Posts: 57
6/30/08 3:18 P

I totally agree with going through the cycles more than once. I know I've visited anger a time or two over the last 9 years.
Another thing to think about is when you're using more insulin to cover your food because you're not exercising or something, you're then still getting your calories and keeping good bgs, but no exercise to burn the calories you maybe don't need. So I agree with whoever said it's not so much the insulin but the situation which leads to increased insulin.

One thing I've done with my lows, I use jelly belly jelly beans for my low fixer (they travel well and taste good), once I eat my low fixing allotment, I snack on something like veggies or some crunchy nuts. Something that doesn't add to my glucose count, but satiates that need to eat. Another thing I've been trying to do now since I have a sensor, is temping my basal more. When it's on the low side and heading down, I try to temp. After I do some sort of exercise, I try to temp to prevent the low. Key word try, just can't seem to do it each and every time, and I think we need to learn to be ok with that. Can't do it all perfectly 100% of the time, we're only human.

Posts: 256
6/30/08 9:16 A

wow your posts are awesome! I totally agree with the fact that we cycle through the stages of grief. I know I have been through them a few times depending on what is going on in my life and how I choose to deal with it.
You guys are great keep up the good posts!

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Posts: 24
6/26/08 2:59 P

Great posts. It would be more accurate to say that people with chronic illnesses cycle through the stages over the years rather than reach acceptance and stay there. It is totally normal to go through some of those stages more than once, and to move through them at various rates. There are certain events which might push us towards one stage or another. The ideal is to to try to be patient with oneself.

Ruth

Posts: 1,014
6/26/08 2:46 P

Super, I agree with your post. I once read an article about a woman who had a pancreas transplant and was no longer insulin dependent. She actually had a more strict diet as a non-diabetic than she had ever done as a diabetic - because she discovered that not sticking to a strict diet lead to weight gain. Diabetics do have the BENEFIT of seeing the effects of their health choices more rapidly than other people do. We also have tools to help us control the damage. Finally, we have each other to query, confide in, learn from, and grow with.

As far as the ANGER and FRUSTRATION with diabetes, EVERY diabetic goes through some level of anger. It's part of the grieving process (denial and shock, bargaining, depression, anger, and acceptance). Some people stay in one stage longer than another person. Sometimes people experience the stages in a different order than listed here, but all people with a serious loss (including loss of health, i.e., diabetes diagnosis) go through these stages. It's perfectly normal. The important thing is to realize that you are going through the grieving process and take steps to help you reach the final stage - acceptance.

INSULIN = FAT??? Non-diabetics also produce insulin for the carbohydrates that they consume. If they don't exercise and eat too much - most of them also gain weight (depending on metabolism and muscle/fat ratio). The difference is that we control how much insulin we pump (or inject) and they don't. We have the same ability to burn off the carbs by exercing instead of sitting on our tushes. We just need to identify ways to deal with reactions in a responsible way. For me, I eat an apple, some glucose tabs, or some circus peanuts (marshmallow candy). Find what works for you for the reactions, then stick with it. Eat it slowly to help you get through the 15-minute wait time and see if you need to eat more then.

Edited by: CDRAKEAK at: 6/26/2008 (14:48)

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Posts: 1,550
6/26/08 2:34 P

One of the things I think I have figured from reading so many posts on various other message boards, is that we often blame TOO MUCH on diabetes. We are real people, with feelings and emotions and bad habits and cravings and laziness JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!
We ALL have to work to keep ourselves on track, not just those of use who count carbs and take insulin. I would go so far as to say we almost have an advantage though, because when we get off track we see the effects immediately whereas "normal" folks don't see a difference until their pants don't fit anymore! We get immediate feedback from all of our choices- what we eat, when we eat, how much we eat, if we exercise, how much we exercise, if we are stressed- and that immediate feedback can help us to change a situation before it is too big to handle.
I'm not trying to say that having diabetes is fun or easy and that it doesn't make any sort of difference, because it does, but if you let it make you mad so that you go eat too much, the problem is that you are mad and need to find an effective way of dealing with the anger, not that you are diabetic.
Look around at the "normal" people who have it so easy, how many of them are overweight or have high blood pressure or can't bend down to tie their shoes? How many others spend so much time counting calories and trying to stay skinny that they can't have fun with food? Its easy to think that we have to work harder to stay healthy, but if everyone else were to try to stay as healthy as we did, they'd be thinking twice about mega-muffins for a snack too!
Its really easy to put so much time and energy into being diabetic that you push the rest of you aside, buts its important to realize that you are a person with needs and emotions that have nothing to do with your blood sugar control.
Don't neglect the rest of your life just because your doctor can't measure it with a test!

