Type 1 Diabetic Journey

Notes for Rick-December 2007

To Rick - Mon 17 December 2007 - from Ailsa E. C.

Inflammation in left arm. Stiffness in the elbow with burning pain on waking. Swollen elbow joint. Burning pain in lower arm throughout the day. Feldene 20mg Dispersible tablets have little or no effect.

Having difficulty with BGL. CSIRO Diet - high protein, low carb. Several 1.7BGL, 1.5 hypo's with hours to recover. These created blurred vision, palpations, tingling tongue, sticky skin and loss of thought followed by a massive headache.

Does this require a Glucogen shot for every hypo attack and if so, how many repeats are on the script? Are there sufficient to cover this many hypo's.

I had a severe hypo on 13 Dec - before lunch at 1.7 BGL,  see Logbook scan week50-2007

On 30 Nov, hypo - two hours after breakfast

On 26 Oct at 1.8BGL - before breakfast

On 27 Oct at 1.5BGL - before breakfast.

I lowered the overnight Lantus to 9units even though the night-time reading was HI, over 27.8. Was that the correct action?

On 25 Sept at LO on the machine - before dinner. Is that below 1.5?

On 18 Sept at 1.5BGL - before breakfast

I had a month of constant highs in Sept and increased the Humolog accordingly, having 10 units when over 18 BGL

November saw highs of 19 and over of an evening.

I was having 10 Lantus in the morning and sufficient Humolog, however the highs persisted.

I figured it was time to change away from the CSIRO Diet and looked at the Weight Watchers Plan and also the G.I. Factor book by Miller, Foster-Powell and Colagiuri.

What do you think of their high carbohydrate dietary intake method? It is 60% of daily food intake. They increase carbs and lower the fat content in the diet.

Weight Watchers on the other hand simply count all the calories for each day, and set a limit of calories for each individual and their goal weight. My limit is 1500 calories a day to achieve my goal weight of 59kg. I will then have to work out the insulin requirements by trial and error, mainly due to the major switch to reintroducing fruit at each meal. I usually only have a small fruit at morning and afternoon tea - approximately a 30gr. piece which gives 55 calories. I have done this for some years due to the advice from a hospital Dietician.

My weight has dropped from 78kg>75kg in the last four months, which is not enough, and disappointing.

On 19 Nov I had a choking attack after going to bed. I felt as if food was stuck in my throat and I could feel it pressing near my windpipe. I could not lie down due to the discomfort.

At 11pm 14.1BGL so I had 2 units of Humolog.

At 1am 12.0BGL - I had 2 units of Humolog.

At 3am 9.0BGL and I still felt ill, so had another 2 units of Humolog. I had a headache and aching arm and leg muscles and could not rest properly.

By 6am I had a 7.0BGL before breakast - I had 12 Lantus and 2 units of Humolog and two hours after breakfast my BGL was 17 so I had 6 more Humolog.

Before lunch the reading was 6.0 - I had 3 Humolog - and two hours later, it was 19.0BGL! Help!

Could it be just an incorrect diet, and if so, which diet shall I adopt for the future?

With thanks Rick

Ailsa E. C.

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