Since going back on the pump this past year, I've been pretty good about keeping my BGs within a reasonable range most of the time - on most days, I can stay between 65 and 200 if I'm careful (i.e., eat relatively low carb, no alcohol, exercise as usual, etc). Sometimes I will go upwards of 240, but I can generally get my BG down fairly quickly. I'm good about setting temp basals in situations where I know, from experience, I'm going to go high, and this has helped improve my control A LOT.
Earlier this week, I had a high following the DC earthquake that freaked me out a bit - only because it took a few hours to come down, although I was ok by 10pm when I went to bed.
Yesterday, I did eat a little more than normal and engaged in some SWAGing, but nearly pooped my pants when I saw 380 pop up on my meter. I mean, seriously!?!?! I bolused and came back down, so I know my infusion set and insulin are fine (and nothing was disconnected, I checked!). Then today I grazed a bit more than I should have while we watched some TV. Now, I do this from time to time and I can usually expect my BG to go up to around 180ish, so long as I'm running a normal basal rate. Also, I had a strenuous workout this morning, so that should have worked in my favor. But I checked my BG after this little graze-fest and it was 314!!!! I realized then that I didn't feel so hot (had a headache, dry mouth). I corrected and came down quickly. In each instances, I have confirmed my high with another meter.
I don't know what is going on. My sites are fine, my pump is working fine as far as I can tell, I don't think I'm getting sick, I'm rotating my sites very well.....I am before my period and this does sometimes make me run a bit higher, but not this high!
I've had things like this happen in the past....it's like my body just suddenly starts rebeling. I am hoping, like usual, it passes without much fanfare, but it makes me feel like such a failure. I work so hard to try and stay healthy and at moments like this, I just want to hit something.
Repeat after me, “It is not my fault, It is not my fault”. Alternately write it 500 times (no, that seems too much like punishment which you don’t deserve because you did nothing wrong!
Can I say “■■■■ happens” here? I guess I just did. ■■■■ happens. I think one of the hardest tasks in managing diabetes is managing our emotions, from frustration, disappointment, irritation up to serious anxiety or Depression. I’m definitely not one to quote prayers/nope not a praying sort of person at all - but I do like the Serenity Prayer and think it’s relevant to managing the D:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
The last part is definitely the hardest - in Diabetes and in life - otherwise known as banging ones head against the proverbial wall - and yep, sometimes you just have to vent!
If this has happened twice with the same site… not so obvious that the site is fine.
A couple numbers in the 300’s, rapidly corrected, is far from the end of the world :-). In the grand scheme of things they don’t make a dent in anything.
I too have high numbers that I know where they came from… and high numbers that make no sense at all. And then settle back down into a stretch where everything is working fine again. I understand the frustration that we do the same thing all the time… and sometimes it works so well without any effort… and other times we make so much effort but things work so poorly.
Zoe & Tim, thank you both so much for your replies. Made me feel tons better. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, which is sometimes a bad combination with D. I try to be perfect but always seem to be falling short…and this makes me just want to cry (or actually cry, like I did earlier).
Yeah, I’m not a praying person either, but that serenity prayer/mantra definitely applies here. Perhaps I should have it tattooed on my forehead.
The other problem is that when I get high, I always get a strange crushing sensation in my head and my vision gets all blurry. It freaks me out each time because it’s such NOT a normal feeling, and one that I associate with doing long-term damage to my body.
And, yes, the huge variances in how my body responds to exactly the same circumstances just drives me batty sometimes. I eat the same breakfast every morning; about a week ago, I had an instance where I ate said breakfast and dropped down to 57. Next day, EXACT same routine, same food, same bolus, almost identical morning BG, and I was at 190 2 hours after eating. It’s maddening. Mainly because I’m one of those people who likes to have it all figured out.
You’d think by this point I’d be used to this crap, right?
But thank you, again. You’ve both made me feel a lot better
I’ve noticed that on days 3 and 4 of resevoirs it doesn’t seem to work as well. Also, by grazing do you mean just eating without bolusing? I graze a lot too, particularly in the evening, but always bolus, even if I’m stacking boluses. If I don’t, my bg will run up pretty readily. If it runs down, OTOH, more grazing! Hee hee…
I hate random highs. I get more random highs than random lows. Most lows I get I can think back and sort out why I had them. But I get so many highs that I just can’t connect to anything. It’s so frustrating!
