Hello! I"m new. I just started Atkins Induction 2 days ago. Is there a forum on here for Diabetes and Atkins? I could only find one for Bernsteins. I don't know much about him yet.

Anywho, I'm in ketosis! I'm still not 100% convinced that is a good thing because of being a diabetic.

The first day of Induction was great. Weird to eat foods that are supposedly bad for you and now they are good for you. That is a weird feeling.

But the first night. I was sleeping along fine and I woke up to my body having this woosh feeling and a pit in my stomach and I felt like I was going to throw up and I started getting a headache. WEIRD!!!

But I just hugged my pillow and let it pass and fell back asleep. It was weird that it actually woke me up.

So I don't know what the heck that was.

But I'm on day 3 and so far so good. I don't have a scale at home so I have to go to the gym. And I'm out of lancets and have to go pick up my prescription today to see where my sugars are.

OK. Thanks for these forums. They help a lot.

webwoman10

I started out with Atkins induction for my diabetes and then found Bernstein. Bernstein's methods are, for the most part, not really incompatible with Atkins but I think you will find Bernstein to be much more knowledgeable regarding diabetes than is Atkins; Dr. Bernstein is a T1 diabetic. Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution (2007) is definitely worth reading for a "new" diabetic. (Other's mileage may vary) It is a simple nuts and bolts approach to treatment of the disease and was very helpful to me in my early learning period (which I am in still in, heh).

Bernstein is a strong proponent of normalizing blood glucose to prevent long term complications. He was able to do this (and recommends it to others) by adopting a low carb diet 6 g carb for breakfast 12 for lunch and 12 for dinner. Mostly you may see it written as 6-12-12 or, for longer days 6-12-12-12. Unlike Atkins though he suggest that one maintain those levels as a way of life, not increasing carbs as one gets to their maintenance weight.

There may be some that actually follow Bernstein to the letter here but I am not really aware of any. He gives an excellent program for starting ones journey and, for me anyway, I learned so much more about my treatment than I did from Atkins Diabetes Revolution.

I hope you stick around. There is a wealth of information here on living successfully with diabetes. I have found a ton of experience and hope.

Go Celtics,
/smile

Welcome!

Despite your doctors warnings (and confusion) ketosis is not dangerous for anyone, including diabetics. It is often confused with ketoacidosis, which is life-threatening.

You'll love and feel so empowered by reading Richard K. Bernsteins book, "Diabetes Solution", and I recommend getting a copy of it! He is a low carb advocate, and the basic premise is not a lot different from Atkins, except there's no induction, and no OWL or climb up the carb ladder... the basic diet is not expected to change over time. He proposes 30 carbs a day (from veggies), spread out 6 for breakfast, 12 for lunch, 12 for dinner, with no snacking between meals.

Here's his website
http://www.diabetes-book.com/

Low carbing has saved me from obesity and diabetes. In addition to losing 130 pounds, I've gotten off of glipizide, actos, lovastatin, lisinopril and INSULIN! And taken my blood sugars that were uncontrolled in the 300's despite all those drugs, to an A1c of 5.4.

Looking forward to reading about your progress, too.
Do a lot of reading on this site, you'll be amazed.

I think the posters have given you good advice, particularly reading Dr. B's book. I want to add that you can use a lancet more than once, so there's no reason to go without testing BG if you don't have any "new" ones. Heck, I use mine for weeks, but I have been testing for ages.

I'm not worried about ketones and I'm a type 1 who has experienced DKA. It's nothing like ketosis. You have nothing to worry about.

If you have been running high blood sugars for a long time, dropping to normal can feel like a hypo. If you feel weird and there is a chance you are having a REAL hypo, you must test your blood sugars.

Also, as you get into a ketogenic state the first couple weeks it can make you feel hyper and make it hard to sleep. This fades out.

If you aren't injecting insulin or taking a sulfonylurea drug like Amaryl or Glipizide you don't have anything to worry about.

If you are injecting insulin or taking a drug that stimulates insulin production (amaryl, glipizide etc) , you need to monitor your blood sugar very carefully to avoid hypos and talk to your doctor about lowering your doses because the drop in blood sugars might be dramatic.

Dr. Bernstein believes (and I agree) that sulfonylurea drugs are unhealthy. Today's big news of the study that found lowering blood sugars did not prevent heart attacks used a sulf drug and that may explain why though kidney disease dropped dramatically, heart disease didn't. The sulf drugs stimulate receptors on the heart, too.

Welcome, webwoman10! Low carbing is a big help with managing diabetes.

As Lottadata said, you could be feeling funny because your blood sugars are lowering to a more normal range. Another possibility is that your having "Atkins induction flu," where you have withdrawal symptoms from switching your diet to low carb after having eaten high carb. If this is what you're feeling, it should go away in a few days (or even sooner).

And, I echo what others have said about Dr. Bernstein's book being a great research for diabetics.