# Please can I have some suggestions for my 11:00am meet up with the girls from work



## mum2westiesGill (Aug 18, 2021)

Some regular members might already know that I'm a creature of habit meaning I usually have breakfast around 9-10am ish (usually toast) then lunch around 1-2pm ish (usually a sandwich with crisps).

I'm meeting up with the girls from work next week but not until 11:00am - I know everyone will be having something to eat so what can I do?


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## Inka (Aug 18, 2021)

That sounds like it will be fun @mum2westiesGill  If you know where you’re meeting, then have a look at the menu and see what foods there are and what you’d fancy (if anything). Do you know what there is available and what kind of thing the others will be eating?


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 18, 2021)

Inka said:


> That sounds like it will be fun @mum2westiesGill  If you know where you’re meeting, then have a look at the menu and see what foods there are and what you’d fancy (if anything). Do you know what there is available and what kind of thing the others will be eating?


Thank you for your kind reply. I know where we're meeting and my favourite is tuna a mayo sandwich but how will I fit it in around my usual meal times or do I miss my breakfast? I really don't know what to do because 11:00am is in between meal times for me.


mum2westiesGill said:


> Some regular members might already know that I'm a creature of habit meaning I usually have breakfast around 9-10am ish (usually toast) then lunch around 1-2pm ish (usually a sandwich with crisps).


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## Inka (Aug 18, 2021)

Are you sure the others will be eating lunchy things rather than having something like a scone or a coffee-time item @mum2westiesGill ?

If you’re sure they are, I’d have a small breakfast and then have your tuna sandwich as an early lunch. You can always have a small snack early/mid afternoon if you’re hungry.


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## Leadinglights (Aug 18, 2021)

Inka said:


> Are you sure the others will be eating lunchy things rather than having something like a scone or a coffee-time item @mum2westiesGill ?
> 
> If you’re sure they are, I’d have a small breakfast and then have your tuna sandwich as an early lunch. You can always have a small snack early/mid afternoon if you’re hungry.


I suspect at that time people would be more likely to have a coffee and a Danish pastry, muffin, flapjack, cake or brownie or similar rather than lunch. If people work that is more likely to be coffee break time as lunch would be 12-30 or 1pm if they are lucky enough to get a lunch break.


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 18, 2021)

Inka said:


> Are you sure the others will be eating lunchy things rather than having something like a scone or a coffee-time item @mum2westiesGill ?


Knowing the girls I work with they will probably be having cakes!



Inka said:


> If you’re sure they are, I’d have a small breakfast and then have your tuna sandwich as an early lunch. You can always have a small snack early/mid afternoon if you’re hungry.


I'm wondering whether to have my usual toast at 9am ish then have a tuna sandwich when I meet the girls - by the time we all get seated and ordered it will probably be going on for 11:30am - what I am worried about doing this is my BGL and bolusing eeek!


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 18, 2021)

Leadinglights said:


> I suspect at that time people would be more likely to have a coffee and a Danish pastry, muffin, flapjack, cake or brownie or similar rather than lunch.


You're right they will most likely be having cakes.



Leadinglights said:


> If people work that is more likely to be coffee break time as lunch would be 12-30 or 1pm if they are lucky enough to get a lunch break.


Non of the girls will be working because we're all on our summer school holidays  - we're all midday assistants aka dinner ladies in a primary school.


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## Lucyr (Aug 18, 2021)

If you’ve had breakfast 1-2 hours before I wouldn’t expect you’d be hungry again so you could just have a drink?


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 18, 2021)

Lucyr said:


> If you’ve had breakfast 1-2 hours before I wouldn’t expect you’d be hungry again so you could just have a drink?


This is what I'm thinking too but I feel awful sitting there with just a drink while all the others are tucking in


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## JJay (Aug 18, 2021)

Nothing wrong with having a cake if you bolus for it. (My go-to with morning coffee would be a cheese scone!) Depending how you feel at lunchtime you could either skip it or eat a smaller lunch (no crisps?). That's the beauty of basal/bolus - bolus when you eat, don't when you don't.


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## rebrascora (Aug 19, 2021)

Cheese scone and a hot chocolate would have been my choice for an "elevenses" pre diagnosis. If I wasn't committed to low carb, that is probably what I would go for in your situation. As @JJay says, you have insulin so just bolus for whatever you have. It doesn't matter than you had breakfast just an hour or two before or will be having lunch in an hour, just bolus for the carbs you are having and don't be tempted to do any corrections.


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## JJay (Aug 19, 2021)

Forgot to say - most importantly, enjoy your girly get-together!  It's one of the things I miss most in retirement - used to enjoy our girls' nights out so much, but now we are scattered far and wide and sadly a couple are no longer with us, and we just got out of the habit.


