I’m 32 weeks pregnant, second pregnancy. Since about 30 weeks I’ve been having unexplained midnight/ 1am lows. Nothing drastic, usually between 55-65. But I’m confused; I thought insulin resistance only increased as pregnancy progressed.
Is this a symptom of something wrong?
Anyone ever experienced the need for less insulin in the third trimester?
It is normal for insulin needs to begin to decline, but normally closer to 36 weeks in my understanding. Declining needs can also be a sign of placental failure, so if it continues, you may want to see your doctor to rule that out. Hope all is well!
Did that start happening after you made an adjustment to your basals/rates? Perhaps you were aggressive with your adjustments and that led to the overnight lows?
It’s not necessarily a sign something is wrong, but it is worth bringing it up with your endo and ob. My understanding of the lows that accompany placental failure is that all of a sudden you could practically eat normally and not need any insulin.
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This has been happening with my pregnancy too, I noticed the anticipated rise in the end of 2nd beginning of 3rd trimester and then later at drop around 32-33 weeks. I promptly freaked out, called the MFM on his cell phone, got sent to the hospital for non-stress tests and fetal monitoring, and steriod shots to speed up fetal lung growth. All tests came back normal. I now do NST/fetal monitoring 3 times a week as a precaution, but all tests results and fluid levels are coming out perfect. Fetal growth and biophysicals are consistent. After more research including a thread on this forum and a note in my T1D pregnancy book, (Managing pregnancy with pre-existing diabetes) I’m finding that some people know about this possibility and others don’t (including my team of doctors, whom are all surprised by it). I think the general knowledge of what is “typical” is a plateau or drop in insulin needs/resistance happening at 36w, but seems that for a handful of T1’s it can happen sooner. I also read a theory that the baby’s ability to make insulin on his/her own may be playing a role (which is kinda beautiful) but that is a theory and I have no medical evidence to back that up.
I think best practice is to investigate this drop with your doctor and rule out placenta issues. But then take comfort in knowing that it’s not only you experiences this. That is what I’m doing, and that has stopped the “what if” spin out of worry, if you know what I mean. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I can no longer remember the details of the ups and downs I experienced, but I definitely had that experience too. Not 100% sure on the timing but at some point in the third trimester. I remember reading about the baby’s insulin production kicking in and it made perfect sense to me; I would tell my husband “baby is helping mommy already” when I had to lower my basals at that point. 