Thursday night:
Tested at 240 (it’s rare for me to be above 200 nowadays). Took 2 units to correct (my SF is 65). An hour later I was 284. Went to bed w/out further correction.
Friday night:
At 7:30 I tested at 81 (had exercised earlier). Had dinner, and two hours later I was 245. Took an extra unit with a snack. Went to bed at 324. (What the…??)
Saturday:
Was awakened by a low in the wee morning hours. Shaking. Took some carbs (both fast and slow). Normal morning, then I bounced up to 253 mid-afternoon. Took a correction with lunch. Then while I was walking the aisles in Safeway, I got dizzy and had someone help me to a chair. Whipped out my kit and found I was 76. I was shaking and couldn’t find my glucose tabs in my purse! Aargh. But I finally did. 20 minutes later I was back up to 120, but still too shaky to drive. The store manager called my folks to come and take me home! (Fortunately they live 2.5 miles from me.)
So I’ve heard of boomeranging, but this is ridiculous. The only thing that’s changed in my diet is I started taking Omega-3 fish oils a couple of days ago. But that can’t cause this.
Any hints on stabilizing this roller coaster? Geez.
You’re newly diagnosed and LADA, so unfortunately you’re probably going through insulin requirement changes. What worked a month ago or last week may no longer work. My best advice is to test lots - like ten or more times a day - or see if you can borrow a CGM from your doctor office. With that info it should be possible to see if your insulin needs have changed and balance the basal and bolus you need.
Jag1, this is the most sensible reply I’ve gotten (I posted this same msg on FB). I wondered earlier during my fog if my body might be changing. (How did you remember that I’m a new LADA? Impressive.)
I currently test anywhere from 7-9 times a day. Maybe I should start doing so every 2 hours…
Oh, and I’m pump/CGM shopping now. Hope to place my order next week. Am thinking of using a Revel with a Dex.
Regarding the low end of the boomerang, I was experiencing a lot of late-onset post-exercise hypos late last year while training to walk a 10K. I’d get weird hypos 24 to 36 hours after my “big” training walks of 2+ hours.
Now that I’m walking shorter distances spread out through the day (say :20 minutes morning, noon and night), I haven’t had one of these “out of the blue” hypos.
Hmmm, Lynne, not sure if I agree. I’m very sensitive to exercise, and can drop over 100 points from just a moderate walk around the neighborhood.
Perhaps T2’s are affected more than we are. But even so, it’s hard to generalize with diabetes! It’s just so dang unpredictible.
And it’s not just the lows that I’m reacting to — it’s the ping-ponging. The roller coaster. I’ve become a quick change artist! And I haven’t had this much of it before.
Thanks, Jean, but I don’t think it’s just exercise we’re talking about here. I only exercised once yesterday (not today or Thu), and it was just a mild walk. I’ve certainly exercised many times before without this kind of instability.
Besides, that wouldn’t account for the unusual highs, would it?
No, it wouldn’t cause the highs, but sometimes it’s more than one thing, you know? It gets complicated. I dropped over 100 points in about twenty minutes one morning between getting up and sitting at my computer checking my e-mail. I was so confused. I did inject my Lantus, but how in the heck could that drop me 100 points in twenty minutes? After doing a lot of research I realized that I had this late-onset post-exercise hypoglycemia going on, and the drop was from a long walk the previous day. That’s what made me think it might be part of your issue with boomeranging around in ways that seem irrational. However, upon reflection, maybe not. It’s a puzzler for sure.
I’m T1 and exercise definitely has an impact on me. I’m a distance runner and generally a moderate run on my own will cause me to drop, often a lot. I always have to factor that in before starting. HOWEVER, if I’m running a race (marathon, 10k) or doing some other kind of exercise that involves a lot of sprinting and adreneline, my BG goes up, sometimes really high. I learned early on that the day of a race, especially a fast-paced race like a 10k or one with a big crowd, I actually need more insulin to prevent me from going over 300. I have read that this is not uncommon.
Jan, what kind of basal insulin are you using? Long-acting insulin effects are always hard to figure out. When I used Lantus, I’m convinced that different vials varied in potency. Also, if used more than 30 days after opened, it definitely did not perform, the change was very noticeable. It might be time to start a new vial.
I’ve run into the same thing MBP is reporting. I’ll test when i get home from running and then again in like 1/2 hour and it’s often higher. Admittedly, I am sort of inclined to “hurry” when I get close to home whether it’s really hurrying and running what I’d consider “fast” (sic!) or just picking up the pace a bit. I also run into the same spikes before races sometimes. If I want to know which way the BG wind is blowing, testing every 1/2 hour will provide a precise answer more quickly than waiting and then I can head the spike off at the pass. Don’t discount walking as stuff like hills/ grades/ wind (it has been windy here for about 6 weeks now…) can all make a seemingly innoccuous workout more challenging?
Also, in Jan’s saga was the 253 mid-morning rather than afternoon, since you reported it to have been before lunch? To me, that would suggest some sort of DP (unfortunately I am not too familiar w/ LADA vs. T1 but just based on the numbers, that’s what I would guess? I also have decided that DP is related to hunter-gathering so that might fit in regardless of which T one were stuck with?). I have noticed that the “metabolic” highs (DP, post exercise…) seem to be “lighter” or perhaps more ephemeral than ones from screwing up carb counts. Maybe too, at least with exercise, my BG will crash from a normal CB, to the extent that even when it’s going up, i’ll just bolus for a snack, shower and, by the time I come down, it’s starting to crash so I eat and catch it.
65 is a lower SF than I have but maybe experiment by cutting the CB down a bit, to maybe 66% and see if they get you where you want to go without crashing out so much? Mostly b/c I find it easier to pin stuff down by cutting a CB to see if a factor/ ratio/ rate needs adjustment, rather than by switching the “wizard” (MM pump…) which then reprograms the whole thing, across the board?
Thanks for the kind words, Lynne. Both Friday and Saturday (yesterday) I broke my own personal records for one’s day’s swing (variance) since I started keeping records 4 months ago. Weird.
Great idea, Scott. I just went and checked my two boxes of insulin (Levemir and Apidra), and I got them both on 3-11. Hmmm.
I had indeed considered that maybe I just had a bad pen, but I didn’t start using a new pen until yesterday (Sat). And this roller coaster started on Thu eve.
Besides, I keep both boxes in the refrigerator, of course. Doesn’t that keep them past 30 days? (It takes me less than that to use one up.)
The 30-day clock begins when you first use the insulin, and inject regular (not sterile) air into the vial. I’m not sure if pens follow the same rule since you don’t replace insulin with air. I would always write the date on the vial that I first used it, just to be sure.
LADA here but exercise affects my levels greatly, fluid intake also affects me. I actually have a different Lantus dosage for my active days, 5 units less when I am being very active. You might try fine tuning your Lantus dose or your basal rate.
Are you sure that is what he meant, because that doesn’t make sense. T1’s have also lost the functioning of alpha cells, which help to regulate lows. T1’s can therefore drop extremely quickly.
