February 2018 Running Challenge

@PastorVincent Yah, I was referring to celiac. Guess I need to keep using my panic attacks as the reason I don't donate.

My blood pressure was 130/90 at the docs today. Chalking that up to anxiety (I swear I am not as neurotic as I sound..) I have a home machine and whenever I take it at home I'm 115-120/70. They didn't say anything about it being high or having concerns so guess I won't either.

I accidentally took a nap when I meant to run. So I guess I needed sleep more than a run? Tomorrow I will run first, lift second.

Ha! I am in "get free stuff" mode. Any New Balance fans out there?

I just signed up to be a shoe wear tester. Free shoes! Maybe... I have not been chosen to wear test yet. I requested to try a pair of 860V9. We will see...

https://product.testing.newbalance.com/

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

Long day at work today and tomorrow will be even longer. I thought I would get to the gym as scheduled to run and lift weights. Stopped after 2.7 miles on the treadmill because I wasn't feeling well. My BG was dropping fast and I felt like I might vomit (not a common hypoglycemia symptom for me, but maybe because I'm tired). Sometimes workouts just aren't good. So I skipped the rest of the run and skipped weights.

Do you check your BG while you run, or you going by feel? I usually go by feel but if there was a way to auto track it while active that would be cool. I have had to abort once or twice and chews some glucose tabs. Makes me pretty annoyed.

I track SG with a CGM.

DUDE. I googled that! I have not heard of such a thing (probably would help if I actually kept my doctor's appointments...nah)! I will have to see about getting one. Getting down to 20 is not fun as you likely know...

Aren't they super expensive? I looked into them and it seemed like insurance would not cover unless you had poor control, and out of pocket was in the hundreds of dollars per month. @midwesterner85 - what's your experience?

@rheddmobile and @PastorVincent My insurance covers it, but there are co-pays / co-insurance that adds up fast. I spend nearly $200 / month on the co-insurance for sensors, the disposable part. But keep in mind that I have type 1 diabetes, which is a different circumstance altogether than type 2... even type 2's who are taking supplemental insulin.

ETA: I have an insulin pump integrated with the CGM. I'm actually on the Medtronic 670G system, which has an auto-mode feature to automatically adjust basal (background) insulin and uses an algorithm to 'learn' your response and improve over time.

I do not know if I am type 1/2 or any of that (I do have positive dx, and medication and all that). That would require me actually going back to an endo and so on. I know whatever I am I have read blood sugar swings from 20 to 300. Pretty sure that will put me in "mild" range if there is such a thing. Loosing 50 pounds and drastically revamping my diet has it mostly (eerr somewhat, well close enough) under control, so I self-dropped my meds. Though I really need to get a A1C (Or is it AC1?) test again. Problem is I moved and I do not have doctors up here. Been a few years now though so I should probably fix that. And get a cardio doc while I am at it. *sigh*

Anyways thanks for the heads up above this tech. Doubt I am a candidate for it, but cool to know it exists.

@PastorVincent You are most definitely a type 2.

Type 1 is an auto-immune disorder where your pancreatic beta cells (islets of langerhans) are killed because our immune system thinks they are foreign bodies.

Type 2 is a metabolic disorder usually related to obesity.

When a type 1 loses weight, there is no change in the type 1 condition... we still make no insulin regardless of how much or little we weigh.

ETA: You are talking about the Hemoglobin A1C test. The HbA1C is supposed to provide a rough average of BG control over the preceding 3-4 months (about the average life of red blood cells). BG leaves trace evidence on our red blood cells, which this test uses.

My highest known BG was 938 mg/dl (hospital lab test) and lowest was too low to measure with available technology at the time (somewhere less than 20 mg/dl).

RunsOnEspresso wrote: »

@PastorVincent Yah, I was referring to celiac. Guess I need to keep using my panic attacks as the reason I don't donate.

