Hi Ken (and Mike too
)
Wow and wow again! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to post that fantastic reply, and for your previous posts. Yes, I completely understood all of it (and sat here 'whooping')
You are truly inspirational! Bravo for all the work you put in to figure out you own diet as you did! I LOVE your engineering approach. I've never been able to manage it, despite years of effort, due to (oh, how perfectly you put it!) the 'cycling' - I could never find my baseline and the healthcare team I have, whilst lovely, have never been able to answer more than the most basic of my mad questions
(My insulin needs are usually higher before menstruation and then low for the first 3 days which didn't help in finding the baseline - it took me a long, long time to figure that out and even longer to convince my HCPs - hard to see the woods for the trees!) My GP/MD also thinks that my A1c is okay at 7.0 but I don't because that is only an average of all the ups and downs and horrible cycling.
So yes - I have been 'cycling' for years (on and off) and I HATE it with a passion. It makes me feel so bad and lethargic.
I too have had my 'scary year'. I recently left a job which was making me depressed - 7 day weeks, 70 hours (for nearly 2 years - it was bad and healthy eating was really difficult), this followed the end of a long-term relationship - then I sat around in panic and depression for a while and then, had a heart attack and a stent put in, last May - it's my anniversary this weekend in fact!
So, I lived through a few very fearful months, not feeling good, unable to get the control of in the 90s where I feel good, and with no energy, and thinking I'd not ever be able to feel 'good' again and that I was 'old before my time' but after only a few days of being completely 'plant-strong', I feel completely amazing - more amazing than the periods in life where I've not been cycling and know I will not look back. As you well know, feeling this amazing is such a contrast to the 'cycling'!!
I am also with you on the 'food is not recreational' for us thing - I find my friends and family are uncomfortable with my 'stance' though!
Also, despite the complications, I too am glad that I had the heart attack - it bought me here for a start and I feel great and hopeful and at least know I'm doing the best for my body. I am already feeling so much better than over the last few months - this is bounty enough and I know there's more on the way
If I only have a certain time on this mortal coil, I would like to at least not spend it 'cycling'. The only thing I find 'tedious' is the converting volumes to weights but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon.
I have 2 weeks before I start a new job, so this is a good time for me to be experimenting with recipes etc (I suspect I may also be celiac but I'm just keeping an eye on that and will attack that later - something to put all this excess energy into!) Oooh! You're right about that too - when I've been well and having a good patch with brilliant BGs, I have much more energy than anyone I know!
Well, it seems I have rambled and not touched on the actual post! Sorry!
Thank you for that info - I will use apple juice (hard to find non-concentrated around here - rural Wales, UK) as I bought a stock the other day. I'll probably get used to the transition rates quite quickly, now that I CAN see the woods! Thank you so much!
I rarely have 'serious' and 'sudden' hypos but the last two days have been bonkers! So I realise the need to adjust my insulin and this is just temporary. Basal (Lantus) already down from 24u to 20u and bolus (Humalog) down by about 18%).
However, yesterday's lows (I was in the 20s and 40s which rarely happens to me) and almost (wait for it..) 100g of carbs in dried fruit & apple juice resulted in a BG of 300+ this morning (which I've not had in years!).
I kept calm, assumed that this must be a 'hypo rebound' due to the severe lows and had a very low carb breakfast and as it was slow coming back down, I avoided lunch (to avoid the complications of insulin and carbs on board) and by my evening meal I'm back down in the 90s which is where I like to be.
Anyway! That's quite enough from me and thank you so very much for your engineering brain, pleased to meet you and more power to ya!
Annie
p.s. I had never had contact with fellow diabetics either but I found a good community on Twitter, last year, under the hashtag #doc. I don't contribute much and I doubt there's much that can be taught to you, but it's there, and friendly