Hi - I’m hoping to find someone who may have had a similar experience that I am having as my doctor is not being helpful and given there are a lot of low carbers on here I’m fingers crossed
I started a low carb diet (8-13-13) moderate protein moderate fat diet about 2.5 months ago
For the first 2 months it all went fantastic - my average blood sugar dropped to 90-100 with no peaks over 130 - my basal tresiba dropped to 19 from 28 and my bolus hunalog dropped fro 11 from about 30-40 (and that wasn’t controlling me well either with a1c of 8 )
Then suddenly overnight my bolus needs shot back up to 30 for the same Food - a unit of humalog before would drop me 60 bg - not it takes 4 units to do the same
I’ve got my bg back under control but it just feels like something is wrong to be injecting so much for so little carbs and protein each day - and my steady weight loss since I started has also ground to a halt since upping my dose ( too much insulin I guess to burn fat as my Ketosis has also stopped with Ketostix)
Doctor switched me to apidra but had no effect j also bought some regular insulin and that didn’t effect it - doctor said this something happens it can’t be antibodies as my insulin needs haven’t gone through the roof which would happen in that case
Has anyone experienced this when starting low carb and do you have any advice - ride it out or insist with the doctor that something has to be changed ?
Hi, I’ve experienced something similar, though not the same. I have been experimenting with an fasting mimicking diet, which is very low-carb, somewhat low protein, and high fat. It’s done for four days at a time. In between fasting, I’ve adopted a much lower carb diet, and my blood sugars have improved dramatically. However, there is this: when you eat low carb, your body utilizes ketones for fuel rather than carbs. When I eat low carb, I need almost no insulin and my blood sugars are almost flat-lined. Oddly, I can tolerate lows and be much more functional. However, when I do eat carbs I really have to overcompensate with more insulin, and I seem to be more resistant. My theory is that my body has become more adapted to burning ketones and forgets how to utilize carbs, and therefore I need more insulin. I expect - but don’t know for sure - that my body would eventually adapt back to using carbs more effciently, especially if I also exercise regularly, which I do. Here’s the study that inspired me to try the fasting mickicking diet. I have attempted to talk to doctors about it but they seem to only want to humor me. Frustrating. Fasting diet 'regenerates diabetic pancreas' - BBC News
I recently reduced my carb intake and my insulin numbers dropped as well. Initially, I lost about 20 lbs, but that has now slowed. I think I read somewhere that at least part of that may have been water loss. I was happy with the weight loss, but my primary objective was A1c improvement and I did get that. The other thing is that if I eat a large meal, I will need more insulin even though it has little carbs
I think there could be two possibilities. One is that I am eating more protein and that will be converted to blood glucose although more slowly than carbs. The other possibility is the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. Dr. Bernstein notes that if you ate a meal of indigestible sawdust, it would still raise your blood sugar. Your stomach is stretched and that causes a release of sugar. I suspect that when I first started a lower-carb routine that I also consumed less total food as well as fewer carbs. I’m finding that my insulin at breakfast and lunch have gone down considerably, but dinner not so much.
Thanks - I’m going to go back to low carb I think and tough it out and also I’m going to give that fast a try - it may be that carbs have drifted back in especially as I was correcting a lot of lows from exercise with skittles and a swig of Gatorade and that may have taken me out of ketosis but It may just be more resistant to glucose as I had a meal of only sashimi and I had to take 14 units of apidra to control the 5hr post meal protein gluconeogenesis I now get after eating a high protein meal as well - I may have to reduce the protein and up the fat also
Did you think your beta cells started working again ? Mine have been gone for 30 odd years now so don’t think it would work but I’ve heard that fasting can improve insulin sensitivity as well