My blood pressure was 130/90 at the docs today. Chalking that up to anxiety (I swear I am not as neurotic as I sound..) I have a home machine and whenever I take it at home I'm 115-120/70. They didn't say anything about it being high or having concerns so guess I won't either.

I accidentally took a nap when I meant to run. So I guess I needed sleep more than a run? Tomorrow I will run first, lift second.

Not a doctor, but those blood pressure readings I think are in the normal range.

Oh, and it’s a known fact that blood pressure readings taken by a doctor can be up to 10% higher. My mums always saying hers shoots up. So you are indeed normal in that regard!!!

@girlinahat I had a doc tell me I was too high & pre hypertension once at like 135/80 so I guess I assumed anything over the 120 was high. I've had some take the reading at the end and its always lower. Like why don't more do that?

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

Long day at work today and tomorrow will be even longer. I thought I would get to the gym as scheduled to run and lift weights. Stopped after 2.7 miles on the treadmill because I wasn't feeling well. My BG was dropping fast and I felt like I might vomit (not a common hypoglycemia symptom for me, but maybe because I'm tired). Sometimes workouts just aren't good. So I skipped the rest of the run and skipped weights.

Do you check your BG while you run, or you going by feel? I usually go by feel but if there was a way to auto track it while active that would be cool. I have had to abort once or twice and chews some glucose tabs. Makes me pretty annoyed.

I track SG with a CGM.

DUDE. I googled that! I have not heard of such a thing (probably would help if I actually kept my doctor's appointments...nah)! I will have to see about getting one. Getting down to 20 is not fun as you likely know...

Aren't they super expensive? I looked into them and it seemed like insurance would not cover unless you had poor control, and out of pocket was in the hundreds of dollars per month. @midwesterner85 - what's your experience?

@rheddmobile and @PastorVincent My insurance covers it, but there are co-pays / co-insurance that adds up fast. I spend nearly $200 / month on the co-insurance for sensors, the disposable part. But keep in mind that I have type 1 diabetes, which is a different circumstance altogether than type 2... even type 2's who are taking supplemental insulin.

ETA: I have an insulin pump integrated with the CGM. I'm actually on the Medtronic 670G system, which has an auto-mode feature to automatically adjust basal (background) insulin and uses an algorithm to 'learn' your response and improve over time.

I do not know if I am type 1/2 or any of that (I do have positive dx, and medication and all that). That would require me actually going back to an endo and so on. I know whatever I am I have read blood sugar swings from 20 to 300. Pretty sure that will put me in "mild" range if there is such a thing. Loosing 50 pounds and drastically revamping my diet has it mostly (eerr somewhat, well close enough) under control, so I self-dropped my meds. Though I really need to get a A1C (Or is it AC1?) test again. Problem is I moved and I do not have doctors up here. Been a few years now though so I should probably fix that. And get a cardio doc while I am at it. *sigh*

Anyways thanks for the heads up above this tech. Doubt I am a candidate for it, but cool to know it exists.

@PastorVincent You are most definitely a type 2.

Type 1 is an auto-immune disorder where your pancreatic beta cells (islets of langerhans) are killed because our immune system thinks they are foreign bodies.

Type 2 is a metabolic disorder usually related to obesity.

When a type 1 loses weight, there is no change in the type 1 condition... we still make no insulin regardless of how much or little we weigh.

ETA: You are talking about the Hemoglobin A1C test. The HbA1C is supposed to provide a rough average of BG control over the preceding 3-4 months (about the average life of red blood cells). BG leaves trace evidence on our red blood cells, which this test uses.

My highest known BG was 938 mg/dl (hospital lab test) and lowest was too low to measure with available technology at the time (somewhere less than 20 mg/dl).

Ah yes... HbA1C.. numbers are like 7 and 8 and stuff right? I think that was where I was (maybe 7?) last time I bothered to show up at the Endo doc.

And my Pancrease is failing just not out for the count yet. So doe that mean type 1? I probably should get back to the doc some day.

