A question for diabetics.

Christine_72 wrote: »

nutmegoreo wrote: »

@Christine_72

Sounds like he's not interested in making changes. There's really not much you can do about this. Honestly, if you know that he's not being completely honest about his compliance with medical recommendations, is it going to do anything other than make you upset? Likewise, for your poor mum having to deal with him?

It sounds to me like he is slowly killing himself, and doesn't care enough to stop. All the back and forth about which diet is most appropriate is useless until he is willing to make the changes. Sounds like he needs some counseling to begin changing his mindset, but even then, he needs to be willing.

Let him know that you love him, support him, and worry about his health and life. Then try to accept that until he is ready to make the changes, there is nothing more you can do. It's painful to watch loved ones throw their lives away, but it's important to know that it is out of your control. Hug your mum and tell her the same things.

Just my opinion, of course. It's free, so take it for what it's worth.

I agree.. My poor mum has racked up over $500 in phone calls to the hospital, and they're telling her that he's now under 24 hour observation, but that's all they're telling her. Nothing about how he's doing or what's going on, but the fact that he's under constant supervision tells me that he may have pulled the 'i'm going to kill myself' card.

I'm furious with my uncle for not getting in contact with my mum, he has his phone (which is constantly switched off), and even more pissed off with the doctors for not talking to her every time she calls. She always ends up talking to some random nurse who promises the doctor will call her back, but he never does..
Right now i'm more concerned with my mum, who's about to lose her mind, than i am with my uncle! She feels extra guilty, because he always goes on how selfish she is for moving to another country , and she lets him get to her. We moved here 45 years ago, and he still rants on about it. Sorry guys, now I'm starting to rant :mad:

jgnatca wrote: »

My T2 diabetes is also in remission and I never eliminated carbs.

gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

I'm asking this on behalf of my mum and i'm also curious too..

Her brother, my uncle, is a type 2 diabetic, but he lives in Germany so she only gets to talk to him on the phone and also hear only his side of the story..

By his own admission, he eats a terrible diet loaded with sugary foods, lollies, sweets and excessive carbs. However, he says he can eat all of these things because they have come out with an insulin injection which allows a diabetic to eat whatever they want as long they inject themselves (more than usual), after they eat 'unsuitable' foods, without any repercussions. Is this true, has anyone heard of this? My mum thinks he's fibbing...
Especially since he is now in hospital after having half his leg amputated. His doctor told my mum it was because of his poor lifestyle choices.

So my main question, is there such an insulin available?

Clearly your uncle's plan is not working for him. You could check the website of the American Diabetes Association or its counterpart in your country. That would be a great source of reliable info.

Forget the ADA. Try Diet Doctor on Facebook. He recommends a no-grain, no-sugar (or as close as you can get), high fat diet for pre-Type 2 and Type diabetics. The idea is because diabetes is a disease of high blood sugar, why would you want to eat food that spikes blood sugar? Grains and sugar spike blood sugar and fats do not.

Makes sense to me.

midwesterner85 wrote: »

gieshagirl wrote: »

Are these type 1's or type 2's? Why are they trying to stay away from carbs (sugar)?

Teenagers will have more BG fluctuations (and challenges) than others under similar circumstances. BG is affected by dozens of factors, including hormones.

these are type 1 diabetics. some with new diagnosis and others that have had to deal with this since they were very small. with teens, the trend with doctors is that if you say something is off limits....that is what they will sneak and do. the diabetic clinics seem to have more compliance with adjustment after eating than prohibiting certain foods. the carbs are broken down by the body into sugar....sugar impacts your system fast...(2 smarties can bring it up by 50-60 points in 10 min.) where as carbs can be slowed down by eating protein with it (but it still turns to sugar and your body perceives it like sugar and uses and stores it like sugar) and thus it makes for more blood sugar stability rather than huge swings that can harm you. type 2 diabetics have less freedom if they are diet controlled because they have to rely on their body to correct blood sugar (sometimes with oral meds for help) but they are more likely to have huge swings in sugar r/t their pancreas are trying to work where as type one their pancreas are not working at all

Right, so why are they supposed to stay away from sugar? They take insulin based on carbs, so why not include those sugar carbs in their dosage calculation?

midwesterner85 wrote: »

BlackTimber wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

gieshagirl wrote: »

Are these type 1's or type 2's? Why are they trying to stay away from carbs (sugar)?

