Could you post what a typical day of eating, medication, and activity looks like for you?
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I take 12 units of Tresiba around 6:30 am. I need to try to find something that will allow me to inject 11 1/2 units.
I then give my before breakfast shot of 3 1/2 units of Novolog. My morning glucose level can be anything between 68 and 100.
For breakfast I eat oatmeal,banana, date, walnuts, and a cup of blueberries. I have a cup of black coffee. Within a half an hr after eating, I jump on my exercise bike and quickly ride for 30 minutes.
I eat an early lunch of quinoa, black beans, garbanzo beans, vegan cheese sauce, onion, kale and a garbanzo bean cookie (believe me, these are really good). Herbal tea. I am usually around 70 before I eat and take 3 units of Novolog.
Within 30 minutes or so I ride for another 30 minutes. My glucose level is usually around 100 when I get off the bike.
Once a week I eat salmon and that is what we are having tonight. I will have a cup of quinoa, onion, vegan cheese sauce, salmon, a bunch of green vegetables, pumpkin seed kernels, a small tortilla and a bit of avocado, 2 garbanzo bean cookies, herbal tea, I usually take 3 1/2 units of Novolog.
Some days I need to eat several glucose tabs, some days I lower my insulin. Lately I
need to eat something to get me through the night. I probably should try lowering my Tresiba to 11.
I am fairly little at 5ā1ā 105 lbs.
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Thank you for that detailed reply. Do you also get on the bike after dinner? How long have you been able to use the exercise bike after meals? I Before you were able to do that, what was your routine? Did you ever try a way of eating similar to Bernsteinās 6-6-12 low carb method? If yes, why do you think it did not work for you?
I am more insulin sensitive after dinner, so no, I donāt need to exercise after dinner.
I have been riding my bike for about 4 yrs. That is when I switched from the Bernstein woe to the Mastering Diabetes woe.
I ate very low carb, under 30 carbs a day, for 11 yrs. My LDL rose on this diet and I ended up with 2 heart stents. I stayed on the diet, but eventually stopped because my blood pressure started going low when I got out of bed in the morning and several times I passed out and hit my head. I ended up in ER a couple of times. My glucose level was always fine, but my BP had bottomed out.
Also I was getting severe migraines with auras. Neither of these problems plagued me before or after the time I stayed on the very low carb diet. I feel much better now. My body needed something that it wasnāt getting on the low carb diet.
Exercise was not part of my low carb experience. I now eat about 275 carbs when I include glucose tabs. I need to exercise with this way of eating in order to stay as flat lined as I can. Because I donāt eat much fat, I can eat a great quantity of carbs, using very little insulin.
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Here is a Youtube video of how to give half doses of Tresiba by modifying the pen.
I know nothing about if it works or the person! Just that someone posted it on another site.
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Thanks Marie, I will check it out!
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I find that walking drops my insulin requirement and itās not even that intense.
Often after dinner I walk a 2 mile loop to starbucks for coffee. My glucose drops fast.
That takes me around 45 min. I need about 2 extra units of insulin on days I donāt walk.
At work I walk about the same to and from lunch.
I eat a very small breakfast of plain yogurt and a banana or some other fruit.
I donāt exercise at that time.
On days that I exercise to break a sweat I need to add carb gel. Usually one hour and 2 carb gels are good.
I think I get enough activity to hold off insulin resistance. I take about 45 units a day same as I did in my 20s.
Sick days Iām up to 60. And if Iām having absorption issues it could be anything.
I would like to reduce it a little bit, however not enough to add more meds
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Right now I am a mild type 2 and am controlling my blood sugar through diet and exercise only. @Marilyn6 the only way I could eat as many carbs as you do is if I took insulin, and no doctor or endo will give me insulin with an A1c of 5.1. I got a pediabetic A1c of 5.9 in 2009 when I was 44 years old, and that is when I started eating low carb, although not as low as Bernstein suggests at that time. Both parents are diabetics-mom was totally insulin dependent Type 2 and dad is just taking metformin. Now that I am in menopause at 56, it is not as easy to control my blood sugar or my weight, so I have decided to be strict 6-12-12 and become more diligent about muscle-building (as I used to be before the hot flashes hit). in 2019 I got a Calcium Coronary Artery scan, and had a score of zero. So 10 years of low carb plus having normal estrogen meant my chances of a stent were zero. Once a womanās estrogen drops, heart disease risk goes up, so I will be monitoring my heart health, but not through total LDL. Also, everyone is genetically different, so I donāt automatically assume Bernsteinās way will help everyone. And it might stop working for me at some point. But right now I am continuing with it and having great blood sugars.
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It sounds like you are doing a great job v, and I would certainly stick with what you are doing. I just want you to realize that many type 2ās follow the way I am eating and are able to stop all diabetic medicines. When fat in the diet is greatly reduced insulin resistance goes way down, so eating as many carbs as I eat is quite possible for type 2ās without taking insulin. I am eating 10 times the amount of carbs that I was eating on the Bernstein diet on about the same amount of insulin. My A1c is 5.1.
Good luck to you in the future. It sounds like you will do very well.
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@v_prediabetic, you can Regular or NPH insulin without a prescription. I think this applies in 49 states (all except Indiana).
At Walmart, itās only $25. Itās not as fast as the rapid stuff, but it works. Kept me alive forever.
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Be careful about self medicating. You are already keeping your sugars low.
Insulin is dangerous. We only endure the risk because we have to.
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I would definitely use the Wal-mart insulins if my blood sugars starting becoming unmanageable with diet and exercise and I couldnāt find a doctor to prescribe insulin.
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