My glucose reading have been WONDERFUL.

I do what I'm told to do, and I get good results. Can't argue with that.

Some time ago, I discovered that when I DON'T EAT, OR I FORGET TO EAT, my sugar goes up. It was explained that the liver does this or that (I can't remember), so I eat my salads, and I'm doing just fine.

When I finished the Accord Program, it was decided that I would now start taking my Lantus in the evening. So I started last week, doing it at 10 p.m.

No problem. I was told to eat something right after I took the shot. (don't ask me why this is necessary as this is a basal insulin), but I did as I was told. I don't think the doctor told me this, but someone told me "you have to eat after you take a shot".

I'm not a big eater anymore. But I really don't want to eat after my dinner. I just don't have a need to do so. But if I have to, well, I have to.

So I had been taking the shot about 10 p.m. and having a little egg sandwich on low carb bread, with a small sprout salad.

next morning my reading was 127 or so.

The day time readings were about the same, or less. I even got down to 90 once. So ...so far, my body is responding to my eating correctly.

Last night I was not hungry. I decided not to eat after I took the shot. I did not want a sandwich or a salad.

But...

I said to myself. "what if it goes too low during the night"?? I have NEVER had this happen but then again, I'm new at this night-time shot thing.

So I had one half of one of my home-made blueberry muffins. This was 10 p.m.

I woke up 8 a.m. and it was 179. I just looked at the meter.

I then said "so what the heck am I supposed to do? Eat a salad and some fish, or some eggs, and then the next morning it will be 120 or so???

I'm also down to 12 units of the Lantus, down from 14. My goal is to be off completely but this will take time. I'm in no rush.

So I have two questions.

First question. - What do you think would have happened if I did not have half the blueberry muffin and just at nothing after 7 p.m, took the shot at 10 p.m. and went to bed whenever I went to bed????

Second question. - Because the doctor at Cornell said "Melody, 12 units of Lantus is really nothing", then (and I'm not doing this so don't worry), but WHAT EXACTLY WOULD HAPPEN IF I WENT OFF INSULIN entirely, in one day, and didn't wait the 4 months or so till I go off slowly.

I'm just curious and want to know if insulin is like the opiates, where you have to tritrate down, or whatever you do when you are on a pain pill or tranquilizer.

Tonight we are going into NYC to the Neuropathy Support group meeting.

I'm bringing a sprout salad for me. When I get home at 9 or so, I'll have some plain tuna or something. Tonight the eating will be a little off because I'll be in the city.

Tomorrow I go back to my regular routine.

I just would like to know if I can stop eating after dinner. Perhaps a cup of berrries at 7 p.m. That would be fine.

But this making a meal at 10 p.m. , well, I would like to stop doing that. (if I could).

I just don't want to wake up and see 179 again.

Maybe it might take a few days for my body to adjust.

Maybe tonight I can take the shot at 10 p.m., don't eat anything, tomorrow it will be whatever it will be, but maybe after a few days, my body will normalize, get balanced or whatever it seems to be doing.

I really am in much better shape than I was 4 years ago. Can a 61 year old woman's body bounce back and normalize?

Mrs. D.??? here's a shout out to you!!!

lol

Melody

I don't know.

People are so different.

You'll just have to try different combinations, to see what happens for you.

I wouldn't do carbs at night. These cause a spike in blood sugar, then the dip...at the dip that is when the liver kicks in. If the liver kicks in too much then your BS will be higher.

Have some yogurt, cheese, ham, chicken, whatever.

You know you will never be perfect all day long. I think striving for that is unrealistic.

High morning readings can be associated with something called the dawn phenominon. Hormone levels shift before you wake, to signal to the body that it is time to get up. Many dieticians recommend trying a snack in the evening to help counter this.

12 units of Lantus is extremly unlikely to cause a low during the night.

When I was excercising regularly (before my recent foot problems) I was taking 20 units of Lantus/day - in the evening. My normal fasting BS was between 80 - 90 and would peak to around 120 during post prandial tests. The lowest I ever got on Lantus was 68 and that was after a 2 hour workout.
People frequently eat before taking an insulin shot when they are on fast acting insulin so as to not overcompensate and cause a low before they eat.
For example taking a dose of fast acting insulin before ordering your meal in a crowded restaurant and then waiting for the food to arrive can be problematic. Lantus is a slow acting insulin though.


There are many things that can cause a high reading through. Illness or infection, stress, changes in just about everything can throw your readings off.

Hi. Thanks to you and to Mrs. D.

I know that Lantus is different than the Fast Acting insulin. Thankfully, I never had to go on that type of insulin.

I know I'll never get perfection, but I sure can strive for as close to it as I can get. I believe my body is healing. I'm just not sure what it's doing.

I mean, 21 years ago, I was on all kinds of oral meds and my sugar was 265 and I weighed 300 lbs and was miserable. But I was only 40 years old.