Teenagers will have more BG fluctuations (and challenges) than others under similar circumstances. BG is affected by dozens of factors, including hormones.

these are type 1 diabetics. some with new diagnosis and others that have had to deal with this since they were very small. with teens, the trend with doctors is that if you say something is off limits....that is what they will sneak and do. the diabetic clinics seem to have more compliance with adjustment after eating than prohibiting certain foods. the carbs are broken down by the body into sugar....sugar impacts your system fast...(2 smarties can bring it up by 50-60 points in 10 min.) where as carbs can be slowed down by eating protein with it (but it still turns to sugar and your body perceives it like sugar and uses and stores it like sugar) and thus it makes for more blood sugar stability rather than huge swings that can harm you. type 2 diabetics have less freedom if they are diet controlled because they have to rely on their body to correct blood sugar (sometimes with oral meds for help) but they are more likely to have huge swings in sugar r/t their pancreas are trying to work where as type one their pancreas are not working at all

Right, so why are they supposed to stay away from sugar? They take insulin based on carbs, so why not include those sugar carbs in their dosage calculation?

It's not that simple. The replacement insulin is not as effective as a body makes. And it's near impossible to get the timing right so you don't go very high or very low with the replacement insulin. So the typical diabetic will lean towards allowing themselves to go on the high side because the consequences of going very low are real and dangerous. Also different carbohydrates are metabolized at different rates as noted above. As a parent of a type 1 diabetic child I can tell you that there is way more going on than the simple calculation for glucose vs insulin.

So to answer your question. Yes, you just need to include any carbohydrate in your needed insulin calculation. But if you consume too many fast acting carbohydrates, you will most likely go very high before your insulin injection has any affect.

Sugar is not actually the fastest acting carbohydrate, and when my daughter was younger we didn't run away from sugar products. Check out Glycemic index and Glycemic load. I can tell you though that as she has gotten older she self regulates carbohydrates and gets much better results.

Yes, points that I made except that I didn't mention glycemic index, which has much less impact than what foods the carbs are paired with - the reason carbs from pizza often give a burst of glucose several hours later. None of that is an explanation about why a type 1 shouldn't eat sugar.

I have more education on type 1 than most physicians and I have decades of experience managing my own type 1 diabetes. My first hand experience is that yes, timing is challenging (it is much better than it was when I first developed type 1 with Regular and NPH as the only available options). That doesn't mean type 1's should abstain from sugar. They just need to manage it properly with insulin.

Timing is an issue for non-diabetics as well, which I pointed out earlier. The spike before insulin kicks in happens to healthy individuals when they eat carbs. There is a slightly bigger spike for diabetics, but most of the same spike happens to non-diabetics too. That is the reality of eating carbs - for everybody. So don't suggest diabetics should never eat carbs unless you are going to apply the same logic to everybody else... because everybody else experiences a spike after eating carbs. So if this is the conclusion regarding BG spikes: "Type 1 diabetics shouldn't eat sugar." Then what you must conclude is really this: "No person should eat sugar." If you are willing to accept a healthy person having a BG spike after carbs before insulin takes effect, then you need to accept that type 1's will have the same spike.

FTR, I'm actually on the "everybody should limit carbs" side. It is just that the ignorance leading to suggestions that type 1's act differently is annoying. So I try my best to cure that ignorance with knowledge.

BlackTimber wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

gieshagirl wrote: »

Are these type 1's or type 2's? Why are they trying to stay away from carbs (sugar)?

Teenagers will have more BG fluctuations (and challenges) than others under similar circumstances. BG is affected by dozens of factors, including hormones.

these are type 1 diabetics. some with new diagnosis and others that have had to deal with this since they were very small. with teens, the trend with doctors is that if you say something is off limits....that is what they will sneak and do. the diabetic clinics seem to have more compliance with adjustment after eating than prohibiting certain foods. the carbs are broken down by the body into sugar....sugar impacts your system fast...(2 smarties can bring it up by 50-60 points in 10 min.) where as carbs can be slowed down by eating protein with it (but it still turns to sugar and your body perceives it like sugar and uses and stores it like sugar) and thus it makes for more blood sugar stability rather than huge swings that can harm you. type 2 diabetics have less freedom if they are diet controlled because they have to rely on their body to correct blood sugar (sometimes with oral meds for help) but they are more likely to have huge swings in sugar r/t their pancreas are trying to work where as type one their pancreas are not working at all

Right, so why are they supposed to stay away from sugar? They take insulin based on carbs, so why not include those sugar carbs in their dosage calculation?

It's not that simple. The replacement insulin is not as effective as a body makes. And it's near impossible to get the timing right so you don't go very high or very low with the replacement insulin. So the typical diabetic will lean towards allowing themselves to go on the high side because the consequences of going very low are real and dangerous. Also different carbohydrates are metabolized at different rates as noted above. As a parent of a type 1 diabetic child I can tell you that there is way more going on than the simple calculation for glucose vs insulin.

So to answer your question. Yes, you just need to include any carbohydrate in your needed insulin calculation. But if you consume too many fast acting carbohydrates, you will most likely go very high before your insulin injection has any affect.

Sugar is not actually the fastest acting carbohydrate, and when my daughter was younger we didn't run away from sugar products. Check out Glycemic index and Glycemic load. I can tell you though that as she has gotten older she self regulates carbohydrates and gets much better results.