I know, I know, it's just a number, but when I saw my A1c result online this afternoon I just went:
AARRRGGHHH!!!
I couldn't help feeling frustrated and disappointed AGAIN. My A1c was 7.7% which is going up and not down.
I literally saw it and felt like crying because I don't know what else I can do. I am already putting in 100% effort. And I've already lived for 20+ years with an A1c > 7%, except for a handful, and don't want to live for another hopefully 50+ years with an A1c that high.
My blood sugar readings today did not help my mood or frustration level upon seeing my A1c, either. I had NO IDEA what is up today. Stuff like this happening regularly is probably WHY I can't seem to get my A1c to stay even below 7.5% on a regular basis. I mean am I the only one who gets completely random readings in the high teens from doing nothing?! Sometimes I feel like I am.
Total carbs today = 70 g.
6:06 AM - 7.4 (133) - No action, walked short distance to lab for fasting bloodwork, then cab to endo appointment, then transit to work 10:24 AM - 17.9 (322) - Breakfast (25g) - I hadn't eaten for 12+ hours
11:56 AM - 14.2 (256) - Correction, delay lunch
12:58 PM - 12.0 (216) - Correction, Lunch (20g)
3:22 PM - 3.2 (58) - Two glucose tablets
5:50 PM - 4.4 (79) - Dinner (25g)
7:00 PM - Site change
8:12 PM - 10.2 (184) - Correction
9:46 PM - 12.3 (221) - Correction
I felt bad, I had a little rant at my co-worker about how frustrated I was and she was sympathetic but didn't really understand at all.
Oh well. I just need to feel frustrated today. Tomorrow I'll keep plugging away and HOPE maybe next time is better.
Hi Jen, I'm sorry you're so frustrated. Don't give up. I do also get random jumps and drops that often have no explanation whatsoever. Last night or early am I ended up going for a 2 mile walk instead of going to sleep, lol. my bg went up after my dinner and I had not checked, my alarm didn't go off, then it went from 138 fours hours after a meal to 149 after a 1.5 unit correction. Another 1.5 unit and the walk took me to 62, lol. Then I had a light breakfast and went to sleep finally. Then today since I have been going so hypo lately I didn't do a correction at 5pm when my basal runs out and also skipped a meal, so had no fast acting insulin and jumped to 149 again from 88 in 2 hours I think. I hope it's a better day for you tomorrow too :)
I think we all have days like that. I just get so mad at my body.It use to be this indestructible machine that works like a dream for me. Was fit and strong and just did anything. Now it is this weak out of sink machine I dont know and trying ot learn how to get the best out off. Yes there good and bad days. Then we should be thankful for any day. At that is the crunch.
Sorry to hear you weren't happy with the results and then the rough day on top of it. I was thinking that you were nailing it lately but have been a slacker about following the "blogs" section. Did the recent spate of good results follow a rough patch? If so, perhaps the A1C stems from before your recent efforts and can be discounted a bit? Re the day, it seems like eating breakfast might be leading to super DP. I've noticed that when I eat early, it seems to cut it off. Even w/ 12+ hours, I would wait to eat with a 322 (or even a 122, but I'm a bit of a psycho...) until it comes down to the ballpark of where I want it, or maybe 20 points higher, as w/ IOB, I like to get a head start on the "festivities" to keep the rebounds on a short leash. Also, fantastic job holding off the 58 w/ 2 glucose tablets and, 2 hours later, pulling off a 79. That's tricky. I get huge munchies from hypos.
One thing I picked up in a Ginger Vieira FB thread was to crank up basal if you have site change issues (maybe it's unrelated?) and if I see it start to go up from that, I'll nudge the basal up to 150-200% until I see it come down as the site gets "online". Keep fighting. It's worth it and I like reading your blogs!!
I wouldn't say I had a rough patch recently, but I think part of my problem is that I sometimes feel like every day is a rough patch except for those few days where I manage to stay somewhat flat. I just feel like my blood sugars are completely inconsistent. I've tried doing things like basal testing and given up because the results are completely different, one day I will stay flat and two days later I will rise. I don't know what to do with that. It would be "easy" if there were patterns. I keep feeling like maybe I'm doing something wrong because I just can't spot patterns, even when I keep records; but then, no endocrinologist or CDE I've ever seen has been able to have any insight there, either.
I think I need to decide on a threshold for when to use a higher basal rate with highs. I tend to think if I'm running high for half a day or more, I often will use it. But one of my fears is exactly what happened yesterday - I run high and then just plummet with no warning. I work teaching clients all day and it's hard to just jump up and test and scarf down glucose tablets, so I'm also more apt to do it on the weekend but not necessarily a weekday.
I find the same problem with skipping meals if I'm high. I do it sometimes, especially on the weekend, but I see usually at least one or two readings above 200 each day. And at work it's hard to "delay" a meal without ending up skipping it entirely, as we have clients all day. So if I delayed that breakfast yesterday from being high, I would have skipped it entirely and not just delayed it. Is that really good to be doing on a daily basis? Also, like the basal testing I find half the time I delay a meal only to find I've not budged or even gone up despite a correction, another reason it may turn into skipping the meal entirely.
I woke up this morning at 6.2 (112) and an hour later without eating am 8.9 (160), so maybe I do need to do a small bolus if I get up and don't eat breakfast right away (although I don't plan on not eating, it just happens). And it's confusing, because there are days where I sleep late and my blood sugar stays perfectly flat, so it seems to be ONLY when I get up but don't eat.
Well it seems maybe my already strong dawn phenomenon has somehow gotten even stronger over the past few days. I already have my pump set so the basal goes from 1.0 u/hr to 1.5 u/hr between 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM. But today I was 6.2 (112) at about 6:00, 8.9 (160) at about 7:00 without eating anything. Corrected and ate a 15g breakfast, and two hours later I am 13.2 (238) which I just corrected. Not as bad as yesterday, but I could see if I had not corrected this morning and left it for another hour and a half it may have gotten just as high. I am eating lunch early today as I have four hours of non-stop teaching this afternoon, so I hope I am down in an hour and a half!