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

I made many many drastic changes at once, but I ASSUME losing weight helped. I used to spike/crash all the time, now I go weeks. Still though, probably Type 2 based on your thoughts, though the doc seemed to think I COULD progress to a non-functional pancreas in time, but said it was too early to know and that I might just limp along like I am for a long time.

Really hope I can. I mean, sure I have not had birthday cake in years, but that seems a small price to pay.

Probably should go to a new doc and find out, but since there is nothing I can really do to prevent it (doctor said the same, it will happen, or not, nothing I could really do) I do not feel like I need to rush over.

I don't get the impression that your dr. understands what is happening, or perhaps does not understand the differences between type 1 and type 2. If he thought you were type 1 / LADA, he should have referred you to an endocrinologist and you should be monitoring frequently.

Did you have a gad or c-peptide test?

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

I made many many drastic changes at once, but I ASSUME losing weight helped. I used to spike/crash all the time, now I go weeks. Still though, probably Type 2 based on your thoughts, though the doc seemed to think I COULD progress to a non-functional pancreas in time, but said it was too early to know and that I might just limp along like I am for a long time.

Really hope I can. I mean, sure I have not had birthday cake in years, but that seems a small price to pay.

Probably should go to a new doc and find out, but since there is nothing I can really do to prevent it (doctor said the same, it will happen, or not, nothing I could really do) I do not feel like I need to rush over.

I don't get the impression that your dr. understands what is happening, or perhaps does not understand the differences between type 1 and type 2. If he thought you were type 1 / LADA, he should have referred you to an endocrinologist and you should be monitoring frequently.

Did you have a gad or c-peptide test?

It was an Endo and I am sure he understood it far better than I. For a while, I was testing constantly (picking all the fingers!) and logging and reporting in and he was taking blood for his own testing. The core of the problem was the pancreas is releasing insulin way late. So gonna make this up as it has been years since I looked at the numbers...

A normal person eats, and their sugar may spike up some, but comes down pretty quickly by itself and is happy in that 70-120 range most of the time.
A diabetic eats, sugar spikes up, and does not come back down without medical intervention (pumps, injections, pills, etc)

I am neither

Again, making these numbers up for sake of clarity. So I eat something normal-ish and not real sugary. If I track my numbers I get something like at 1 hour BG is like 300, at 2 hour BG is like 70, at 3 hour BG is like 170, at 4 hour BG is 20. I assume have gone lower than 20, given I have collapsed, but something in the low 20s is the lowest I have successfully recorded. I really try not get down there anymore. It is really not a fun place to be.

Doc explained that my pancreas is releasing the insulin too late, and then releasing too much, and then cutting off before doing it again. He said it might stay that way, or it might eventually fail. There was no way to know.

I have learned to treat it by eating ahead of the downswing, staying away from simple carbs and making sure I have fat and/or protein in every meal. I was supposed to keep going to see him every 6 months, but I fell off that bandwagon, and then moved.

Also running LOTS of miles to stay ahead of the calories. :loL:

So that might be way too much information but might make it clearer. I do not know if it is officially recorded as 1 or 2 or something else, I just know I pretty much have to act like a diabetic when I eat.

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

I made many many drastic changes at once, but I ASSUME losing weight helped. I used to spike/crash all the time, now I go weeks. Still though, probably Type 2 based on your thoughts, though the doc seemed to think I COULD progress to a non-functional pancreas in time, but said it was too early to know and that I might just limp along like I am for a long time.

Really hope I can. I mean, sure I have not had birthday cake in years, but that seems a small price to pay.

Probably should go to a new doc and find out, but since there is nothing I can really do to prevent it (doctor said the same, it will happen, or not, nothing I could really do) I do not feel like I need to rush over.

I don't get the impression that your dr. understands what is happening, or perhaps does not understand the differences between type 1 and type 2. If he thought you were type 1 / LADA, he should have referred you to an endocrinologist and you should be monitoring frequently.

