Re: Warning: Whining

[Guest guest]

Well, Joan, first of all, get ahold of a copy of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes

Solutions by K. Bernstein, M.D. It will answer a lot of questions

and offer some solutiosn. A lot of us on this list use low carb eating to

control our BGs and it works. He advocates less than 30 a day, but if you

can even reduce your carbs to 100 a day it'll improve your BGs. And once

your BGs improve you may find your depression lifting too. On the other

hand, maybe you need to take some antidepressants. Many on this list do.

Eating to combat a low is not a good thing to do. Better is to buy some

glucose tabs and take them for hypo. Each one raises BG a measurable amount,

generally 20 points per tablet. Therefore, if you're low at 40, you'd want

to take at least two, maybe even three of them. This way you don't get " on

the rollercoaster " by eating to combat a low then goig too high.

Good control means keeping your BG as close to 100 as possible.

Bernstein has a website where there's lots of good stuff, including excerpts

from his book. The URL is a link on our own website, at the bottom of this

page. Check it out, please! Vicki

In a message dated 01-02-26 14:35:34 EST, you write:

<<

I really want to do better. I test all the time. I start each day anew and

have such plans to do better. Then my BS goes crazy. I go very low and I

can't stop eating or I go very high and I feel like I've failed and then I

eat to comfort myself.

>>

[Guest guest]

Joan ston wrote:

<< I really want to do better. I test all the time. I start each day anew

and have such plans to do better. Then my BS goes crazy. I go very low and

I can't stop eating or I go very high and I feel like I've failed and then I

eat to comfort myself. >>

The best info our group has found on gastroparesis is, I believe, " Dr.

Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. " (The author has been a type 1 for over 50

years.) One of his suggestions, e.g., is to eat baby food to help with the

gastroparesis.

You've got things going for you, Joan. You want to do better. You test

frequently. It's not a bit surprising that you overeat when you hypo. I call

it being " roadkill hungry. " But if you would load up on glucose tablets and

use those rather than eating, you would probably get much better control,

and wouldn't get down in the dumps about overeating. It removes the " reward

system " of overeating for hypos. There are many insulin users in this group

who can probably help you with your insulin dosing and timing and

techniques, to help smooth things out for you. Would you like to share with

us your insulin regimen?

Susie

[Guest guest]

>>I really want to do better. I test all the time. I start each day anew and

have such plans to do better. Then my BS goes crazy. I go very low and I

can't stop eating or I go very high and I feel like I've failed and then I

eat to comfort myself.>>

****Joan, you are not alone. There are some on this list that have been

there. For your hypos, please try glucose tabs. It's a specific dose, and

1 tablet (4 grams carbs) raises most people's bg about 20 points. If you

eat the tablet when you test low, then test again in 25 minutes and eat

another if you really need it, you won't have to " feed " your hypo with

unnecessary food, which you have to digest anyway, so it takes longer. The

glucose tabs go right to work, and won't send you way high, which of course,

sends you way low again. So, in effect, the glucose tabs stop your bg's

from the roller coaster ride.

Barb

--------

http://www.RainbowFarm.com

http://www.RainbowFarm.com/photos.html

[Guest guest]

Joan ston wrote:

Barb,

I will try the glucose tabs. I have heard of them. But what does one do

for the starving frenzies?

Thanks,

joan >^^<

t1

Really, the glucose tabs will help here, I go through this too, I just take one

tab, for every 20 points I'm too low, then test every 10 min til I'm where I

want to be, it won't take too long, its very scary I know, but rely on those

tabs and not food, its faster too. It really does take care of the hungry

horrors.

carol

---------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Joan,

Everyone of us has off days where we abuse ourselves with food.

Go easy on yourself and try to do something very special for yourself every

day. You certainly deserve it.

God Bless

[Guest guest]

Joan ston wrote:

<< I will try the glucose tabs ... what does one do for the starving

frenzies? >>

As your control improves, you won't experience that nearly as much, because

you'll stop the rollercoaster ride your glucose readings have been on. If

you're hypoing, the glucose tablets will pull you back up *fast* and then

the starved feeling will go away. That awful hunger is just your body trying

to save itself when it senses you are dropping too low for safety.

Susie

[Guest guest]

>Thanks for the pathway to Dr Bernstein website. I'll see if our library

has

>his book. It does sound interesting. I get a hold of some glucose tabs

too.

>I assume the are at a drug store.

****Bernstein's book is also on the web in part. The url is on the website

for this list, which is posted at the bottom of every message.

Barb

--------

http://www.RainbowFarm.com

http://www.RainbowFarm.com/photos.html

[Guest guest]

Barb Young wrote:

<< Personally I think most people who overeat tons of carbs are carbhydrate

addicts to some extent. How I got over those carb cravings was to not eat

very many of them. The cravings went away in a few days. >>

Yep yep yep. My husband and I were both afflicted. Like Barb says, it takes

only a few days or a few weeks to begin to break that addiction cycle.

Susie

[Guest guest]

> I really want to do better. I test all the time. I start each day anew and

> have such plans to do better. Then my BS goes crazy. I go very low and I

> can't stop eating or I go very high and I feel like I've failed and then I

> eat to comfort myself.

