Not trying to scare people. Just let people know there are alternative ways to consider, if they want.
Please lets leave this conversation here.
We dont have to agree.
i hope that people reading this will also see there are different ways and approaches. What path they take will be up to them.
Original poster here and her daughter are doing fine as far as i‘m aware, are aware of the possibility of lower carb approach and will adopt way of eating that best suits their situation, and are being guided by their endo.
I have been reading more and more that eating excess carbohydrates is bad for non diabetics as well as impacting on diabetics. I think it is well for parents of diabetic children to be informed about this issue, how they react to it is their decision. It is all too easy to feed children on chips, bread and mashed potato as well as biscuits. I see so much of it when I go out for a meal. Parents order a bowl or tub of chips for their children. Obviously it is easier to have children who are happy to eat something of unusual food, but it is seriously not good for them (or us).
I don’t find this conversation a scare tactic.
We are doing GREAT. Abigail is still only on 3 units of insulin. We are not full on low carb but it’s a work in progress.we do choose low carb most of the time they have a ton of low carb stuff now and if we go out Almsot everywhere have low carb she loves it. we have 3 kids so we do best we can. But we are getting better numbers. Her fastings were in the 120-95. We have seen some in the 80s! her post meals are much much better and she is back to being my happy healthy baby girl. Her numbers are more steady Thur the day We don’t have a lot of swings anaymore which made for a very rough day.
The low carb way of eating for diabetes has often been a flash-point of conflict on TuDiabetes, especially when it comes to using it for children. Parents can be very protective of their “children’s best interest.” And no parent likes to feel judged or criticized if their eating philosophy differs from another parent’s.
I come to this issue as a person diagnosed with T1D as an adult as well as a parent – luckily my daughter does not have diabetes. I like to think that I was well-informed about an array of social topics but especially matters relating to my health living with type 1 diabetes. I was not as well-informed as I could have been and some of that was due to my own denial of the idea of using low carb as a treatment tactic because personally I did not want to give up bread, rice, noodles and potatoes.
The idea of making a radical change to my diet was not appealing and I personally did not think it was sustainable. So, why should I try (and likely fail) such an extreme tactic? I thought of it in terms of my past struggle with quitting smoking. I quit and failed too many times to even count. I even quit twice for two years each time and yet I started smoking again. Well, I did quit again and made it stick. That was 31 years ago.
I’m here to tell anyone that changing my way of eating and limiting carbs in my diet was way easier than quitting smoking. And I didn’t feel the need to commit to the “full Bernstein” protocol of limiting to 30 grams of cabs per day.
My first step targeted a max daily carb limit of 100 grams per day. It didn’t take that much willpower and the effects were dramatic. My blood sugar variability plummeted while my BG average fell as well. I had to reduce all my basal rates as well as my insulin to carb meal ratios. With less insulin I was surprised that I started dropping weight. I had tried to lose weight many times over my lifetime and found the reality of that idea elusive. I lost about 14% of my body weight.
Enough of my story. Carb-limiting for diabetes has always been controversial. We’ve been through bruising verbal wars over this issue and it’s not been easy for this site’s moderators (or any diabetes online community) to manage. Add in the volatile mix of pyscho-social parent and child issues and it makes it tough to maintain civil discourse.
I commend the commenters to this thread for keeping this discussion below the boiling point. Low carb tactics for treating diabetes will always be a source of disagreement at forums like this. As humans we hold strong feelings about our chosen style of eating and I personally think that changing one’s eating habits is considered with the same gravity as considering changing one’s religion! We need to respect each others choices and in the end agree to disagree, if necessary.
My apologies to the original poster for veering off-topic but it appears that she has already benefitted from the awesome help of this community. Let’s respect each other’s position and calibrate our remarks using this filter: What would I think and feel if reading, as a reciever, the comments I’m about to submit? And sometimes saying nothing is the best choice!
If it was my kid, and sugars were high, and the pediatrician was not acting, I would walk into the ER and ask to be seen.
I don’t know why doctors are so reticent about diagnosing diabetes. Especially type 1.
Even 34 years ago when I presented with a 600 fasting glucose and I was dehydrated and underweight, at an urgent care. The doctor sent me home and told me to not eat any sweets or bread for a few days and come back.
The next day I got myself to the ER because I felt sick and dizzy, my eyes were blurry.
The doctor admitted me with DKA and diagnosed me with type 1
I got my first injection of regular insulin and a few hours later, I finally felt better.
You couldn’t have had a more obvious presentation of type1 than me except maybe my age of 21, was a little older than average.
I had fast onset, I was 160 lbs at 6’3 but still doctors just tend to resist diagnosing it.
I assume it’s better now that we have tests for antibodies.
But clearly it’s not changed too much even now
her post meals are much much better and she is back to being my happy healthy baby girl. Her numbers are more steady Thur the day We don’t have a lot of swings anaymore which made for a very rough day.