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kcredden
June 24th, 2007, 06:47 PM
Somehow I missed these, in my earlier post about tips to managing diabetes. Guess I shouldn't have done it so late :) - The following tips are generally for a T2 (insulin resistance) diabetic, as I am. Ask your doctor if your a T1, or T1.5 (insulin dependent, or insulin dependent & resistance).

One important tip I'll give right out. If I see readings bottoming out around 80, then I eat a few Oz's of protein. That keeps me from going into a hypo but still keeps me very low. Because some needed clarification, but to keep from being windy, I posted details on the bottom.

Ok onto the tips.

1) One of the biggest headaches, is the dawn effect. Whereby your BG may be low when you awaken one day, and then sometimes it may be though the roof. It's caused by hormones generated by the body between 4 and 8am.

Solution: Eat about 1 hour before bed. A mostly protein snack will last most of the night and prevent sleep hypos.

Then at 5am rise, eat a small handful of nuts, drink some water, then go back to bed. To help get back to sleep, don't do anything that would boost your adrenaline level, or drink stimulants. Plus also do this in minimum light levels. One of those green nightlights is great.

2) For newly Rxed diabetics. Calculate your carb to BG ratio. This is basically what your reading will be after consuming 1g of carb. The formula is simple. (ratio * carb_amount)+reading before you ate=total points. Using this knowledge, you can keep your spiking and raises to a lower level. It's said that a reading no higher than 120 is best.

3) The second tip for newly Rxed diabetics. Find out the time of your maximum insulin resistance period. The solution is basically to check your log when your starting out and see what the numbers say. Usually this period is in the afternoon.

kcredden
June 24th, 2007, 06:48 PM
Ok, went over the limit, so here's the final installment.

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4) Got a sweet tooth? Boy I do. Recently I've been finding Nabisco's go packs, with mini cookies. Once you do the math, you'll find that each cookie has only about 2.5g of carbs. True they're simple carbs and will spike your BG however much your ratio dictates, but once in awhile...mmm :) Check out the Mini Chips Ahoy, Oreos, and Nuttybutters. Just remember 1 cookie, not one package. :)

5) Want tight and level control? Did you know that by sipping on a diet, caffeine free drink in the hours before and after your maximum insulin resistance will do a lot? A couple of 16oz drinks for example drank between 1 and 6pm will keep me very low. Of course, keep testing too, and if you see readings around 80 or so you may want to eat a bit of protein to keep you from going too low.

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Details:

1) My theory on this, is it prevents a liver-dump of glucose into my blood stream, and so keeps my BGs low.
Afterwards I rise around 9am and my BG will be in the 80s or so.

What I found to be interesting about this, is that this sets the stage for my BGs for the entire day. If I awake around 80, then my BG will stay markedly lower, but if I awake high, then I'll remain high though the day. This I haven't been able to figure out :).

3) For example, mine is 2.5, which means for every gram I consume, I raise 2.5 points. So using my formula: (ratio * carb_amount)+reading before you ate=total points.

ratio: 2.5
carb_amount: 5g
Reading: 100

Means I'll have a reading of 112.5 at maximum raise.

4) For some reason, your body's resistence to insulian waxes and wanes though the day, on a fairly regular basis. If know when that is, you can eat even less carbs or do other things to keep your BGs steady.

5) This took me totally by surpise, early on but I've used it as a staple of my tight control. During the afternoon if I constently sip on a diet, caffene free soda my BGs will stay incredibly low. I've seen readings as low as 80, during my maximum insulian resistent period, (see above), and even had my first hypo reaction after I was Rxed with diabeties. This also works with decaffinated teas, and water (I don't like coffee, so you need to try this for yourself :). This is basically the control over the liver-dumping effect.

- Kc

Amandaann
June 28th, 2007, 11:11 PM
I have also figured out that the 100 calorie packs usually have the right amount of carbs that Brigette sugggests I have for a snack.
They keep me from eating to many carbs. However, they are more expensive but I almost always have a pack or 2 in my purse.
They have cookies and crackers and chips.