart disease, to name 2 there is the inflamation theory and the homocystien ( sp ) theory both of which have more scientific evidence than the cholesterol theory ever had.
To read more on this subject go to this page and then buy the book.
http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

On the subject of cholesterol and eating eggs, the body maintains a balance and the more dietary cholesterol that you take in then the body makes less, keeping the whole thing in balance.

[tomoolson]

If you don't feel comfortable eating fatty foods, you do not have to for now. Fat in fact plays an important role in low carbing and for your overall health, but for now, I think what's most important for you is to eliminate all the high glycemic high carb foods such as cereal, fruit and starchy vegetables.

For example, for breakfast, you could have three egg whites and one whole egg omlette with ham and mushrooms, a big salad with breast of chicken for lunch, lean steak with salad and green veggies like broccoli for dinner (these are just examples). It is just amazing how your bs reading could drastically and so easily improve by eating this way. If your bs gets too low and you feel weak and dizzy, you could add some more carbs.. maybe 1/2 cup of yogurt or veggy sticks (no carrots) or something. (Since you are taking medication, you should probably monitor your bs more frequently and under your Dr's supervision because this way of eating will certainly lower your bs A LOT.)

Good luck to you, and keep posting,

Tomo

[puma_power]

I would just like to add my hearty endorsement of the Dr. Bernstein book to the others' -- I have been a Type 1 Diabetic for 4 years, and have seen different nutritionists, none of whom ever recommended a low-carb diet or helped me very much. I was incredibly frustrated with my large, often unexplained BG fluctuations (particularly w/ exercise). I felt half dead most of the time.
I have been doing the Bernstein diet for only a short time, but so far it is working like a dream! I am so happy, even though it means giving up virtually all of my favorite foods.
Oh well--when they discover a cure for diabetes I will probably live on bread and fruit for months!

*Another thing I really like about Dr. Bernstein's book is that it explains alot of phenomena about strange blood sugar behavior that puzzled me before. I think he is a brilliant man, and he not only talks the talk, he walks the walk! :roll:

[msorgen]

By following the low-carb diet(s), my BS has regulated itself to the extent that I no longer go over 120. I do have one problem though. It seems that when it dips below 75, all I want to do is sleep. I become very lethargic and want to give in to it.
I scared the hell out of my wife who thought I went into a coma.
We know how to correct it now, but I never get a warning that its about to drop until the tiredness comes over me all at once.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this?

[puma_power]

Re: low BG's sneaking up on you,
How often do you test your BG levels? If you tend to get lows, you probably need to make adjustments to your regimen, so you need to test more often to see what is causing them...do you have a chart with which you keep track of all your numbers and dosages and everything you eat? Also, your insulin sensitivity has most likely increased since you've been having better control, so it is likely that you need to take a bit less...which will be good for the lows, too, because the less you take, the less chance there'll be for taking too much--that's the beauty of the low-carb diet, I think!
I don't think there is a way to combat the effects of lows, except by testing when you recognize symptoms and taking some glucose if necessary...personally, I don't get drowsy with low BG's, I get shaky and sometimes extremely hungry, so I don't have the urge to do anything but eat something! :daze:
Good luck with it, and congratulations on your success with low-carbing!

Puma

[Rosebud]

Hi msorgen,

How much protein are you eating? Eating plenty of protein rather than starchy carbs usually helps to stabilise blood sugars.

And you should definitely be doing as Puma power suggests - keep a log of your blood sugars compared with what you are eating and when.

Cheers!

:rose:Rosebud:rose:

[a.j]

I absolutely agree with puma, you must check your sugars frequently. I sometimes cannot tell whether I am up or down and in the past I corrected my sugars the wrong way. BAD PLAN !!

If you don't have a glucose monitor, then please get one. I have the Freestyle by Therasense. It tests on arms legs and fingers. Just a little blood sample is needed and is way less painful that the finger only type. I think the One Touch is supposed to be half decent too.

It sure does help you manage better.

By the way you haven't mentioned your doctors involvement with all this. He/she should have recommended a monitor.

Hang in there you are well on the way.

Cheers, AJ

[msorgen]

I check my BS 3 times a day. Breakfast, dinner and bedtime. Very rarely does it go above 110. When I feel the system coming on, its usually going below 78. I am taking Glucophage 500 twice a day.

[puma_power]

Dear MSORGEN,
I think part of your problem may be that 3 times a day is not enough testing to establish really good control--at least, not if you are still making changes in diet, exercise or medication...though the fact that your BG level is 110 when you do test is a sign that you are probably doing pretty well (though you may want to aim a bit lower for fasting levels). The thing is, your BG can spike quite high an hour or two hours after a meal, and you may not even know it. Or, you could be having lows that you don't know about.
I'd suggest that you test an hour and two hours after all meals for at least a week, and add these numbers to your records. Also, if you exercise even somewhat vigorously, you should be testing BG's before and after (I've gotten low BG's from even 15 minutes of jogging!).
Since test strips are so expensive, get your doctor to write a prescription for 6 tests per day--otherwise you'll run out with all the extra testing (I doubt your doctor/nutritionist would object to your testing more :spin:)
Knowledge is power when it comes to BG's (as with all else!)
Best,
Puma

[tmo]

Have you changed the way of eating? (You used to eat a lot of starch and fruit). If so, I would do what Puma suggests... check the BS more frequently. If it is consistently low with no abnormally high spikes and still experiencing the hypoglycemic episodes, I would go back to the Dr. and discuss the possibility of lowering the medication. I hear that a lot of diabetic people who go on low carb end up lowering their medication.

Good luck,

tmo

[Cyprinodon]

delete. got a dup in here somehow

[Cyprinodon]

I can't say enough about Dr. Bernstein's low carb eating plan for diabetics and I also can't say enough about how his book explains things the doctor's don't.

My son is a very brittle Type 1 who has gotten worse lately as he is at the beginnings of puberty. His ups and downs were driving us nuts. He tests at least 8 times during the day and we test him at least twice during the night. Thanks to everyone for this site which lead me to Bernstein. We haven't been able to go totally Bernstein yet because my son is a minor under doctor's orders. If we don't cooperate with "the experts", they will report us to child protective services and have our child placed in a foster home so that they can stuff carbs down his throat.

What we've done so far:

They had him on 60-65 grams for meals, which we managed to get down to 40-45 at his last check up, and his snacks at 15-20. After reading Bernstein, we dropped his breakfast and dinner to 30-35 grams and his snacks, including the bedtime snack, to 10-15 grams. As always, he has protein and fat at every meal and with his bedtime and morning snacks. He does eat junky carbs more often than he should. We haven't changed his lunch carb count from 40-45 because he is under a doctor's lunch prescription at school.

We split his morning NPH shot into two injections. Dr. Bernstein says that the immune system goes after injected insulin in a big way when a large amount of it is injected into one site at one time. My son prefers the two smaller injections as they are less painful.

These small changes let his bedtime NPH drop from a range of 11 to 17 units (up and down on the roller coaster ride) down to 5 units. His blood sugar stays steady for the whole night where before he was getting lows that had to be treated (as low as 32 mg/dl) and highs that we gave him humalog for (greater than 400 mg/dl). His NPH and Humalog requirements have gone down, his appetite control during the day has improved greatly, and his blood sugar swings are less than they were.