Hi Joan, you sound a lot like me. And it's taken me a number of months (or

longer) to start to admit that I have a problem. I am also type 1, and have been

for 12 years or so, now 39. And emotional eating related to depression seems to

be surfacing as a major issue. For a while, I was thinking I was losing my mind,

and then I thought I had a major eating disorder, but in talking to my endo, and

regular talking with a close email friend, I realize the eating is directly

related to my bg levels at the time and the emotional issues that I am

experiencing. Some days are okay, and my bg levels are medicre, other days are

not okay, and my bg levels are atrocious. And when they are bad, everything

seems to be even harder to deal with. But I always try to face a new day with a

brighter outlook, and try again fresh.

At least my endo is aware of this now (boy, that was difficult for me to admit

this to him, and I'm glad I did). I am going to be making an appointment with a

new GP to deal with the depression (my current GP is not one that I would talk

to about such things, he is not someone that I would describe as compassionate).

I was not always this way, I used to have pretty good control and good HbA1C's.

As I explained to my endo, I know intellectually what I should be doing, and not

doing, but I'm very dysfunctional right now.

I just wanted to let you know, Joan, something that my friend has told me

repeatedly, and I'm starting to believe it, is that our value as a person is not

defined by our bg numbers. We are still good and worthwhile people, no matter

what we eat.

[Guest guest]

wrote:

<< I just wanted to let you know, Joan, something that my friend has told me

repeatedly, and I'm starting to believe it, is that our value as a person is

not defined by our bg numbers. We are still good and worthwhile people, no

matter what we eat. >>

Thank you for speaking honestly, , and I hope you will continue to do

so. It can be so cathartic to open up to others who are in a position to

understand what you're going through. None of us is perfect. We all have bad

spells. Please keep believing in yourself, and whenever you feel like it,

talk to your friends here in the group.

Hugs,

Susie

[Guest guest]

, Joan and probably others: You might want to have your GP refer you

to a psychologist. When I switched GP's several years ago, the new one was

not willing to continue my antidepressant prescription without verification

of clinical depression (even though there is a substantial family history of

it). He sent me to a psychologist for testing. The psychologist not only

verified the depression but he also pointed out that my compulsive eating

(especially after 11:30 p.m) was also linked to it. He discovered certain

behavioral patterns that ran hand in hand with my compulsive eating.

Learning how to break the link (for example, I read and eat in the kitchen

at the same time - so he suggested just having a snack but doing the reading

somewhere else) also helped reduce my compulsive eating. The three months I

spent going to the psychologist every two weeks was probably some of the

best money I ever spent treating both my diabetes and depression. It took

some time to accept the fact that I was being treated for a " mental

disorder " but then I realized that depression is simply a chemical imbalance

in the brain and may have nothing to do with my sanity. I might add that

when I remember to apply some of the behavioral " tricks " the psychologist

taught me to controlling carbohydrate cravings, his advice has proven to

have valuable side effects.

I would certainly encourage you to at least discuss the value of

psychological counseling assistance with your GP. (Note: all disclaimers

apply to my comments - YMMV, IMHO, I am not now, nor have I ever been a

professional psychologist, Physician or other health care professional,

etc.)

Respectfully

Grabner

Re: Warning: Whining

> > I really want to do better. I test all the time. I start each day anew

and

> > have such plans to do better. Then my BS goes crazy. I go very low and

I

> > can't stop eating or I go very high and I feel like I've failed and then

I

> > eat to comfort myself.

>

> Hi Joan, you sound a lot like me. And it's taken me a number of months (or

longer) to start to admit that I have a problem. I am also type 1, and have

been for 12 years or so, now 39. And emotional eating related to depression

seems to be surfacing as a major issue. For a while, I was thinking I was

losing my mind, and then I thought I had a major eating disorder, but in

talking to my endo, and regular talking with a close email friend, I realize

the eating is directly related to my bg levels at the time and the emotional

issues that I am experiencing. Some days are okay, and my bg levels are

medicre, other days are

> not okay, and my bg levels are atrocious. And when they are bad,

everything seems to be even harder to deal with. But I always try to face a

new day with a brighter outlook, and try again fresh.

>

> At least my endo is aware of this now (boy, that was difficult for me to

admit this to him, and I'm glad I did). I am going to be making an

appointment with a new GP to deal with the depression (my current GP is not

one that I would talk to about such things, he is not someone that I would

describe as compassionate).

>

> I was not always this way, I used to have pretty good control and good

HbA1C's. As I explained to my endo, I know intellectually what I should be

doing, and not doing, but I'm very dysfunctional right now.

>

> I just wanted to let you know, Joan, something that my friend has told me

repeatedly, and I'm starting to believe it, is that our value as a person is

not defined by our bg numbers. We are still good and worthwhile people, no

matter what we eat.

>

>

>

>

> Public website for Diabetes International:

> http://www.msteri.com/diabetes-info/diabetes_int

>

> Post message: diabetes_integroups

> Subscribe: diabetes_int-subscribeegroups

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> List owner: diabetes_int-owneregroups

>

> URL: /group/diabetes_int

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Grabner wrote:

> I would certainly encourage you to at least discuss the value of

> psychological counseling assistance with your GP.

Thanks for the good advice . I have also noticed some patterns

myself. So I know this is true. First I need to find a new GP. That's

next week's goal.