Did you have a gad or c-peptide test?

It was an Endo and I am sure he understood it far better than I. For a while, I was testing constantly (picking all the fingers!) and logging and reporting in and he was taking blood for his own testing. The core of the problem was the pancreas is releasing insulin way late. So gonna make this up as it has been years since I looked at the numbers...

A normal person eats, and their sugar may spike up some, but comes down pretty quickly by itself and is happy in that 70-120 range most of the time.
A diabetic eats, sugar spikes up, and does not come back down without medical intervention (pumps, injections, pills, etc)

I am neither

Again, making these numbers up for sake of clarity. So I eat something normal-ish and not real sugary. If I track my numbers I get something like at 1 hour BG is like 300, at 2 hour BG is like 70, at 3 hour BG is like 170, at 4 hour BG is 20. I assume have gone lower than 20, given I have collapsed, but something in the low 20s is the lowest I have successfully recorded. I really try not get down there anymore. It is really not a fun place to be.

Doc explained that my pancreas is releasing the insulin too late, and then releasing too much, and then cutting off before doing it again. He said it might stay that way, or it might eventually fail. There was no way to know.

I have learned to treat it by eating ahead of the downswing, staying away from simple carbs and making sure I have fat and/or protein in every meal. I was supposed to keep going to see him every 6 months, but I fell off that bandwagon, and then moved.

Also running LOTS of miles to stay ahead of the calories. :loL:

So that might be way too much information but might make it clearer. I do not know if it is officially recorded as 1 or 2 or something else, I just know I pretty much have to act like a diabetic when I eat.

Okay, the bolded sentence is incorrect. It's true of type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetics, but type 2 (insulin resistant) diabetics eventually come down without meds. The pancreas produces insulin, but the body doesn't respond to it appropriately for various reasons, which can include insulin blocking hormones such as cortisol.

It's perfectly normal for a type 2 to have spikes and delayed lows - it sounds like your case is complicated by something called reactive hypoglycemia, which is what you've described with the delayed lows.

If you're having a second spike at 3 hours, it's probably protein related - little known fact, insulin is also needed to digest proteins. They just digest slower than carbs so most type 2s don't see a spike from eating protein because their insulin response covers it adequately.

300 is really high for post prandials, anything above 180 is upping your risk of neurological damage.

There are a whole variety of new meds which might help your control and it's worth seeing someone.

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

I made many many drastic changes at once, but I ASSUME losing weight helped. I used to spike/crash all the time, now I go weeks. Still though, probably Type 2 based on your thoughts, though the doc seemed to think I COULD progress to a non-functional pancreas in time, but said it was too early to know and that I might just limp along like I am for a long time.

Really hope I can. I mean, sure I have not had birthday cake in years, but that seems a small price to pay.

Probably should go to a new doc and find out, but since there is nothing I can really do to prevent it (doctor said the same, it will happen, or not, nothing I could really do) I do not feel like I need to rush over.

I don't get the impression that your dr. understands what is happening, or perhaps does not understand the differences between type 1 and type 2. If he thought you were type 1 / LADA, he should have referred you to an endocrinologist and you should be monitoring frequently.

Did you have a gad or c-peptide test?

It was an Endo and I am sure he understood it far better than I. For a while, I was testing constantly (picking all the fingers!) and logging and reporting in and he was taking blood for his own testing. The core of the problem was the pancreas is releasing insulin way late. So gonna make this up as it has been years since I looked at the numbers...

A normal person eats, and their sugar may spike up some, but comes down pretty quickly by itself and is happy in that 70-120 range most of the time.
A diabetic eats, sugar spikes up, and does not come back down without medical intervention (pumps, injections, pills, etc)

I am neither

Again, making these numbers up for sake of clarity. So I eat something normal-ish and not real sugary. If I track my numbers I get something like at 1 hour BG is like 300, at 2 hour BG is like 70, at 3 hour BG is like 170, at 4 hour BG is 20. I assume have gone lower than 20, given I have collapsed, but something in the low 20s is the lowest I have successfully recorded. I really try not get down there anymore. It is really not a fun place to be.

