hi,
am new to the forum.. i was diagnosed a year before with type 1 and hypothyroidism.. am totally confused abt hw to bring my numbers down... and i wanna kno how v cn reduce the insulin resistance..please help
Hi! Welcome!
Having a consistent exercise routine has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity, both short term and long term.
tnx for d reply
For myself, Symlin was the kicker. Taking Symlin seemed to make insulin work 50 times harder. I now only take 6 units or less of Novolog during the day most days. Symlin works so well I can usually skip the entire day and just take a couple units before dinner (depends on those "random" days). Exercise does work to a certain extent also but nothing works as good as Symlin (at least for me).
Do you actually have IR now? Most Type 1's don't start out with it but can develop IR over time by "eating whatever you want and bolusing for it" an idea doctors are always touting, and weight gain due to the above or to normal aging. To me the best way to circumvent IR is not to get it in the first place by limiting carbs and thus insulin dosage and keeping our weight in good range.
hi, i am using novomix 30 penfill.. for the last few days my fasting has been abnormally high... within 150-200... i used to check before bed ...it wud b around 200.. but in d morning it will b still around 160-170... i doubt my penfill.. so have refilled it today... hope things will b fine
That is a terrible number to go sleep at, 200? are you on a basal insulin? I'm not sure what novopen 30 is, is that a mixed insulin? It sounds like you're not on a basal and not on enough insulin if your numbers are that high.
Everything everyone said to make you more sensitive to insulin is good but you have to be on the right dose too.
I am a type 1 diabetic and reduced insulin resistance by eating lower carb (50-70 grams/day) and losing 15% of my body weight as a result. My total daily dose of insulin was cut in half and my A1c dropped almost 1%.
My insulin resistance built up over many years and I wasn't even aware of its existence. I chased every high blood sugar number with ever increasing amounts of insulin until the insulin didn't work so well anymore. I remember some highs not giving an inch in the face of substantial insulin correction doses.
I don't know enough about your personal situation to know if my tactics would work for you but I offer my story if by chance it may. You've come to a good spot for info. Good luck with your quest!
novomix is pre mixed insulin... i take 15 in d morning nd 10 at night
ok, so is it a long acting and a fast acting? I'm still confused...
yup it is a combination of long acting and fast acting
ok. This may be why your numbers are so high. It is better to be on a basal insulin, often split into 2 or more doses, and on a fast acting insulin for your meals where you calculate your carbs and give a dose of insulin according to insulin:carb ratio: for example 1 unit of fast acting for 10-20 grams of carbs.
Or you can be on a pump where you only use a fast acting insulin- then you will set a ratio of the fast acting insulin for your "basal" and add bolus for your meals too, also of the fast acting. In many ways this is closer to what our pancreas does- it normally puts out small doses of insulin frequently to maintain things and then doses more when we eat.
When you're on a pump, another good thing is that you can increase and reduce your basal as needed according to your exercise levels and other factors.
I'm on mdi- I take 8 and 3 units of Levimir and then around 10-15 units of novolog for my meals. I also fall a low carb diet(50g per day) and use water and exercise to help lower bg when it spikes.
From NovoNordisk website:
NovoMix 30 contains 30% insulin aspart in a soluble fraction and 70% insulin aspart crystallised with protamine.
It looks like it's 30% rapid acting and 70% long acting. I've never used this type of mixture before but I know it's popular with T2 diabetics treated at Kaiser in the US.
tnx meee... can u explain that low carb diet..how do u keep it below 50??wats on ur menu
we dont get much info from doctr here..also here we dont have many diabetic speciality centres... so its hard
you're welcome :)
I started out at 30g per day after I got out of the hospital because I couldn't control my bg any other way. Then I was too hungry on that so I increased it a bit. I was following Dr. Bernstein's ideas on lowering the carb intake and having better results/numbers this way. My typical meals are 2 meals per day and a snack, not including glucose/candy/snacks for lows at times.
I eat 2 eggs, 1/2 green pepper or another veggie, cheese, nuts or berries and green tea with heavy cream and stevia for the first meal. About 9g carbs.
Then I eat chicken/fish/meat, a big salad, fage unsweetened yogurt, nuts, cacao nibs, berries, cognac, wine and water for the next meal, around 25g, the snack will be about 15g.
I had to eliminate all grains and starchy veggies because they spike me too much.
I only eat berries now for fruit, they're very low carb. There are low carb alternatives for bread and things like that if you don't want to completely eliminate them. You can bake things with almond flour- I'm going to do that soon and see how it goes.
You can experiment and see what foods work best for you- my advice is to eliminate anything that spikes you a lot except for occasional times and lower carbs as much as possible. Everyone is very different in what level their body needs and can tolerate.
Most people on a low carb diet increase fat and protein(less so) to make up for lower carbs. You can use things like symlin and metformin to help feelings of hunger also. I was using symlin but it made me go hypo too much and it was too difficult to time the dose correctly for me. I may try it again eventually.
Keep in mind also the portion sizes of your carb content foods, that can help lower your carbs also. I was told not to eat too much protein either per meal as that can spike you and a larger meal, whatever it is, sends a signal to your liver to produce glucagon to help you digest it, I think, so I try to walk after my larger meal and drink some wine with it, not hard to do, lol.
thanks Terry, I figured it was one of those but I wasn't sure. I think this doesn't work well for type 1 or type2 from what I have seen here.
thank u so much mee
you're welcome.. :) you need to tell your doc what you want/need, be assertive about it. It's very important to get those numbers down.
If you had access to separate rapid acting insulin, like Novolog, for meals and then long-acting, like Levemir, for background or basal coverage, that would probably work better than the 30/70 mix. Many diabetics can make that mixture work, so if that's all you can get, I'm sure you can experiment and find a way to get good control. Going low-carb would make everything easier.