Posts: 32
6/25/08 10:51 P

I would definitely be interested in your journal also, it sounds fascinating! good for you for being so disciplined to keep track of all that, I am impressed. :)

KAT, I went through a very similar situation. Mine was a more gradual slide tho...I was diagnosed at 9 and really don't remember what it was like not being a T1D. About a year ago I got mad too. I was so sick of having to be so strict and work so hard to stay as healthy as my non-diabetic friends. I started rebelling too, and beginning to let myself eat stuff that I knew I shouldn't, and watched my blood sugars get worse and worse, which made me feel guilty and even angrier. My point is, you're not alone!! :) the team's here for you. I'm still struggling with the psychological and mental part of my eating habits, and although I'm getting a lot better at improving my habits, I still slip back into a binge day every once in a while. what helps me is thinking about how much better I feel and how I have more energy when I eat well, even the weight is coming off soooooooooooooo darn slow!

Posts: 63
6/25/08 3:50 P

I would love to see how your journal turns out and how you are keeping it. Since I was diagnosed (in Sept) I have been trying to get my system right. I have been able to keep my A1C under 6, but I have not been able to control my weight increase. I try and try, but I just can't seem to loose any weight.

Posts: 151
6/25/08 11:51 A

sometimes the best (and only) resource we have is each other. you can learn a lot from your team members. we all share very similar experiences that some have learned to handle in a way that can help other or they have information you do not. i do believe that every person in this team has had those lows that just never seem to go back up until you've destroyed your fidge like godzilla ransacking tokyo.

currently, i'm delving into a project to help me get a better idea of my own patterns and habits. it's an extensive diabetic journal i'm keeping in a notebook. today is actually the first day. i'll not only be keeping exact track of what i am putting into my system, but also what those things are doing to my body and my blood sugars. if anyone is curious about how it is turning out, i can post a link to my blog on tudiabetes.com (another great community for diabetic of all types) where i'm chronicaling the journey.

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Posts: 129
6/25/08 11:26 A

I also have problems with that, it is so hard to tell myself that some hard candy will be enough, and I don't need to keep eating everything. I find the hardest time is if I wake up in the night with a low blood sugar, then I really struggle with controlling my anxiety and appetite.

I truly believe that my binge eating disorder is/was rooted deeply in my feelings about Diabetes. I got Type 1 when I was 14 months old. I never ate a lot of candy, etc. Around December I got mad. I wanted to eat sugar, cookies, cake, ice cream, granola bars, Fruit Loops, etc. I began eating all of those things, and tried to keep my sugar under control, unsuccessfully. Of course the weight gain caused my self esteem to plummet, I kept eating and eating until I gained 36 pounds and took my average blood glucose from 95 to 171! I am not happy about what I did, but maybe it had to happen for me to realize that I really do control my health, and not the Diabetes.

I have also been really frustrated by the fact that I can't find any resources for Type 1 bingers. It's either resources for people with Type 2 (who are incorrectly all labeled as fat, over eaters) or for Diabulemics. What about those of us who binge but still try to keep our Diabetes under, albeit poor, control???

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Posts: 24
6/25/08 8:17 A

This is a great topic and one I have wondered about as well. One thing that makes losing weight difficult for me is the roller coaster effect I get when I overeat. For example, when I overeat, my blood sugars rise and to compensate I give myself extra insulin, therefore putting on weight. Then, I may very well over do it and take too much, causing an insulin reaction. The insulin reaction makes me want to eat the fridge, and unless I am really careful and just take glucose tabs, I will indeed eat the fridge. Glucose goes up from food,add on the rebound effect of the adrenaline, and I am in trouble again.

One positive thing about the pump is that it keeps track of how much insulin is still in my body so I don't "stack" insulin. That has prevented a lot of lows. But still, it ain' easy losing weight as a diabetic and compulsive eater. Apparently there are many of us with eating disorders. A disorder referred to in a previous post is now called "diabulimia."

Posts: 129
6/25/08 5:47 A

I think you are probably right. I mean, Diabetics with pumps are not all that different from "normal" people. We have a small, continuous amount of circulating basal insulin, and we get a bolus when we eat. It is the same in non-diabetics, we just have to do it ourselves, instead of letting our bodies adjust it.

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Posts: 151
6/24/08 10:26 P

i don't think there's any exact formula in regards to how much fat is stored in your body based on how much insulin you use. i believe the more true statement for insulin is that the more insulin you use, the more likely you are to store fat because you are not burning off the energy you are consuming. there are many thin type 1 diabetics. what are they doing differently than those of use who could lose some weight? they are burning off that energy. we all know that when we, say go for a run we need less insulin for a couple hours or more at some point afterwards. thus, it is my belief that there is a correlation between a larger dose in insulin and a larger pant size simply due to inactivity. and without getting off our rears and breaking a sweat we cannot healthily lose the weight that crept up along with our daily dosage. and please, please, please don't ever reduce or stop taking insulin for a smaller jean size (i'm not saying anyone here would, but i used to abuse my insulin, and in doing so, my body this way). just like people with a working pancreas we have to just exercise and make smart choices.

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Posts: 63
6/24/08 8:41 P

Interesting question. Is there a different formula to how many calories = a pound when you take insulin?

Posts: 129
6/24/08 7:36 P

Ok, so we according to what I have heard,the more insulin you take the fatter you get. My question is, is there any way to know how much fat is being stored when you give yourself insulin? For instance if you give yourself 5 units of Humalog, is there a formula that tells how much of the carbs/calories are stored as fat?

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