Blood sugar goals

  • Thread starter Jon Landenburer
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Jon Landenburer

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I am interested in blood sugar goals. I am a late onset, skinny guy. Most likely type 1 -- .4 c
peptide , actos does'nt do a thing. My Blood sugar is around 100-130 with occasional drops as low as
80 and 90 My H1c is something like 5.8. Am doing 1500 of glucophage and an atkins like diet. My doc
says I am doing fine and dont need insulin. But then I read Berstiens book which states that I
should be as close to normal as possible: 80 for non insulin takers, 90 for insulin takers.
Interested in feedback. jonl
 
Jon Landenburer wrote in message ...
>I am interested in blood sugar goals. I am a late onset, skinny guy. Most likely type 1 -- .4 c
>peptide , actos does'nt do a thing. My Blood sugar is around 100-130 with occasional drops as low
>as 80 and 90 My H1c is something like 5.8. Am doing 1500 of glucophage and an atkins like diet. My
>doc says I am doing fine and dont need insulin. But then I read Berstiens book which states that I
>should be as close to normal as possible: 80 for non insulin takers, 90 for insulin takers.
>Interested in feedback. jonl

If you are "most likely" Type 1, then you "most likely" need insulin shots. I am a late onset T1
who didn't get insulin shots for quite a while. That was a recipe for slowly degrading blood
sugar control which led to a really miserable time at the end of my honeymoon. I look back at
that last year with horror.

If you start insulin now, you have a shot at an HbA1c of 5.2 or lower. Many of us believe that every
hour of higher-then-normal-bG exacts a price in future complications and or shortened lifespan. (I
have seen estimates of truly normal HbA1c on medical sites. They range as low as 5.0) If you are on
the young side, then "avoiding" a normal HbA1c in order to "avoid" insulin shots could cost you
dearly in your old age.

Lord knows what price I will pay for my lousy last year before insulin.

In my unpleasant experience, the immediate problem in "not starting insulin yet" is undetected high
bG, and the difficulty in drawing the line between

a. "I can get along without Insulin" and

b. "No escaping it, now is the time to start"

Unless you are a meter-fanatic, you will miss some of the spikes. (I test 7 times a day and am still
surprised by spikes)

At the same time, slowly degrading bG doesn't often give you that clear-cut end-point to your injection-
free days.

Regards
Old Al
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Jon Landenburer) wrote:

> I am interested in blood sugar goals. I am a late onset, skinny guy. Most likely type 1 -- .4 c
> peptide , actos does'nt do a thing. My Blood sugar is around 100-130 with occasional drops as low
> as 80 and 90 My H1c is something like 5.8. Am doing 1500 of glucophage and an atkins like diet. My
> doc says I am doing fine and dont need insulin. But then I read Berstiens book which states that I
> should be as close to normal as possible: 80 for non insulin takers, 90 for insulin takers.
> Interested in feedback.
>

You're on glucophage, not doing insulin, and you're T1? This sounds odd to me.

Priscilla, T2
 
"oldal4865" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]
berlin.de>... So Al, can I ask you what your BG goals are. I know that you are a T1 late onset like
myslef and that you regretted ever waiting to get onto insulin. The few people I know who are
diabetic rely mostly on the monthly numbers and only on occasion check their BG daily. I check at
least twice a day and can pretty much predict the spike from a bowl of oatmeal, some lima beans or a
bag of nuts. I get concerned by the spikes which has me being more rigorous in my carb exclusion (no
more oatmeal) If someone on insulin can achieve BG less than 100 than I think there is something
better than what I am doing now. But I am not sure if eatihng carbs and calculating insulin will get
me closer to the norm. That is precisely why I posted this note. Are people on insulin enjoying BGs
less that 100? JonL
 
Jon Landenburer wrote in message ...
>"oldal4865" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>So Al, can I ask you what your BG goals are. I know that you are a T1 late onset like myslef and
>that you regretted ever waiting to get onto insulin. The few people I know who are diabetic rely
>mostly on the monthly numbers and only on occasion check their BG daily. I check at least twice a
>day and can pretty much predict the spike from a bowl of oatmeal, some lima beans or a bag of nuts.
>I get concerned by the spikes which has me being more rigorous in my carb exclusion (no more
>oatmeal) If someone on insulin can achieve BG less than 100 than I think there is something better
>than what I am doing now. But I am not sure if eatihng carbs and calculating insulin will get me
>closer to the norm. That is precisely why I posted this note. Are people on insulin enjoying BGs
>less that 100? JonL

My general goals are FbG of 100 and 2-hour-after-eating of 140 or less.

I have oatmeal for breakfast about 360 days per year, including this morning.

