by alternative diabetic

Living with Hypos for over 27 years …

What is a Hypo?

Taken from Google ..

I am now 61 yrs old and finally have more time for myself 👯‍♂️. Although my 3 young adults no longer babies live at home still … I decided it’s time for me .

So this year I have been on a health journey to try and reduce my Hypos and change the way I manage my diabetes .

Since reducing my carbs and insulin I have managed to loose weight and finally feel like my old self … however I still Hypo !!!

WHY is this when I try so hard ? My Diabetic Specialist recently came up with a suggestion I may have Mauriac Syndrome 😱, when I researched it I wasn’t sure it had any relation to my diabetes but then I’m not a specialist !!!

WHY do I blog ? Actually I’m not sure myself … I never have much time to stop and write never mind all the Social Media platforms Instagram and Facebook and to what avail ?

At first I thought I could help others going through similar issues , but sometimes I think I’m just writing to my self about myself !!!

I’m now on a mission to find out why I Hypo so much … Thankfully the Hypos are manageable but just slow me down which can be frustrating !!!

I have Hypo’d from the very first day I started insulin !!! Hence people commented I may not be diabetic but I went on to have 3 children so couldn’t get off insulin to see and when I finally did try it was too late as my pancreas was dead !!!

It’s only now after 27 years that I’m asking more questions and trying to find the answer .. Giving up Carbs has been a start …..

by alternative diabetic

My journey continues …

Nearly at my pre diabetic weight of 27 yrs ago !!

I have been on a low carb regime now since end of February this year and managed to lose 28 lbs in weight so far .

I never realised stopping all Crisps Biscuits and treats and going on a predominately plant based , low carb , good fat diet would help so much . When I have a Hypo now I have Gluco tablets instead of the above !!!

My journey to here all began with a kick start at Juicing with the help of the Jason Vale retreat ,and I haven’t looked back since . I lost a lot of my sugar cravings 👯‍♂️Didn’t realise how much I was consuming even though I didn’t add sugar to anything .

Today I’m off to the diabetic Clinic at the Royal Free hospital so fingers crossed everything else is good as so many people keep saying I’m making myself ill and probably not well 😳… However I believe it’s down to my diet 🙏🤪

As anyone diabetic knows life isn’t easy and we have to check our sugars all the time and be completely in control of our bodies as there are many diabetic complications that occur without good control .

Once I have medical certainty my route has genuinely helped me I will share more … all I can say is my recent HbA1c is the lowest it’s been since I was first diagnosed 27 yrs ago !!!

by alternative diabetic

Who can read this…?

Omnipod v Freestyle Libre

I know they say pretty pictures help blogs but I wanted to share what’s happening to my sugar readings through the night. The Omnipod Reading is obviously more accurate because it measures capillary blood , the Libre shows the direction and stability but the the reading measures interstitial fluid . Insulin delivery from midnight last night to 6am was 2.5 u !!! Since I reduced carbs I have never seen anything like this in 27 yrs of having diabetes😳…

When first diagnosed out of the blue 27 yrs ago I was put on approx 4 daily injections of 10/12 units of Actrapid insulin and a background of 16/20 units of Lantus and went on to have low sugars every day … always spiking up to high sugars after eating carbs !!!

I hardly ate anything but I kept being told I needed more insulin hence the weight piled on !!!

I collected 6 autoimmune conditions along the 27 yrs always being blamed on my diabetes …. so explain this why now with a low carb intake which I never thought was possible for a T1D could my life change so much? No frequent spiking as before, however I still hypo but not the crazy swings ? …..More to follow ..

Photo taken before low carb regime…
Photo taken on low carb regime…
by alternative diabetic

Low Carb is way forward for Type 1 Diabetics too …

All diabetics are different ,and not everyone’s body reacts the same to Stress or Food .So I can only say from my experience …In Dec 2011 I lost my father tragically and I believe the stress affected my body by 2012/13 after having Type 1 diabetes for 21 years my body very suddenly gained excess fluid and further diabetic related complications,.I began wearing compression tights for the fluid build up Diabetic Lymphedema and my HbA1C had risen to 10.3 the highest ever … all this time I continued to spike and have hypos . As usual the Doctors and Specialists blame your control !

I had been to Viva Mayr in Austria when I was 45 yrs old convinced I wasn’t Type1 and Pritikin in Miami for my 50th Birthday where I was introduced to raw foods but most of my earlier years with Diabetes spent all my time bringing up 3 children.

In 2014 I discovered Aloe Vera which helped regulate the fluid retention slightly and I lost my first 14lbs! I got involved as a distributor for the company Forever Living however as much as the product was amazing and had amazing health benefits for me , the stress of being a distributor wasn’t for me so instead I just buy it for myself now as I’m still a big believer in Aloe Vera.

The last straw for me was having to have injections in my eye for what they thought was Diabetic Maculopathy .This was my breaking point when I began to research food even further ,

My final push was a few months ago when I went to a juicing retreat where I juiced for a whole week without food as I know it …I took a suitcase of carbs as I have never lived on just fluids and had no idea how I would be …to my surprise I didn’t need the extra carbs I had packed …My weight has dropped off and all the fluid retention has gone !!!

