Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Super_sally on February 7, 2011 at 6:12am

I'm forced to be low carb (50 - 70g/day) if I want my sugars to be normal. That is not my preference, that is just what works for me. Now that I'm pregnant even low carb is not cutting it, so I've started insulin again. It's going to be nice to be able to eat a little more carbs now.

We're all different and what works for us is also different. Bottom line is (hopefully) controlling blood sugars and having what each of us consider as quality of life as well. :) No debate that I can see.

I'm definitely a neaderthal type (in many senses... ) anyway - meat, eggs, nuts, and greens do me fine... but not everyone is....

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Permalink Reply by tyler on February 7, 2011 at 7:23am

Now that I am older I cant eat what or as much as I want my BS go up ,even if I take enough insulin . My mom found this book and you eat 20 carbs a day eat more if you dont want to lose weight . I dont think she will ever let me have pizza again after what my sugar did last night . LOL
The book is fattoskinny.com if you want to look at it .

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Permalink Reply by Joe Dennis on February 7, 2011 at 10:59am

Low Glycmic index is important to me as well as keeping carbs low. I avoid must grain products.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on February 7, 2011 at 5:31pm

I'm sold on the concept from Dr Bernstein, summed up as "the magic of small numbers".

Due to my insulin resistance, I'd have to inject SO MUCH more insulin to cover even a moderate-carb diet that there would be much more room for: wild swings in my bg's, zany and unexplained hypos, and generally feeling lousy as the carbs and insulin were chasing each other around in my blood all day and night.

Keeping it tight just feels better in my body and keeps my anxiety at bay. I don't go quite as low as Dr B, but keeping it at around 15/15/15 (mostly from green veggies and low-fat dairy) works best for me.

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Permalink Reply by The Diabetic Welfare Queen on February 7, 2011 at 6:03pm

My personal opinion is that Diabetic sites need to focus on teaching PWD on how to properly USE their glucose meters, for the love of all that's good and holy! lol

NO ONE should be told "eat x amount of carbs" a day... or just eat low GI... or just avoid white food... or whatever nonsense... because honestly, we will NEVER be like regular people again. ANY carb can be a bad carb in the wrong numbers for YOUR body. We have a disease of glucose intolerance, and in many of us (such as a Type 2) the disease is progressive, and how well our pancreas is dealing with an X amount of glucose is out there... It is going to vary by person.

There should be a focus on: Every person is different, and please use your glucose meter to test how many carbs are ideal or okay for YOU to consume, and won't give you spikes, huge errors or rollercoasters... and which foods should be a no no.

None of this "you need carbs" or "carbs will starve your brain nonsense," or you need to eat X amount of carbs a day, even if it's any number between 0 - 500. It should be a a blood glucose meter based thing... that takes into account your entire life, your body, and your level of exercise.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on February 7, 2011 at 6:11pm

I think that a large portion of the problem is that the MICEX (medical insurance complex) refuses to encourage the spirit of scientific analysis of the problem by testing like 40 minutes before you eat and then 20 minutes so, instead of a point floating in space, you get a line or fragment of a curve that is far more useful. The problem with doing this is that if you are up against a prescriptionally limited wall is that you will then have a wild and wooly day or five at the end of the month where you have no test strips or no lunch because you spent all your extra money on test strips. And, if you have no lunch, what's the point of test strips?

RE the exercise bits, I am still trying to work it so I can go on longer runs with less carbs and the results seem promising, although I still refuse to take notes because the MICEX spies will be on to me?

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Permalink Reply by The Diabetic Welfare Queen on February 7, 2011 at 6:20pm

We do what we can... Sometimes just doing 1 stereotypical meal a day, and rotating the time of day, is OKAY. Yeah, strips are pricey, but you can get them much cheaper online, many times... And even generic meters are OKAY, so long as they are consistent in numbers.

I have figured it out, and I was unemployed, and on food stamps forever... so believe me, it can be done... Even without insurance. There are so many things people waste money on... if they put it in a little can for a rainy test strip day, it might be okay... :)

A lot of people and organizations help with strips, too.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on February 7, 2011 at 6:46pm

I don't disagree with that either but people who go online and talk to wierdos who look like Alfred E. Neumann or call themselves "Diabetic Welfare Queen" and "AcidRock" seem more likely to be on the cutting edge of diabetic culture? At the same time, we are outside of the MICEX, except for people like Dr. Bernstein who are clever enough to go to medical school and see how it works on the other side

There are 18K members here but significant numbers of other PWD who don't question authority and demand that their doc give them more than 4x strips/ day or their insurance company cover what they would, technically be contractually and constitutionally ("pursuit of happiness...", at least in the USA) obligated to cover? It doesn't appear that funding health care is likely to be marketable in the near future so perhaps it's a moot point and I should start shoveling some money into a can too but I think that the issue should rightly be argued about on a national level. I mean sheesh, if people in California, Colorado, et al can vote to legalize marijuana, we should be able to vote to get test strips funded. So the proper use, not 4x/ day or 7x/ day but *when I want to know what my blood sugar is*** becomes, in fact the standard of care not, "I would have tested more but I run out of strips the last 4 days of every month..."

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Permalink Reply by The Diabetic Welfare Queen on February 7, 2011 at 6:53pm

I agree... After all, I was just arguing what things SHOULD be; not what they currently are.

I still think we need a new diabetes advocacy organization that really takes care of fighting for some of these things... to help fix the things that are wrong now, with the way we live and what we're told... *sigh*

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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on February 7, 2011 at 7:06pm

The thing is it's so short sighted. More frequent testing, for those who will do it, should equal less long term complications. Sounds like a good investment to me.

I like the concept of being able to test when you want to know what your sugar is. Frequent testing is often viewed as some sort of obsessive compulsive behavior that needs to be squashed, instead of evidence that a person just wants to take the best possible care of themselves.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on February 7, 2011 at 7:24pm

acidrock23 -- You are reminding me of the debates in come Congressional hearing a few years back about how much Viagra should be allowed for men on Medicare. I think they came up with two a month or some such nonsense.

WTW?!?

If someone wants one Viagra a month and someone else wants one Viagra per day, who has any right to tell him no? Sheesh. Let the old fellows and their partners have their fun. It will all even out (so to speak) in the end. Won't it?

Some diabetics wear CGM and only need two strips per day to calibrate (and a few for between CGM installations). Some will test 10-12 times per day. When I have a bad hypo I might go through six in two hours. WHY NOT?

Fortunately, my HMO has gotten over the whole "rationing test strips" nonsense, but if they hadn't I'd do what others have recommended and put a my pocket change and half of my pricy coffee money in a jar labeled "For Test Strips Only" and carry the change to the bank once in a while (because CoinStar charges too much -- in my opinion).

The monsters of greed in private insurance companies posted record profits last year -- all while whining about needing to raise rates and while rationing things like test strips.

To heck with 'em.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on February 8, 2011 at 2:35pm

FWIW, HCSC (Heath Care Services Corporation), the parent company of my insurance company and the "The FDA recommends 200 test strips/ month" policy is a not-for-profit insurance company.

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