Doc explained that my pancreas is releasing the insulin too late, and then releasing too much, and then cutting off before doing it again. He said it might stay that way, or it might eventually fail. There was no way to know.

I have learned to treat it by eating ahead of the downswing, staying away from simple carbs and making sure I have fat and/or protein in every meal. I was supposed to keep going to see him every 6 months, but I fell off that bandwagon, and then moved.

Also running LOTS of miles to stay ahead of the calories. :loL:

So that might be way too much information but might make it clearer. I do not know if it is officially recorded as 1 or 2 or something else, I just know I pretty much have to act like a diabetic when I eat.

Oh I see... it sounds like atypical reactive hypoglycemia. LCHF definitely is a good tool, but there is also the super starch that was developed for people who have glycogen storage disease... and then was discovered it could help type 1's who have lots of hypos. Since then, it was commercialized and many fat adapted athletes use it for an extra boost during competition or other high intensity endurance events (typically 2+ hrs.). It has an extremely high molecular weight, so it absorbs very slowly and provides glucose over time without a BG spike. It's been commercialized (like I said, it is now used by a lot of fat adapted athletes for special events) and can be found as Generation UCAN.

As to hypos, I've been 20 mg/dl and lower without much for symptoms, and yet I've been unresponsive with paramedics called in the 40's. It seems to be that the most recent time I ate has an impact. If I go low overnight / early morning, it doesn't have to be terribly low to go unconscious. If I eat something and over-estimate carbs (and therefore take too much insulin), go low 1 or 2 hrs. later, I tend to be able to handle it better even when much lower. Now that I don't eat carbs, the chance of a low due to over-counting carbs is less likely... just like when you eat lower carb, the odds that your body will release too much insulin (even if it takes time before it does so) should be lower.

Great photos, @Orphia particularly the ones with sailboats!

Race day temps are slightly lower than predicted. Looks like mid 30s F, with light rain the first few hours, turning heavier after that. The high wind and thunderstorms now look like they'll hold off until after the race.

polskagirl01 wrote: »

It worked! My monthly HM streak is secure. The main challenge was mental, as I hate being cold. Everything was covered in snow, but fortunately it wasn't slippery. By the end of the run, my phone was acting funny (I use it for music), and my outer layers (buff, jacket, etc) were freezing solid, but I felt okay myself, so my clothing choices must have been alright overall. I don't have time for this cold weather, though. Can't wait for Spring!

Yay! Congrats!

Also keeping your phone close to your body instead of outside your close will help it handle the cold much better.

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

PastorVincent wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

@PastorVincent If losing weight improved things and you have been able to last years without insulin, then you are almost certainly type 2. Some type 2's confuse the difference between insulin usage and insulin production. Some of the symptoms may be similar, but the pathways to the diseases are very different.

Type 1's will always need to take insulin. I would become ill within hours of no longer getting insulin and would be dead within a few days. That 938 mg/dl I said was my highest was after 2 days without insulin. It's a surprise that I even survived. It was when I was a teenager and was just at a point where I didn't want to live with it anymore.

For type 1's who are in what's known as the "honeymoon stage" (this is the time during which your pancreas still has some functioning cells left because the immune system isn't yet done killing all beta cells, there is some variation as to how long it takes. Usually, younger patients have shorter honeymoons. Adults can have honeymoons that last years, and a term LADA is used to describe adult-onset type 1. If you have type 1 / LADA, you should be monitoring very closely so you know when you need to start taking insulin. There is nothing you can do to prevent it in this case, as it is just a matter of when a significant enough number of pancreatic beta cells are killed. You will need to start taking insulin before all are gone, and the dose will then be adjusted as more and more are lost.

