Girlfriend Has Type 1 Diebeties

Nutrition
21

[quote]randman wrote:

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
wow…lots of good advice here!

my wife is a type 1 diabetic, and has had periods of good control, and lately had shitty blood sugar control (A1C at 13). she has gastroparesis, which is nerve damage to her stomach, most likely due to poor control prior to us meeting. this is very hard on her, because her stomach empties about 10 times slower than normal, which resuslts in her throwing up a lot, and making it unpredictable what her blood sugar will be, etc.

however, my wife, and i’m sure many other diabetics are like this, try to do “normal” things, which means they’re not managing their diabetes.

fortunately, my wife has taken up yoga, and is trying to eat better, which i’m trying to encourage. one of the things that we’re doing, is focusing on preparing more meals together, and making it more of a ritual for us. it helps that i’m in the process of getting myself back in shape right now. however, they are times when we both get irriated with each other, since it looks like i’m harping on her for eveything, and i think she’s not trying as hard as she should be…

this will be tough for you, since she’s “just” your girlfriend. she will most likey be resistant to you telling her how to manage her health, so you need to be rather delicate about this. i’d suggest picking up some basic daibetes books out there, and helping educating her about diet and exercise.

there are several supplements that my wife has found success with (that i got her on, and NO doctor suggested)…

alpha lipoic acid/chromium picolinate: helps her insulin sensitivity (she probably needs 1/3 of the insulin she did before)
acetly l carnitine: helps with diabetic neuopathy
benfotiamine: helps prevent glycation
b-complex/vict c, etc: makes up gaps in nutrition

i’d also suggest omega-3’s, since they would reduce inflamation

from what i’ve seen, the biggest thing that helps is consistency…eating the same thign at the same time, checking blood sugars consistenly, exercising at the same time…managing diabetes is like a job, where you don’t get a day off.[/quote]

I’d just like to say here that exercise, eating balanced meals, etc are all great things to do but the MOST important thing a Type 1 diabetic can do is to keep his/her blood sugar levels in check by checking it often and using insulin responsibly. If you don’t properly balance blood sugar with insulin none of the other stuff matters in the long run…This wasn’t necessarily directed at you but to all others on this board that may have misinformation about this disease.[/quote]

point taken!

22

[quote]rondastarr wrote:

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
just out of curiosity, what are the doses of those of you that are diabetic?

my wife takes about 14 IU’s of Lantus at night, and then 1:25 of Humalog for carbs, and 1:50 for corrective.

unfortunately, she doens’t have a real endo (although her regular doc is kickass), so we’re trying to fine-tune this for her…[/quote]

I’m on a pump now but I used to take 10 units Lantus in the morning and at night, taking it all at once caused me to many low BGs, and 1:10 Novoloag for carbs with a 1:30 correction.
I spent years with out insurance trying to do it myself and I did manage for a time but eventually it was more then I could handle. I was lucky to get a good job that had insurance.[/quote]

rondastarr,

do you prefer the pump due to convenience, or have your blood sugars actually been that much more stable?

23

btw, thanks to everyone for the good info…

my wife is recovering from pneumonia, and i’m taking over managing all her meds and stuff again (i always kind of kept track, but really only stuck my nose in when she needed something). all this info is really helping me out.

anyway, i think we might try out splitting the Lantus dose (and will taper if over the course of a few days)…she has a tendency to be low in the morning, but high in the afternoon/evening…

24

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:

[quote]rondastarr wrote:

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
just out of curiosity, what are the doses of those of you that are diabetic?

my wife takes about 14 IU’s of Lantus at night, and then 1:25 of Humalog for carbs, and 1:50 for corrective.

unfortunately, she doens’t have a real endo (although her regular doc is kickass), so we’re trying to fine-tune this for her…[/quote]

I’m on a pump now but I used to take 10 units Lantus in the morning and at night, taking it all at once caused me to many low BGs, and 1:10 Novoloag for carbs with a 1:30 correction.
I spent years with out insurance trying to do it myself and I did manage for a time but eventually it was more then I could handle. I was lucky to get a good job that had insurance.[/quote]

rondastarr,

do you prefer the pump due to convenience, or have your blood sugars actually been that much more stable?[/quote]

It is more convenient in a way but in the begining it seems like a lot of work, once I got used to it though it was easy. The part I like is that I always have my insulin on me, I don’t have to carry it in my bag and shoot up all the time. I still have to check my blood sugar often but much less that I did before. The also allows me to to be able to eat less carbs as the dose per carb can be measured in .1 unit instead of 1 whole unit, which is impossible to dose well with the smallest needles.
My BGs are much more stable now in comparison before the pump. I was getting to the point where I was having trouble going places alone because my BG was getting so low so offten that I kept passing out. I was having trouble at work, driving, and just living in general. For me the pump has allowed me to be independent again.

25

How is she having problems in the afternoon and evening? Going high after eating? Or just going high for the sake of going high?

I personally don’t think lantus has much use outside of giving you overnight coverage to keep your blood sugar stable and prevent the dawn effect in the morning. People talk about having a “basal insulin level” like a diabetic really needs a small amount of insulin all the time but I think if you eat 2 or 3 times between 8 AM and 8 PM then you use fast-acting insulin twice/thrice and if used sufficiently to cover the food, and assuming you are not eating lasagna and other super slow digesting things, then the fast-acting should be able to cover it all and you should not have a problem just randomly going high after wards (also this is assuming at least generally good health!). A diabetic doesn’t get the dawn effect at 4 PM for example.

Lantus also does not stay active in your body for 24 hours, more like 18 and I have no problems going high in afternoon or evening ever even though I take lantus around 10 PM usually. But also if I do go high during the day, say for instance if I go work out and do heavy weight work (which usually makes you go higher) I always use the fast-acting and only fast-acting for correction. Taking lantus twice in one day to me is kind of a bad idea and opens room for more problems… I don’t know if it works really well for other people or what, but it certainly would not for me.

Possibly the biggest problem with longer-acting insulins is their unpredictability. I can’t tell you how many lows I had in grade/middle school due to the earlier generation semi-long-acting insulins that would just kick in 3-4 hours after dosing and the “You have to eat 3 meals a day” American attitude that complicates daily eating for a diabetic so much. You can take it and forget about it and a few hours later BAM you are low.

With fast-acting you take it and know within 15-30 minutes you need to eat or else. OR if you just take a small correction dose to get your BS down, as your wife would do to fix her afternoon BS, you similarly know it should be down within an hour and you can test to make sure it went down (or you didn’t overdo it). Trying to do this with too much long-acting insulin in your body complicates things and makes you much more susceptible to lows in general. So I suggest trying lantus for overnight coverage only and the fast-acting stuff (which gives you effect for 2-3 hours, so it is not even really that fast…) for all day-time needs.

Of course being sick can change things too though, making people more susceptible to fluctuating BS levels.