Month: September 2015
Type 1 diabetes – off the rollercoaster
January 15th 
2014 our little world changed forever. Soph had been a bit peeky for a while, she was drinking lots and having little accidents, very unlike her. It was this that got alarm bells ringing. My dad is type 1, diagnosed in his thirties. I recognised the signs but had no knowledge that type 1 is more commonly diagnosed in children.
I took the plunge and called our local surgery and requested that she was tested. That afternoon (Wednesday) I took her to the surgery, she pee’d in a bottle, after ten minutes of waiting (which felt like eternity) I was told they needed to do a finger prick – my heart sank even deeper. I guess I already knew but didn’t want it to be true. We were given the choice which hospital to go for and I chose Salisbury District (the right postcode lottery choice!)
A quick call to the husband and we all headed to the hospital, I was expecting a stay in hospital but after a draw of blood (I think the whole hospital heard Soph’s protest) and a short chat with the specialist paediatric diabetes consultatant we were sent (shell shocked) home. We then spent the rest of the week back and forth to hospital to learn how to test blood glucose and inject insulin.
Soph returned to school the following Monday like a little trooper and so our journey began.
From the start the link between eating carbohydrates and blood glucose spikes concerned me, I mentioned to the dietitian that I already ate low carb and it would make a lot of sense for Soph to adopt the same way of eating. I was told this was not necessary and that she could continue to eat as normal and insulin would be matched accordingly. This did not happen, she was on a set dose of insulin which did not match her food intake. I began reducing/limiting her carbohydrate intake and her levels began to fall into a slight pattern. We noticed if she ate bread, pasta, porridge etc she would go ‘high’ we have never been big on sugar so that wasn’t an issue. The results were encouraging and I felt we were heading in the right direction.
In June 2014 someone posted in a group for parents of type 1’s a link to a group named TypeOneGrit, describing it as a low carb solution to diabetes management. I mailed the admin and was welcomed to their little community of followers of Dr Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution, that is when our low carb journey really began.
Restricting carbs to 6g for breakfast and 12g for lunch and dinner saw blood glucose levels becoming so much more stable. Sooh was off the rollercoaster of highs/lows and onto a much smoother ride. The transition was quite easy for us, she likes meat, is not afraid of fat, prefers low carb veg and has always been fond of 86% dark chocolate. So that she didn’t miss out on treats I began to bake using almond flour and coconut oil, even my husband loves my low carb baking!
So a year after low carbing, carb counting and an insulin pump Soph’s HBA1c was down from 88 to 42mmol. Still a lot of room for improvement as basal (background insulin) is not tweaked enough. We have a hospital appointment at the end of this month so will see what that holds!
BTW the NHS do not support low carbohydrate diets, especially not for children as they state that kids need carbs to grow… So despite better control of a potentially life threatening disease they want me to dramatically increase carbs so that she will grow faster, more on this later.
That is where we are at, I’m going to stop my rumblings now and I’m off to do my last blood glucose reading of the night before handing the shift over to daddy! Night all!
#typeonegrit #mariaemmerich #carolynketchum my foody lifesavers!
Hello and all that jazz
New to all this and doing it for me. Hopefully it will help me make sense of all the choas I feel which surrounds me.
As an NCT Antenatal Teacher I was introduced to reflective practice, which I thought then was airy fairy, wishy washy nonsense (and still kind of do) but right now I am thinking it may just be the tonic I need. So if you have stumbled upon my page forgive me if it doesn’t make much sense or if I’m doing it all wrong!
For now I’m off to explore and make my little page pretty 🙂
lilteenyweeny 