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Permalink Reply by karen on December 19, 2012 at 12:50pm

The only way to control your bg is with insulin, however much is needed. If you are in DKA then you need to get some medical treatment, this is dangerous. Having some ketones is not the same as DKA. If you choose to "give up and just eat without taking your medicine", then you are also choosing to not control your bg, or your diabetes. Lucky for us that we have choices, I hope you decide to make better ones. DKA is a horrible thing to put your body in.

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Permalink Reply by Spock on December 19, 2012 at 2:04pm

Karen has great advice. I am assuming you are Type 1... but even if a T2 on insulin, it is very true.

Even in my years of denial (choosing to ignore the fact that I was Type 1) I always took my insulin. You have to..no other choices. You will never be able to control gluccose levels without insulin. Even if you choose to ignore all the fine points, eat whatever you want no matter how it harms you, take the insulin and check your blood glucose level.

Are your keto strips expired? If they are negative, if you do not believe them, check with a doctor. DKA can be very harmful.

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Permalink Reply by Wren on December 20, 2012 at 1:56pm

You mention that when you take a huge amount of insulin, your numbers are high anyway. I wonder if you've talked about insulin resistance with your doctor or CDE? I am T1 and struggle with insulin resistance- it's frustrating to need more insulin than seems reasonable for what I'm eating and scary to end up on the BG rollercoaster after taking a large dose. My doctor recently prescribed metformin and it has helped my insulin sensitivity a lot. I'm not spiking automatically from eating carbs anymore, my fasting numbers are more often in range, and I've been able to reduce my TDD a little bit. I was scared to try it because the digestive side effects are notorious, but fortunately, I haven't experienced any problems.

Other options I've explored for reducing BG spikes are drinking a small amount of apple cider vinegar before a meal and taking turmeric supplements. I've seen a little improvement from both, but haven't tried using either one consistently enough to be sure of the effects. I hope this is helpful! Good luck with whatever you decide to try and know that you're not alone in dealing with this kind of stress.

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on December 20, 2012 at 3:20pm

When your blood sugar is high, you will become insulin resistant and you will need more insulin. They key to getting your blood sugar under control is to diligently and smartly managing your insulin, diet and exercise. The books "Using Insulin" by Walsh and "Think Like a Pancreas" by Scheiner are really good references on how to adjust your insulin properly. Being diligent about testing and correcting can really help bring things back to normal. I've also had good results eating few carbs (carbs raise your blood sugar).

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Permalink Reply by elizabeth.redman178 on December 21, 2012 at 7:13pm

I know exactly how you feel!!! I have been in your situation too long and am finally coming out of it. One thing that really helped me was watching some funny videos on youtube and just surrounding myself with diabetes. Just coming on this website is awesome. Let me know if I can help in any way.

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