You and me both! I totally get where you’re coming from, and I wish I had a solution. I can eat a lot of those things you have to avoid (eggs and dairy), and I still get burned out when eating very low carb. Maybe it’s weakness, maybe it’s wickedness (or so Kendrick might suggest), but I just really love a piece of toast (or cake) on occasion. And not having rice, ever…is just painful.
Anyhow, I have no advice, solutions, or even thoughts, other than “keep doing the best you can.” I agree that eating low-carb can, sometimes, be very difficult!
Why not just indulge your food desires from time to time and dose accordingly? Keeping the fruit forbidden makes it more alluring than it really is.
I just enjoyed some maple syrup, perhaps a teaspoon or two, over the top of some breakfast sausage links. I licked my plate! Post-meal BGs are well behaved.
I eat rice and potatoes but limit to about 1/2 cup. I usually only do that at buffet meals or around special holidays.
Have you tried “shreded” broccoli or cauliflower, or other veggies. Even a half and mixture with rice might do. I have also had mashed potatoes, mixed with navy beans, or finely shredded cauliflower.
With seasoning, can hardly tell the difference, except much less spiking.
I know for me, it is more about the butter, parm cheese and seasoning!
Have you tried Duck eggs? I know someone that is allergic to eggs but not to duck eggs. I have found that if I soak any type of rice for 1/2 hour then rinse until water runs clear then cook I can eat rice. Big hugs to you.
So sorry you are dealing with all of this as well as the diabetes. Ugh. I understand you being worried about this and changing what you already know how to deal with as best you can. We dont want to go from the frying pan into the fire, even if it is probably temporary in this case.
I guess you have time to decide what is best for you.
I don’t know what happened with my grandfather but he just did the radioactive treatment right away. I think it was the only way to manage it for him. He also had thyroid eye disease. He was older when he got graves and he lived for 40 years on levo. I’m not sure if he had trouble managing the meds, he never mentioned it. I should ask my father if he remembers.
My father and I have hashimotos. Sometimes I feel hyper too but I’m not clinically hyper. I think it has more to do with antibodies maybe. Although tsh at least can fluctuate throughout the day. Supposedly taking your temp and pulse rate is the best way to see what is going on.
From what I have seen in Facebook groups and what my doctor has told me (and also the bits I hear about extended family who has/had Graves”), it seems many doctors go straight to recommending radioactive iodine without giving medication a trial. In my case, my doctor is pretty relaxed and is leaving the decision up to me, as he doesn’t feel there are too many risks to staying on medication long-term unless I decide to get pregnant (in which case I’ll need to do the iodine). I’ve started to have some of my other doctors question why I’m still on medication, though, as most people discontinue the medication if they don’t go into remission after 18 months. I’m going to see what my next blood work shows, but am thinking I may talk to my doctor about it again when I next see him.
As for low-carb food, I like most of it. I like cauliflower rice and other low-carb substitutes. I think my main aversion to eating low-carb right now is the convenience factor and the freedom factor. In a way this is more of a food allergy issue than a straight diabetes issue - if I didn’t have food allergies (or even just had one or two), I’d have no problem with it all. But food allergies complicate everything. Eating things like bread nad cereal and pasta gives me some quick options I can pick up in stores (still can’t pick up most options, low-carb or not), and gives me some more options when eating out (there’s one restaurant, for example, where pasta is literally the only safe dish I can eat!). It also gives me options that are easy to bring with me for lunch or travelling without requiring me to bring half a kitchen or coolers. I went to my parents’ for dinner yesterday and being able to eat quinoa gave me that option where otherwise I would have just had plain chicken while everyone else ate out. So I should make that clear to anyone wanting to try low-carb, it is a great way of eating, especially if you don’t have any other dietary restrictions. I think probably I will return to it at some point, especially because my allergies have seemed to improve since discontinuing allergy shots (which I did for four years), so I’m hopeful that I may be able to reintroduce one or two foods, which could make all the difference to my motivation.
Jen, I have always so admired you, it takes so much effort for you to travel, cook, read and you always come up with helpful replies to other people. Low carb is more trouble and I am having a mini rebellion right now too. I keep telling myself to snap out of it, but iit is sometimes so hard…
Hugs,
Maureen
Yes, it is hard to stick to a minimal car diet. I have just found bread which is crustless & is fine to eat with a carb rating per slice of 7.4 wholemeal. I try to stick to low carb but as our weather in South Wales, Gt. Britain has been hot I had to revert to a carb diet as my energy levels plummeted. Thyroid is a problem too, first I was taking too much, then it was adjusted, then adjusted again, so I’m due a test soon but think I need a higher dose. I did try a very strict diet on no carbs but can only do this for a certain time. We’re all human and creatures of habit and to alter our diet drastically does affect us.