So fast forward me to my age now, and making major changes in my eating habits and doing my walks as best I can, and I just want to not get any more complications from diabetes. My neuropathy is pretty much in check with my taking my Methyl b-12 so that's okay by me.

Want to know what confuses me? What exactly is going on in my body? Is the 12 units of Lantus doing what my pancreas is supposed to be doing? Or is my body reacting to the Lantus and that's why I'm getting nice readings.

I never quite understood the whole concept of diabetes. I always thought it was high blood sugar. Then one doctor explained "No, it's unstable blood sugar, it goes up and comes down". I rarely had the "down". Always, for most of 21 years, it ranged in the over 200 range. I never took it seriously. Don't know why. In denial I guess.

Then it was explained how the various meds work, and some meds do this, and other meds do that. Then one person explained that some diabetic meds work by making your body respond differently to the insulin you are taking.

I really do get confused by all these explanations.

I just wish someone would say "Melody, you now take 12 units of Lantus, and some day you might take 10, and here's what is happening to your body. Your pancreas is doing (fill in the blanks), and your body is reacting in this way...(fill in the blanks). Oh I wish I went to nursing school like my mother did when she was 56. She became a Practical Nurse at the age of 57.

The fact that I went from 46 units of Lantus and 2000 metformin a day.. and now I take 12 of Lantus.,,,does this mean my body is undergoing some kind of healing process?? Wouldn't that be cool??? lol

The doc at Cornell said she knew a woman who was cured of diabetes, and that she no longer takes anything. The woman told the doctor "there is no cure for diabetes, I am just controlling it by diet". and the doctor said to me "Know what I told her??" I told her she has been controlled for so long without any meds, that I considered her diabetes no longer an issue so that's why I called her cured"

I said: "wow".

And on another note, several years ago, a nurse told me (this was WAY before I was diagnosed with neuropathy", and she knew Alan had neuropathy, and she was his old primary care physician's nurse. She said "Melody, you do know that neuropathy is irreversible, there is no cure, you can't stop it, and it will progress".

I said to her "you don't know that, there are always new findings, blah blah"

This conversation was over 7 years ago. She was adamant.

She said "Once you get neuropathy, there's nothing you can do, it is what it is".

I'd like to get my hands on that woman now. If she keeps telling people that, no one will get any help. She thinks she knows everything.

She doesn't.

Melody
P.S. Tonight I'm not eating after my shot. It's a 24 hour insulin. There should be no need to eat a meal. (at least we shall find out, lol)

Melody

You will do just fine.

I see great things in your future.

Donna

Thanks my dear.

I've begun to go walking now (now that the weather is nice). I try and walk every day. As long as I can walk, I tell myself I'm helping my heart.

And I just ate a nice bowl of sprouts with some slices of tomato and a few sliced black olives and a dash of salt and pepper and tomorrow I might even add some slices of red onions.

I never thought I could get excited about eating a salad.

lol

Melody

The best metaphor I have heard that has helped me understand how our body works / diabetes is that our ability to manage our sugar levels is a bit like running both the heat and air conditioning in the house at the same time.

Think of hormones produced in the pancreas like the air conditioner and hormones produced in the liver like the heater.

Normally our body runs both at the same time so that it can adjust things incrementally in small amounts. However if the pancreas production of insulin begins to decrease or insulin resistance is a problem than the heat (blood sugar rises)

If on the other hand we have more insulin in our blood than it needs than the house temperature gets too cold/low. And the heat needs to be turned up.

For people with Type 2 in early stages - Its mainly a problem of insulin resistance, later as that air conditioner runs to hard it wears out and is less effective complicating things. Often this is the point where someone transitions from oral meds and/or slow acting insulin to a fast acting insulin.

For a type 1 diabetic its like having the heat running in your house on a hot day with a busted air conditioner. You need the meds to compensate but it can be easy to overcompensate.

The metaphor isnt perfect but it works for me.

The big thing is test your sugars, stay consistant with diet, excercise, and meds. Avoid injesting large amounts of sugar or refined carbohydrates in a single meal or at all. So that your body can manage things by making small adjustments. Its when things swing in one direction too fast that bodies or medications mechanisms for swinging them back in the opposite direction tend to over correct and cause the inverse of the initial problem.

There are a tremendous number of things that can influence blood chemistry from illness, to food, to stress, excercise, sleep etc. And everybodies body works slightly differently based on age, sex, lifestyle, weight, genetics, etc.

Monitor and make changes over time, discard what doesnt work, keep what does. Accept that even the worlds best self managing diabetics have bad days, shake it off and keep going.

Wow!!! What a nice explanation.

How kind of you to take the time to explain it all to me. I actually understood it.

It did NOT fall on deaf ears, please believe that.

It has taken me YEARS to get to where I am now. As I type this, I am eating my sprouts. My body LOVES them.

So again, thank you very much for the diabetes lesson. It reminds me of when I went to school and tooka test.

I shall make it my business to pass

lol

Melody