50,000 injections later..

[IDemo]

I'm "celebrating" 50 years with Type 1 this month.

I spent the better part of a week in a diabetic coma at the age of 7 and woke up with tubes in my arms and ankles. I have done remarkably well, considering BG meters didn't come along until several years later, and Humalog and Lantus insulins after that. We old-timers can remember boiling the glass syringe and stainless steel needle each morning and peeing in a cup to test our sugar levels. And the only time our actual blood glucose was measured involved getting a horse needle stuck in our arm.

My A1C's are nearly always in the high 4's or low 5's; essentially in the non-diabetic zone. The ophthalmologist called my eyes "phenomenal" a couple of months ago. I'm testing a good 8 to 10 times daily.

That cure always seems right over the horizon and would sure ease the transition into my senior years, but I realize it's a very difficult task.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

1. I'm only about 160 injections into it - got a long way to go

Just got diagnosed 6 weeks ago with Type 1. I'm 40 years old, in great health, eat right, exercise a lot, not overweight, quit smoking 8 years, and had NO symptoms other than being slightly more thirsty than normal. Last time my BG levels were tested I was normal (2012), but this year they were about 500 on an 18 hour fast. I was over 900 after a normal meal (with lots of pasta and bread), and honestly feel lucky that I'm still alive. Sort of came out of the blue, and shocked the shit out of me.

My 14 day average BG was under 100 yesterday for the first time, so I'm getting it controlled. Been a real pain in the ass, though, because I love breads, grains, cereals, and beer. I actually started a modified Atkins' diet with low carbs (60-90 grams per day) and lots of fat. It's actually made a huge improvement in my cholesterol numbers to do the low-carb/high-fat diet, and it makes it extremely easy to control my BG numbers.

Honestly, I hope to have numbers like yours - just getting A1C #'s in the fives would make me plenty happy (the first A1C test I took couldn't even measure how high my numbers were - the value was simply noted as "14+&quot . What sort of diet do you eat to get the numbers so low? My doc's big on self-maintenance, as long as my numbers are good and I'm not experiencing any neuropathy or retinopathy. But, the CDE he sent me to wants me to eat 200-300 grams of carbs per day, and I can't control my numbers with that level of carb intake.

[IDemo]

2. You wouldn't want to follow my diet plan

because I basically don't have one. Other than virtually never eating out, that is. We both love to cook and eat healthy food whenever possible, particularly during garden (and farmers' market) season. I can't honestly tell you how many carbs I get daily, but 300 grams sounds on the high side to me.

Did your CDE have you calculate your correction factor? That can be a handy tool for tackling those post-meal highs.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

3. Yes, my CDE(s) have me calculating a correction dosage

I bolus based on my carb intake and pre-meal BG levels. Each unit of Humalog covers 9 grams of carb and/or drops my BG levels about 30 points. But, since I eat low-carb and my pre-meal numbers are nearly always in my targeted range or better, I haven't done a correction dose in awhile, and don't see myself doing so unless there's something else that spikes my numbers (stress, illness, etc).

The problem with following the CDE's suggestion to eat all the carbs I want is that it gets extremely difficult to get the right bolus dose. I'm either too high or too low (sometimes WAY too high or low). Further complicating matters is the fact that different foods change my BG levels at different rates - for example, a 30 carb banana will spike me 100-150 points, but 30 carbs of strawberries only kick me up about 50 points.

Carbs also affect me differently at different times of the day - I can eat more carbs at night without getting outside my target range, but if I have even 5 carbs for breakfast, my mid-morning BG levels climb above 140. Add to that the fact that even the best BG meters can be up to 20% off from the true BG value, and it doesn't make any sense to eat so many carbs. I'd drive myself crazy trying to figure out exactly what my dose should be, and I'm OCD so it would make me nuts to be out of range that often.

[oneshooter]

4. Lots of veggies and lean meat.

Avoid wheat, rice, and potatoes, all are pure carbs. I have a slice or two of bread in the morning , no more all day.