Hi Jen. Like you, I have Graves disease (~30+yrs.) and T1 (50 yrs.! ), but after a month or two of heart palps and hyper emotionalism I opted for the RAI. It did take a long time to get my medication levels right. Mostly because I felt like crap on the pharmaceutical versions of thyroid replacement hormone. I switched to the old school desiccated pork thyroid (still available, generic called NP Thyroid) and I felt better. Not as good as having a my own proper thyroid, but ok.
Like you, once my thyroid went wonky, bg levels got WAAAY harder to manage, and monthly hormonal swings hugely amplified the randomness. Demoralizing as hell!!
Well, I’m well past menopause now which settled things down some, but still my basal rates wander around unpredictably. Diabetes SUCKS!!! How would any human not feel burned out after years, decades, of “Success is not an option, but no matter what you have to keep trying, trying, trying, every minute of every day”? I think you are really brave. I feel the way you describe really often.
As for grab and eat foods, one thing I’ve come to love for a snack is a whole can of pitted black olives. I drain it, put it in a bowl and munch them down, with no effect on my bg. Some kinds are yummier than others. Good luck Jen. Your post made me feel less alone.
It’s always nice to know that I’m not the only one who’s experienced this, especially the blood sugar never being as stable as it was before.
DId your symptoms and bood sugar stability improve after getting RAI?
I saw packages of “snack olives” at the local grocery store I use and got quite excited, but ALL of them had stuff I’m allergic to added into them! I haven’t looked at the canned olives. I don’t know if I like olives, but I’d like to try them. I have heard they are salty and I don’t like salt (don’t like pickles for that reason), but I’d like to try them and see.
Yea, they are a bit salty. Meaty too. Good with beer, which you are surely allergic to . The ingredients on the ones I like are: ripe olives, water, salt. Natural Value is the brand. Not sure if they’d have it where you live. England, or?
And no, RAI didn’t fix my numbers, sadly. Only my hyper anxiousness and heart rate. To be honest my numbers weren’t that stable before Graves. It was 1991, I was raising kids and horses. MDI, plus a few tests with visual strips/day. Probably an A1C if 11-13 American. Not sure how I got this old! Anyway it takes the kind of equipment we have now (Dexcom and pump) to get anything like in range control. The most challenging part of the wild basal swings back then was caused by my cycles. After I got a pump (2005) I set up 4 programs, each 20% higher or lower than the last, but with the same general 24 hr. pattern. As my daily numbers would start to tank or soar from ovulation or progesterone surges, I’d downshift or upshift accordingly. This helped, but wasn’t perfect. A1C around 8. Now post-menopause, It’s less extreme and the basals just shift around randomly, even within the 24 hr. pattern. I’ll get them right, and sometimes get several relatively calm days in range, but then the numbers go off again pfffft.
I hope you have better success, Jen, that the artificial pancreas gets here ASAP.
I’ve been meaning to try this, but not being able to put cheese on it makes it a bit less exciting. I’ve been severely allergic to potato since I was four years old, so I have no memory of what things like mashed potatoes are like, so luckily I don’t miss or crave them. Bread and cheese are the two biggies for me.
I’m feeling a bit more motivated lately to re-tackle my diet, in part because I’m fed-up with the blood sugar rollercoaster and feeling lousy, and also because several family members and friends are doing the keto diet right now.
I don’t know what allergies you are working with but here is a trick I use when I want to go off plan but not get into trouble. I’ll drink a protein shake or eat a Quest bar about an hour before my meal. With that protein and fat pre-load I find I can have a plate of carby food put in front of me yet end up eating much, much less of it. Works for me. Good luck!
), but after a month or two of heart palps and hyper emotionalism I opted for the RAI. It did take a long time to get my medication levels right. Mostly because I felt like crap on the pharmaceutical versions of thyroid replacement hormone. I switched to the old school desiccated pork thyroid (still available, generic called NP Thyroid) and I felt better. Not as good as having a my own proper thyroid, but ok.
. The ingredients on the ones I like are: ripe olives, water, salt. Natural Value is the brand. Not sure if they’d have it where you live. England, or?
