Diabetes is so weird. Especially when it comes to pizza. About halfway through a second slice, I realized I had forgotten to bolus. Uh-oh! So I did. Fast. And then I tested 3 hours later and I was at 59 mg/dl. Usually pizza is the meal that keeps on giving. I was so amazed that I broke my new vow to treat lows ONLY with glucose tabs and ate some pudding instead. I’ve been putting off the next test, but must now face the meter. Wish me luck.
Oh don’t worry Kelly, the PIZZA MONSTER WILL PREVAIL!!!
He always does when he comes to my house.
Rick Phillips
i had white castle this weekend, five delicious mini jalapeno burgers and fries, had to be over 80 carbs. I gave myself 18u of humalog and found myself at 66. Next time i’ll figure out the carbs better, but usually i guesstimate when the carbs are that high or when there’s no nutrition menu around.
Pizza is tricky especially if you are giving yourself shots. There is a very good chance that if you checked in hour 4 or 5 your BG might actually have been high.
If you use a pump then you would do a dual wave bolus take some insulin up front to cover the fast digesting carbs (the crust) but because of the fat from the cheese you can get a huge spike 3-6 hours later. I have been in your situation before where I take my insulin and my BG is doing really well and then all of the sudden boom it goes high. Testing frequently when eating pizza is the key so you know how your body deals with the fat and carbs.
As long I have no more than two slices I can beat the pizza roller coaster. Before I figured out what worked for me I would eat 3 or four slices and ride the worlds highest drop stomach churner. Hitting the 40s then glucose tabbing myself back into the 200s. I use a insulin pen so I was along for a wild ride.
At 4.5 hours, I was 87 and started to get a little nervous (it was time for bed and I didn’t want to crash). I had a couple of glucose tabs (typically representing about 30 mg/dl rise in bg for me) and waited one hour. Bummer! I was up to 178. Oh well. At least the pizza was delicious!
It is so reassurring to see how many others are affected by the pizza monster. I get so frustrated when I am low an hour or two after eating pizza because, rationally, I know I will be much higher in a couple of hours. There is always a temptation to not correct the low, since it seems that correcting the low triggers the pizza-rise to start. What works for me is a big bolus that is 50/50 between a normal bolus and a 3 1/2 hour square wave (usually, I do a 70/30 split over 2 hours), plus another normal bolus at the 3 hour mark. It works for me. But, we are all different.
Rick is right: The Pizza Monster will always prevail.
Anyone use regular with pizza? I had some luck splitting my humalog 50:50 with regular, since it tends to stick around longer
I have been avoiding regular pizza since going on the pump because of blood sugars stories like this…I do eat Kashi Thin Crust frozen pizzas without any weird blood sugars. What is awesome about them is they are fairly low carb for pizza (average of 44g carb for half of a big pizza) and they actually taste pretty good! Not the same as Pizza Hut or Papa John’s but it seems to work out OK…
wow that sounds good.
Rick Phillips
=) YA, I was on regular a long time and it is MUCH better for pizza. I have a pump program now so I can kinda replicate the regular “slow to start and hang around for 3 hours” peak with humalog. Cheers.
Domo!-
I love whitecastle’s! I haven’t been there in years.
The pizza monster…boo!!! If I eat 1 slice I’m good! 2 slices pushing it.I usually eat 1 full slice and take the toppings of there other. I am using the Omnipod and when eating high fat foods I extend my bolus. 50/50. Half when I eat and the other half 3 hours later. Gotta love the pizza monster…BOO
Pizza monster got me. I used the dual wave bolus feature on my pump over an hour. Usually does the trick. Last night I ended up and 300 mg/dl (16.6 mmol/L), took a correction for it and woke up at 200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/L).
The pizza monster was still working at night 6+ hours after eating my pizza. Hope that he she is gone by now!!!
wow, I swear sometimes i’m psychic haha. I just came online tonight to do some research on the strange pizza phenomenon i experienced tonight. I ate (way too much) pizza tonight, bolused late, and i dropped to 55. I came up to 120 but i’m back down at 80. I have a feeling it will be a loooong night for me tonight
Yes! Check often. It will likely rise soon!
usually it does but we’re already at T plus 4 hours and i’m 118 … I think i did something right this time, we’ll see how I wake up tomorrow morning
Awesome!! Let us know if it works and then tell us your secret!!!
something to keep in mind/think about:
meters generally have an accuracy rate of say, the local weatherman, and are under no obligation to provide any real accuracy. iirc, theres a 20% margin of error, which although potentially very dangerous for those whose "scores are around the 70 range, is not at all dangerous for the meter mfgrs and their shareholders.
testing from one spot can/will deliver diff results than in another spot
always take readings with a grain of salt.
I just had pizza for lunch. I’m so screwed. Sure, it’s 94 right now.
I won’t see that number again until midnight.