Today's bG:

6 am = 66 10 am = 104 2 pm = 107 5 pm = 108 7 pm = 168
9:30 pm = 62

The interesting "thing" about using modern insulins is that your bG can be pretty much what you want
it to be. I am willing to test 7 times a day, then shoot as much insulin, and inject as often as
needed to hit my targets. I still have mystery highs and mystery lows, e.g. baby-sitting my grandson
for 6 hours and spiking to 278 for no good reason at all though probably cause I was busy, busy,
busy (he was running my butt off) and screwed up somewhere, However, despite the screw-ups, I have
beat 6.0 HbA1c for years. My last was 5.7 following a mystery excursion to 5.9.

My HbA1c tends to track my exercise patterns. It's easier to control bG in the summer when I do more
lawn and home maintenance as well as grocery shop via bicycle. Michigan winters slow me down (lots
of arthritis)

You are interpreting my insulin regrets well. My two biggies: 1. Waiting too long before asking for
insulin and 2. Accepting an old-fashioned R + NPH insulin regime for three years. My mistakes were
founded on pure ignorance. That's why I nag so incessantly.

Regards
Old Al
 
"oldal4865" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> My general goals are FbG of 100 and 2-hour-after-eating of 140 or less.
>
I usually wake up at 100-130 and go down as the day progresses. Before Dinner I may be 80-120
and the same for bed This is done with just glucophage and diet.
> I have oatmeal for breakfast about 360 days per year, including this morning.
Had to cut oatmeal out . I'd get a spike of about 60

>
> The interesting "thing" about using modern insulins is that your bG can be pretty much what you
> want it to be. I am willing to test 7 times a day, then shoot as much insulin, and inject as often
> as needed to hit my

The thing that bothers me about an insulin regimen , or ANY regimen for that matter, is that I that
it would be a effort for me to focus on something, on my food my body , my time. I am a rather
absent minded person. Its easy to exert will power and say no as I wander through the day, in fact
it gets easier with time, its remembering to do anything at anytime that is hard.

>
> You are interpreting my insulin regrets well. My two biggies: 1. Waiting too long before asking
> for insulin and 2. Accepting an old-fashioned R + NPH insulin regime for three years. My mistakes
> were founded on pure ignorance. That's why I nag so incessantly.
>
My doc says I am doing fine and that I may even be too strict on myself. I have mentioned insulin a
couple of time. I am sure if I pushed it I could get it. But I dont want to leave tire tracks on my
doctors back. I did get a second opinion. The second said I am "an enigma" which surpirsed me. He
too mentioned that I probably could avoid insulin but that my morning highs were of some concern. I
am really torn because the docs say one thing and people like yourself are saying another. And to a
certain extent the docs are'nt in the trenches. Al, I hear what your saying . You were one of the
first responses to my post "skinny guy gets diabetes" 7 mos ago. But I also see that I have pretty
good BG. Theres another thread going now on BG level or spike " or something like that... and
they're talking of regular BGs of 140!
> Regards
> Old Al

But this whole thing has finally gotten me to get a third opinion. I feel like Job but on the other
hand so blessed that this is all so minor in that in does'nt impact my life except for eating. I
mean no wheelchair, I got my fingers, eyes, legs and mind. I can still exercise, go on trips ,
experience the cold, heat... thanks much Jon L
 
On 9 Feb 2004 16:37:22 -0800, [email protected] (Jon
Landenburer) wrote:

>"oldal4865" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]
>berlin.de>... So Al, can I ask you what your BG goals are. I know that you are a T1 late onset like
>myslef and that you regretted ever waiting to get onto insulin. The few people I know who are
>diabetic rely mostly on the monthly numbers and only on occasion check their BG daily. I check at
>least twice a day and can pretty much predict the spike from a bowl of oatmeal, some lima beans or
>a bag of nuts. I get concerned by the spikes which has me being more rigorous in my carb exclusion
>(no more oatmeal) If someone on insulin can achieve BG less than 100 than I think there is
>something better than what I am doing now. But I am not sure if eatihng carbs and calculating
>insulin will get me closer to the norm. That is precisely why I posted this note. Are people on
>insulin enjoying BGs less that 100?

Almost every day. I test 3 - 5 times per day and inject 4 - 5 times, depending on eating, exercise,
etc. and most of my numbers are less than 100. I do, as most here, restrict carbs somewhat, but
nowhere near levels advocated by Bernstein and Atkins.

I am 31 and was diagnosed with type 1 six months ago. My doctor started me on bedtime doses of
Lantus and pre-meal doses of Novolog several weeks after being diagnosed, even though at the time I
was able to pretty much keep the numbers under 120 without it by eating a low carb diet (<100 g per
day). Since then, I have switched to twice daily basal injections and also started substituting
regular insulin for novolog when eating meals which digest more slowly.