I also find my insulin needs change drastically throughout the month. I’m not sure if this is the norm for younger women with T1 or more unusual, but it drives me absolutely crazy and I’m positive is one of the reasons I can’t get my A1c as low as I’d like.
Then there are the million other things that affect our BG … It’s just impossible to account for everything.
Whenever I get discouraged I think of the fact that they can make computers that can identify the elements present on planets hundreds of light years away (or some such ridiculously far distance) and can predict when our sun will die, but they still haven’t come up with a computer algorithm sophisticated enough to keep blood sugars in a non-diabetic range around the clock.
It is not your fault! There are so many factors, both in the body and outside it that can cause highs! It could be hormones, stress, (you say you do not THINK you are getting sick, but even the slightest infection can cause your sugars to go up), and something else going on in your body that you are not aware of! You had the stress of the earthquake! Especially if you live near by (I have no idea where you are from), perhaps even too close for comfort! That is a definite stressor!
Other times, it is just one of those things.
If you are living in an earthquake hotspot then you could try getting your emergency supplies ready and put by the door in case. Knowing that you are prepared might bring your stress levels down slightly - or at least you will know that you are prepared in any eventuality!
My rough opinion: Those who can dose and eat the same thing two days in a row, and end up with identical bg’s each day, don’t have the same type of diabetes that you or me have :-). Numbers differing by 57 to 190 on two different days? That’s just par for the course. Personally I would count them both as consistent with success.
IMHO the textbooks and web sites that imply that things will be the same from day to day, are loosely connected to reality at best. I understand the need to simplify and idealize when teaching… but when the students end up frustrated that they don’t work exactly like the textbook it’s simply mistaken to assume that the textbook was right and real life is wrong.
I’m having BG issues too, for the last 10 days or so. I can’t for the life of me figure it out or fix it, and I’m pretty anal about my BGs. I’m at the point where I’m starting to really believe in sugar fairies! I understand feeling like a failure, I also know it doesn’t do us any good. Sometimes doing something for myself helps distract me. Do hurricanes count? LOL
Just stop worrying about this. Just keep doing your best and leave the rest out of your mind. There are people who don’t even have proper healthcare available to them as people in developed countries do and they still do their best to fight and survive for as long as they can. So don’t worry, take a chill pill and do the good things regularly and leave the rest out of your mind. All is well
I agree totally with what Zoe & Tim said, it’s not your fault,
Always remember that your body is not a machine, we can’t just say so much food so so much insulin & everything will work, it is far more complicated & I don’t think even the best programmer will ever be able to duplicate what the human metabolism does. As a programmer all my working life you need accurate specs to program it, that’s why I am so skeptical about the artificial pancreas projects.
As others said readings of 200+ or even 300 which are corrected wont do that much harm, it is prolonged high BG that does the damage.
I never have patterns that last for more than a few days, as soon as I think I’ve figured something out it changes, doctors always look at my charts & say “But there are no patterns”. Yet here I am after 50 years, in reasonable health.
Ditto TIM…
But It just frustrates when you have a 'perfect Day" going ( 80-100’s) and then you get those 200’s to blow the Days Average All to hell and have to end up with a 130-140 ave…
Just had that today… up , 90, B-90, 2hrs after, 100, Lunch-90, 2 hrs after, 110, Dinner 105, 2 hrs alter? 250, bedtime? 160 , have to settle for a 124… Ugh!
Or how about getting a 260, 2 hrs after eating ? Then you over correct and go hypo! then you OVer Correct the hypo and go back up to 200!
And You know that anytime you go over 140? Your doing Damage…
That is what adds to the Stress and Frustration…
See why Most Endo’s don;t want us to be Control Freaks!
Yeah, I don’t really have “patterns” either. I am always trying to look at my data and discern some sort of pattern. Just when I think I’ve found it, I find five readings that dispel that pattern. I think there are just too many variables. Especially when you’re a woman. Hormones are evil!
Being female will DEFINATELY do it as far as numbers all over the place. Right before ovulating mine will spike like crazy. I just LOOK at food, and they will run high. Once I start I tend to be running even more frequently on the low side. I get maybe 2 weeks where they stay good and the only time Im low is first thing in the AM. No matter how much I try to split my lantus dose. I am always waking up low. It is VERY fustrating.
