I have been using the pod for a little over a week now. I was started out on a basal of 1.25 and my blood glucose levels dropped below 200 for the first time in months. I kepts getting fasting readings around 200 in the morning for the next few days so my basal was raised to 1.45 from 2am until 7am and that brought my fasting level back under 200. A few days later my basal level was raised to 1.6 for most of the day and 1.9 between 2am and 7am and my glucose levels went into the upper 200s to 300s. My Endo then had me drop my basal down 1.3 for most of the day and 1.6 for the 2am to 7am window. She wants to drop it again in a few days to see if she can get my glucose levels between the 120 to 180 range during the day. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Before going on the omnipod, I was not having any success controlling my glucose levels with lantus and apidra taking about 8 shots a day.
I’m curious what kind of diet you’re following? Some foods high in carbs and fat tend to increase glucose levels. Are you writing all the foods you eat + amount of carbs for your doctor to analyze? I had to do that for a month before the calculations were accurate. If I ate a fruit high in carbs but low in fat my levels remained stable but if I ate a food with the same amount of carbs but a higher fat content and took the same amount of insulin, my BG would increase due to the fat. I hope I’m making sense because your diet has everything to do with controlling your BG levels.
I eat a low carb diet that consists of poultry and non starchy veggies. My carb intake for the day is typically 30 grams or less and I eat lean meat only. If I eat any more than that, my glucose levels will go well over 500.
Hi Kim,
It could also be what you drink with your meals and between meals. Juice, soda, anything with sugar or fructose…
Or how much you bolus with your meals…
Regards,
Gil
My son is going on the Omnipod next Tuesday. I am also wondering what the differences will be. Can’t wait to be able to control the basal numbers. As far as food goes…he is 15 and a terrible eater but we do look for Fat that causes longer highs and things like Dawn Phenomenon. His carb intake for one meal…or sometimes even one snack is lower than yours for the whole day!!! Amazing that you can stay that low and still have high bgs at all. He goes to the endo today and we will see what is A1C is. He was 13% at diagnosis 8.9 , two months later. I am hoping for something in the high 6% to 7%.
I wonder if he will have to be more carb sensitive as he ages…
I will talk to my endo and the nurse/diabetes educator that trained me on how to use the pod about that.
I will check into the bolus portion of it. I do not drink any juices or anything with sugar or fructose in it. I wish I could.
My endo thinks I am carb sensitive. They are just focusing on how to get me into an acceptable range and keep me there. My endo has been working with me for almost a year now to get mine under control.
Kim,
My son is also using the POD for 8 months or so, but we can only set basals in a 0.05 u/hr increments. How do you get to 1.6, 1.9?
2nd Question: Where are you placing the POD? I’m actually going to post this for all, but we’ve experienced high numbers just after placing a POD. I’ll post & ask customer service but it’s something for you to consider as well…
That is where the diabetes educator and my endo put me at after the initial of 1.25 an hour. I am going by what they say and I wish I had not. I am placing the pod on my arm as I am around a 40 pound siberian husky that already knocked a pod off of me and I hit one myself and it yanked the whole thinkg out. It seems to be the only place that I can put it where my parents dog wont knock it loose or I won’t knock it loose. My Sugars do not go high after just placing a pod so far. The only time I have had problems is when they up my does. My sugars have gone back down into the 150s and 160s since they have reduced the insulin dose. They are going to wait a few days and reduce my insulin dose even more. My endo told me that they really do not know what else to do for me. I have been hard to treat from the beginning.
I used to have really crummy fasting morning glucose because I was on too much insulin basal insulin overnight. I’d drop low in the middle of the night and then my liver would start producing glucose which would send my sugars soaring. I don’t know if that’s what’s happening to you here but it’s something to consider.
It might be. I have had a problem with high fasting sugar levels since they first started treating me. It may be that I am crashing in the middle of the night. I am considering a lot of things. I feel a lot better today since they cut my basal back. It was actually 167 fasting this morning. I know that sounds high, but that is low for me considering my fasting levels are well over 200 normally.
My doctors for a while told me they didn’t want to see me below 140 because I was getting so dangerously low so frequently. I distinctly remember my glucose meter reading 7 one day in high school (clearly this must have been a meter error but readings in the high teens were frequent for me). You’ve got to get yourself to a consistent point (no matter where it is) before you can worry to much about being “in range”. 167 is a great accomplishment if you’ve been seeing 200-300. You might want to ask you Endo about setting you up on a continuous glucose monitor trial. My CGM has made such a different in my A1C’s because I do actually know where I am all the time now. It would help you see if you’re actually high all day or dealing with huge fluctuations. Good luck.
hi kim! congrats on going on the pump! there are several things that could be happening here.
you should look up info on the “dawn phenomenon”… here is a link that explains things pretty well. http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/Articles/Diabetes-Definitions/dawn_phenomenon/
also, if you’re going too low at night, your body can overcompensate and you can wake up really high.
even though it’s a complete pain, i would suggest waking up several times throughout the night and testing your sugars to see what’s happening.
i hope you work it out! definitely give yourself lots of time and patience and grace to get it all smoothed out!
Yes- and when I used a CGM I realized I was having a severe low overnight that my body was “fixing” with dumping sugars from the liver into my bloodstream. Without producing insulin myself to adjust this, my bloodsugar would sky-rocket into the 300’s. When I saw the trend on my CGM, I adjusted the basal rate before the low period, and with lower insulin rates was able to prevent that roller coaster, and also from waking up with lows. This used to happen a lot when I was a kid and my dad would call it the “rebound effect”. Sometimes I would wake up and realize I was super low, but one time I didn’t until I woke up in the morning with a 300- and so I looked at my CGM. It was kind of weird to see the crash low, and then with me being asleep go into a super high.
I am not totally clear on how this actually happens, but I had noticed that when I lowered my basal rate, and prevented the overnight lows, then my am fasting sugar, went down too. I would discuss this with your endo and see if you can’t get a CGM for a few days to see what is going on.
Thanks, I am trying to get it all smoothed out. I have been trying to get my sugar levels under control for about a year now. My endo mentioned to me a while back that i amy have the “dawn phenomenon” or it may be that I am going too low during the night. My sugars have been in the 150s to 180s for the past few days with my higher readings being in the morning since my endo and educator put my insulin dose down. i think they are going to lower it again today. I just hope that I do not keep getting the horrible headaches that go with the lowering of the inulin dose.
That is a good idea, I will see if she can hook me up with a CGM for a few days.
Even with my CGM, my CDE had me wake up at 3:00 AM my first week to test. It was a pain, but it did provide valuable data.
I tried that, but once i am asleep it is next to impossible to wake me up. I set my alarm the first night and 2 the next night and slept through both.