I made many many drastic changes at once, but I ASSUME losing weight helped. I used to spike/crash all the time, now I go weeks. Still though, probably Type 2 based on your thoughts, though the doc seemed to think I COULD progress to a non-functional pancreas in time, but said it was too early to know and that I might just limp along like I am for a long time.

Really hope I can. I mean, sure I have not had birthday cake in years, but that seems a small price to pay.

Probably should go to a new doc and find out, but since there is nothing I can really do to prevent it (doctor said the same, it will happen, or not, nothing I could really do) I do not feel like I need to rush over.

I don't get the impression that your dr. understands what is happening, or perhaps does not understand the differences between type 1 and type 2. If he thought you were type 1 / LADA, he should have referred you to an endocrinologist and you should be monitoring frequently.

Did you have a gad or c-peptide test?

It was an Endo and I am sure he understood it far better than I. For a while, I was testing constantly (picking all the fingers!) and logging and reporting in and he was taking blood for his own testing. The core of the problem was the pancreas is releasing insulin way late. So gonna make this up as it has been years since I looked at the numbers...

A normal person eats, and their sugar may spike up some, but comes down pretty quickly by itself and is happy in that 70-120 range most of the time.
A diabetic eats, sugar spikes up, and does not come back down without medical intervention (pumps, injections, pills, etc)

I am neither

Again, making these numbers up for sake of clarity. So I eat something normal-ish and not real sugary. If I track my numbers I get something like at 1 hour BG is like 300, at 2 hour BG is like 70, at 3 hour BG is like 170, at 4 hour BG is 20. I assume have gone lower than 20, given I have collapsed, but something in the low 20s is the lowest I have successfully recorded. I really try not get down there anymore. It is really not a fun place to be.

Doc explained that my pancreas is releasing the insulin too late, and then releasing too much, and then cutting off before doing it again. He said it might stay that way, or it might eventually fail. There was no way to know.

I have learned to treat it by eating ahead of the downswing, staying away from simple carbs and making sure I have fat and/or protein in every meal. I was supposed to keep going to see him every 6 months, but I fell off that bandwagon, and then moved.

Also running LOTS of miles to stay ahead of the calories. :loL:

So that might be way too much information but might make it clearer. I do not know if it is officially recorded as 1 or 2 or something else, I just know I pretty much have to act like a diabetic when I eat.

Oh I see... it sounds like atypical reactive hypoglycemia. LCHF definitely is a good tool, but there is also the super starch that was developed for people who have glycogen storage disease... and then was discovered it could help type 1's who have lots of hypos. Since then, it was commercialized and many fat adapted athletes use it for an extra boost during competition or other high intensity endurance events (typically 2+ hrs.). It has an extremely high molecular weight, so it absorbs very slowly and provides glucose over time without a BG spike. It's been commercialized (like I said, it is now used by a lot of fat adapted athletes for special events) and can be found as Generation UCAN.

As to hypos, I've been 20 mg/dl and lower without much for symptoms, and yet I've been unresponsive with paramedics called in the 40's. It seems to be that the most recent time I ate has an impact. If I go low overnight / early morning, it doesn't have to be terribly low to go unconscious. If I eat something and over-estimate carbs (and therefore take too much insulin), go low 1 or 2 hrs. later, I tend to be able to handle it better even when much lower. Now that I don't eat carbs, the chance of a low due to over-counting carbs is less likely... just like when you eat lower carb, the odds that your body will release too much insulin (even if it takes time before it does so) should be lower.

I am not numerically LCHF - I mean I have done that. Spent a couple years on less the 60 carbs a day, and many weeks on less than 20 carbs per day. It really helped reset my diet and get my health back on track. Before that swap, I was essentially ONLY eating carbs. Talking pasta every night with garlic bread, and oh my YUM. Nowadays, I eat carbs, I just pay attention to how my BG responds. So birthday cake is out, but a bowl of cheerios is fine.

Still, my carbs have been inching up lately, and I need to pull them back down to something more reasonable. Carbs are sneaky little buggers.