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## Grldtnr (Aug 19, 2021)

From a male prospective, ( 'coz we're weird & different) , does it matter that much? If your good friends with them ,then they know about your Diabetes, and it really shouldn't matter to them,  yes, seeing them tuck into carb laden cakes ,may well make you feel left out, it's the same with me, if I meet for a social drink with my friends , they are necking beer, I sit there with a Soda& lime, I let them know ,or tell them I should not drink beer,and so don't.
It's down to you really , but for me I ,would just have the tea or coffee, we can't help our situation, just mitigate as much as possible.
( I would tuck into a dairy cream choux bun or eclair, they are low carb, just the one mind!)


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## mark king (Aug 19, 2021)

Hello @mum2westiesGill this may help you.  
It is a *very simplified* insulin to carbs reminder using a seesaw to show the workings.

How it works.
As you can see from my drawing on the left is *insulin* while on the right is *Carbs. *
The black flat horizontal solid line is when your carbs & insulin have your Bg in the correct range.
Now lets have some carbs; using the seesaw technology if we add carbs to the right side the line will sink see the green dotted line, however the other end of the line has gone up [towards hyper]
Again using seesaw technology you will need to add some insulin from your bolus calculation to get back to being level and in range again.
The same is true if you go hypo, the red dotted line, but this time you will need to have some carbs to get back to level and in range.
This is not science but just a memory jogger which I used in my early days, hope it helps.
Best.


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## mark king (Aug 21, 2021)

Hello @mum2westiesGill have you seen the above, is it useful to you.


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

mark king said:


> Hello @mum2westiesGill have you seen the above, is it useful to you.


Hi @mark-king I think it will be useful as a little memory jogger - in your early days when did you use it?


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

JJay said:


> That's the beauty of basal/bolus - bolus when you eat, don't when you don't.





rebrascora said:


> It doesn't matter than you had breakfast just an hour or two before or will be having lunch in an hour, just bolus for the carbs you are having and don't be tempted to do any corrections.


It just really worries me about Insulin stacking then I will end up going hypo


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## rebrascora (Aug 21, 2021)

As long as you only bolus for the additional carbs and don't attempt to do any correction for the snack or the meal afterwards, there will be no more risk of hypo than at any other time. The insulin you inject for the snack or whatever you eat in between meals, is just going to deal with the carbs in that snack, just like @mark king 's see saw diagram above, so if you got the bolus right for your meals and you got the bolus right for your snack then there is no increased risk of hypoing. It is only once you start being tempted to do a correction when you have the snack or the meal shortly afterwards that you will risk hypoing. The bolus calculator should not advise a correction when there is still insulin active, so you should just be able to follow the advice it gives.


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## JJay (Aug 21, 2021)

As @rebrascora says, trust your bolus calculator! It can only get things badly wrong if it's given duff information (such as the time I entered the carbs and BG the wrong way round - whaaat?!).

So, if I'd had breakfast at 9 and was thinking cheese scone around 11, I'd enter my BG (I'd use Libre for this - I don't cart a meter round to restaurants any more) and 30g carb which is average for a cheese scone, and just bolus whatever it advised.  Then keep scanning with Libre to check how things were going.

I know you've not been comfortable with the idea of Libre but if you're worried about hypos it really is a wonderful way to get warned in advance if you're going low, as well as being able to see the pattern of your BG throughout the day and night rather than the "point to point" picture you get from meter readings. (Libre ad over!)

Above all, don't stress about it. You've got the tools to deal with whatever diabetes throws at you. Just look on the whole event as the lovely break from normality that it is and ENJOY!


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

Here it's showing how long ago previous injections were done


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

JJay said:


> As @rebrascora says, trust your bolus calculator! It can only get things badly wrong if it's given duff information (such as the time I entered the carbs and BG the wrong way round - whaaat?!).


You say you "entered the carbs and the BG" - haven't you got the bluetooth thing with your meter? Which meter do you use with your MySugr bolus calculator?

Lol about entering the carbs and BG the wrong way round that's made me chuckle - can you remember the amounts you entered?



JJay said:


> I know you've not been comfortable with the idea of Libre but if you're worried about hypos it really is a wonderful way to get warned in advance if you're going low, as well as being able to see the pattern of your BG throughout the day and night rather than the "point to point" picture you get from meter readings. (Libre ad over!)


That would be good to use it just for hypo alarm warnings but.....what if when you do a finger prick and your meter says you're not hypo? It would be so hard for me because my hypo awareness is impared at the moment so I wouldn't know whether to go with the libre or the finger prick.




JJay said:


> Above all, don't stress about it. You've got the tools to deal with whatever diabetes throws at you. Just look on the whole event as the lovely break from normality that it is and ENJOY!


Thank you.


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## Sally71 (Aug 21, 2021)

Just go and enjoy yourself with your friends.  If you fancy a cake, put the carbs in the bolus calculator and do what it says (it won’t advise a correction if it’s too soon after breakfast therefore you don’t have to worry about stacking).  If you don’t fancy a cake but everyone else is eating one well does it really matter?  Above all, enjoy yourself - and if your BGs aren’t quite as good as you’d like afterwards oh well, you’re allowed a treat sometimes and it’s not something you do regularly so won’t hurt.
My daughter just eats whenever she likes and doesn’t worry about how long since she last ate and lets her pump do all the calculations.  You’re only likely to have problems if you try to do too many corrections, so if you’re a bit high after breakfast don’t worry about it and inject for the cake only and it should all come back into line eventually.