I’m now on a low Carb Diet with NO…

REFINED SUGARS

PROCESSED FOODS

COWS MILK

WHEAT

I have spent 27yrs fighting brittle type 1 diabetes . I have managed to half my medication and lose the fluid build up , I’m now shouting out my message ..LOW CARBS..is the way forward ……

by alternative diabetic

Ever had a day where your blood sugar won’t come down !!!

It happened to me yesterday , I changed my insulin pod and the little cannula mustn’t have been in correctly and I noticed my sugar rising but no matter how much insulin I corrected the reading with it still kept moving up 😳 So I changed my pod and sure enough I was correct because everything came back down to normal .

The moral of the story is never give up there is always a reason 👯‍♂️

Thanks to @type1diabetesmemes for the great memes 👏

by alternative diabetic

DIABETES.CO.UK published Mar 14 …

TID ..Juicing with Jason Vale @juicyoasis March 2019

Published by Alternative Diabetic in the blog Alternative Diabetic’s blog. Views: 143

My 60th Birthday treat !! …I just came back from a juicing retreat in Portugal…decided “what have I got to lose it was only 7 days of JUICING!!! ” It was amazing , I am using an insulin Omnipod pump and also freestyle libre so between the two I was able to micro manage my blood sugar. I reduced my insulin requirements by more than 50% and was bouncing with energy. The juices are made with a cold press juicer so the goodness is retained and I asked the staff to reduce all the recipes to limit the fruit sugars and stuck mostly to green juices. In the evening soup was served as it was a winter menu, I calculated approx how many carbs in a juice for my insulin and was blown away that I wasn’t hungry and I could have such tight control of my sugar levels.
I have been brittle diabetic for 27yrs and its the fist time I have had such perfect control !!!

THE GREAT THING ABOUT A RETREAT IS IT GIVES QUALITY TIME TO YOURSELF…I enjoyed the Yoga classes and jumping on a Mini Trampoline(rebounding) and walking every morning. I am now more aware about the foods we eat and I’m changing my diet to Plant based as it now shows how a low Carb diet helps Type 1 as well as reversing Type 2 diabetics.

I will blog about my adventure on 
www.alternativediabetic.com….Mar 14, 2019EditDelete

by alternative diabetic

Juicy Oasis Day 4 to Day 6

Everyday is similar with a daily board of activities, so won’t show you every board , as just want you to get a flavour of the retreat. Always something to do. Loved Waking up to hot water and lemon then onto yoga…

Never thought I would enjoy the shots and juices !!! Gave me perfect sugar control , I asked them to reduce the fruit content to suit my requirements , the staff were so helpful 💚

We had a talk on how to juice and were able to make our own, everyday was an adventure , we even learnt how to use the cold press juicer to make banana 🍌 and strawberry 🍓 desserts.❤️

by alternative diabetic

Juicy Oasis Day 3

Had a fun day .. Loving Yoga and jumping on a mini trampoline , never thought I would find all this energy just living on juice !!! The session on learning how to juice was fab , I can’t wait to get home and try it , my sugar readings have never been this good in 28 years !!! I really don’t want to go home .

I won’t make promises I can’t keep but I’m certainly going to try to follow a plant based diet on my return just hope my family will agree too 😳🤪…

by alternative diabetic

Juicy Oasis Day 1

Well I started my juice challenge today… !! I had my first wheatgrass shot followed by juice and had boundless energy , the fresh air and tranquility hits you straight away .. also the friendly faces who are all here for different reasons .. I knew instantly this was going to be a fun week !!!

Today I struggled with my low sugar and changing delivery of insulin on my pump also constant monitoring on my Freestyle Libre … but I survived my first day with a fab massage and yoga ending with a lovely tomato soup and movie about people who faced the same challenge 👯‍♂️😊

by alternative diabetic

Going back to my story… August 1998

I am now going back having jumped from July 1996 to August 1998..the 2 years in between were busy bringing up 2 young children and dealing with daily Hypo glycemic attacks !!!

August 1998 , I gave birth to my 3rd Child a Boy born at 36 weeks, again by caesarian. …However I may not have had him had I listened to the Doctors again !!

Three months into the pregnancy I went for a scan to be told , due to the blood tests I had, the baby hadn’t developed and I should have a termination..I was told a scan would be pointless and computers don’t get it wrong , so we sat outside the doctors room in the hospital while he saw the next patient and decided where to have the termination.  I was so sure the pregnancy felt right that when I went back in the room I insisted on a scan !!

Yes you guessed , the Doctor finally agreed to the scan and my feelings were right ..the results on the computer were wrong and our Baby was developing perfectly !!! 

Moral of the story always believe in your second sense and fight to be heard if you believe something is wrong.

I wouldn’t have given birth to my 3rd Child had I not pushed the doctor to give me a scan..after which I decided to change specialist ..hence going back to town.