Old Diabetic/New Way of Life!

ensive
Well today is my 1st day and going ok. Trying to break this diet mt dew habit as well. I'm a 41 yo insulin dependent mom of 22 yo, 7 yo and 2 yo. Dr just broached the subject of an insulin pump (A1C of 8.7 on 92 U of insulin/day, Avandamet 4/1000 b.i.d.) and cholesterol meds(borderline elevated but not high yet) and scared me to no end. I want to be here to see my 2 yr old daughter grow up, so after a few days of reading Atkins Diabetic book I decided today was going to be Day 1 of Induction and a new WOL. Today hasn't been too bad, no hunger just trying to guzzle this water and NOT have my Diet Dew's. I was worried about only having 3 C. of salad veggies and no fruit, but haven't had any really low BG checks yet! Any tips to keep it that way? I'm not on a sliding scale, so I'm kind of afraid of all this insulin and lack of carbs. I've been eating an oz chunk of cheese between meals and so far that's worked. Any other suggestions?

[2big4mysize]

Welcome to the board.
:wave :wave :wave :wave
watch your blood sugars and talk with your doctor about adjusting your dose of insulin as your aren't eating as many carbs as you were before. You don't want to be dealing with hypoglycemic sysmptoms too as you go through induction flu. Did you see our Canuck in your book? her stickie is at the top of this forum.

Happy low carbing.

Thank you for the welcome & yes I did see Canuck in my book!!! Although I have to say(no offense intended Canuck!) I thought she looked much older in the 1st pic with the baby, vs. the 2nd pic & the pics I had seen on the board!! It's amazing what the loss of some weight and a lot of illness can do for a body!!!
I've done well yesterday and today, my usual morning blood sugar is 125-180, this morning after only one day it was 74, 2 hr pp breakfast 66 (last week 180 after a cup of shredded wheat and 1/2 c milk!) I'm checking it regularly and keeping a log. So far, so good, not hungry and I still have 1 c. of veggies I can eat today so I'm planning on some celery and cream cheese for snack.

[shawnee]

I just read the new Atkins book & I say its 'OK'

But if you're serious & so is your diabetes (as your's sounds well developed) please buy Dr Richard Bernsteins 'Diabetes Solution' (2003 Edition), for the bible on low carbing & diabetes. Its up a few levels from the Atkins book which to me seems a bit 'dumbed down' for the general public. You can order from Amazon.com

I promise you it will be the best $20 you ever spent to save your life.

Thanks for the info Shawnee! I m planning on that cash is short right now so I'm getting it from the library, but they didn't have it in when I went so I'm on their wait list and they said it should be available by this Thursday. One great thing about this board is the vast amount of info available!!!! I just can't believe that my bs have all been under 97 since Sunday when I started this! The Dr had given me the option of using 26U of Novalog any time I substituted low carb slim fast for a meal, so that's the dosage I've been using (half of my normal) and I'm feeling great and having good readings. Can't wait for the book!

[canuck]

Welcome, only way to know how much insulin to drop is by your BG, measure before you shoot up as if not taking lots of carbs cant take reg dose or will start with the lows,we each react different but for all of us lows are ugly and we get starved and can eat a house so watch carefully. Always test 2 hr after so know if taking right amts.tell doc what you are doing, more are supportive now over past few months, Bernstein is a more rigid program and works great, use them both hand in hand, make sure those around you know you are dropping carbs and insulin incase you go into a low, test before driving especially with small child in car, make sure and eat enough so not hungry and so BG stay stable. Keep asking questions, we will guide you when we can but we are not docs so work hand in hand with yours. :wave
ya i look about 20 yrs younger and found a bottle so am a blond not a gray

:wave
Hi Canuck! Thanks for the welcome & info-been watching and testing at least 4-6xdaily. So far so good! One quick question, when I have experienced lows in the past I always kept a glucerna bar in my purse. Is there anything Atkins friendly that I should keep around in case this should occur? You look super and it sounds like you are feeling better than ever!!!!

[shawnee]

Forgot to mention Large portions of Dr Bernstein's book are online at the following site>

http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/

[canuck]

Sorry dont know that bar have never seen them in Canada, what is carb count, should be dropping insulin each day as go on low cabrs, ask doc how much ex how many units per gr of carbs should you use???

Shouldnt have lows, use less insulin to manage not more food, that is old way of thinking, dont think these low carb bars would help much as not enough sugars in them, so if a bad one then need to do what you need to do, sorry just dont know those bars.