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

Sally71 said:


> Just go and enjoy yourself with your friends.  If you fancy a cake, put the carbs in the bolus calculator and do what it says (it won’t advise a correction if it’s too soon after breakfast therefore you don’t have to worry about stacking).  If you don’t fancy a cake but everyone else is eating one well does it really matter?  Above all, enjoy yourself - and if your BGs aren’t quite as good as you’d like afterwards oh well, you’re allowed a treat sometimes and it’s not something you do regularly so won’t hurt.
> My daughter just eats whenever she likes and doesn’t worry about how long since she last ate and lets her pump do all the calculations.  You’re only likely to have problems if you try to do too many corrections, so if you’re a bit high after breakfast don’t worry about it and inject for the cake only and it should all come back into line eventually.


Hi @Sally71 re this problem I have about insulin stacking it's my DSN who said that it's not only correction insulin which causes stacking but also food insulin as well.

Thank you for your lovely reply.


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## Sally71 (Aug 21, 2021)

Well I must admit that if my daughter knows what she’s going to eat and has her brain switched on and does one bolus before she eats to cover the whole meal, it does seem to work more effectively than if she does several (e.g. one bolus for main, another for pudding, another when she decides she wants seconds of pudding etc).  By that I mean her BG will go up a bit but then come down again, whereas with many doses sometimes it doesn’t quite come right down again or something.  But I don’t usually notice it causing massive problems, and I don’t bother to analyse every single thing every day anyway, and sometimes it just isn’t possible to plan everything perfectly like that, having a cake only 2 hours after breakfast and not bolusing for it would be far worse than bolusing and risking insulin stacking.  It’s a one off treat, just enjoy it and don’t worry!


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

Sally71 said:


> having a cake





Sally71 said:


> and not bolusing for it would be far worse than bolusing and risking insulin stacking.  It’s a one off treat, just enjoy it and don’t worry!


And it's the not bolusing for things which I was doing a lot of plus missing background insulin as well which caused my levels to go really high and not come down and I ended up with dka!


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## JJay (Aug 21, 2021)

mum2westiesGill said:


> You say you "entered the carbs and the BG" - haven't you got the bluetooth thing with your meter? Which meter do you use with your MySugr bolus calculator?


No, I did get an Accu-check mobile but I couldn't get on with it at all. I've been using Contour Next/Next One for years and I'm very happy with it. I enter the figures manually into mySugr.


mum2westiesGill said:


> Lol about entering the carbs and BG the wrong way round that's made me chuckle - can you remember the amounts you entered?


Something like 25 BG and 6 Carbs I think! Can't remember what the suggested bolus was but it was very obviously wrong!


mum2westiesGill said:


> That would be good to use it just for hypo alarm warnings but.....what if when you do a finger prick and your meter says you're not hypo? It would be so hard for me because my hypo awareness is impared at the moment so I wouldn't know whether to go with the libre or the finger prick.


The finger prick every time. Libre measures interstitial fluid not blood, so a finger prick BG will always be more accurate. If your hypo awareness is diminished you can set the alarm to alert you at a relatively high level which gives you time to take action.


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 21, 2021)

JJay said:


> No, I did get an Accu-check mobile but I couldn't get on with it at all. I've been using Contour Next/Next One for years and I'm very happy with it. I enter the figures manually into mySugr.


What made you not get on with the Accu-chek mobile and what do you like best about the Contour meters?



JJay said:


> Something like 25 BG and 6 Carbs I think! Can't remember what the suggested bolus was but it was very obviously wrong!


Oh dear!



JJay said:


> The finger prick every time. Libre measures interstitial fluid not blood, so a finger prick BG will always be more accurate. If your hypo awareness is diminished you can set the alarm to alert you at a relatively high level which gives you time to take action.


What sort of level set the hypo level to? How often would you scan from when the alarm goes off and how often would you finger prick?


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 24, 2021)

Just had a thought about what I might do which is either delay breakfast and have it as a brunch and skip having lunch so my next meal would be tea or have breakfast at my usual time then have one of the packaged cakes which they sell on the counter then lunch at my usual time


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## mum2westiesGill (Aug 25, 2021)

My meet up with the girls from work went well. In the end I decided to have my breakfast at home then I had a pot of tea when I met up with the girls and I had the lotus biscuit which is served with the drinks - the sizes of these differ and the ones they do at Filey Bistro and Coffee Bar are the smallest ones so I think they will be around 4-5g of carbs. I didn't have any Insulin and will wait and see what my BGL is at lunchtime when I tuck into a Cooplands steak bake 41g of carbs.


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