OKAY- I finally found an “expert” that knows about this.
I went to meet with the Medtronic diabetes educator for the Chicago suburbs- her name is Sue Chapman, in case any of you have met her.
What she recommended is basically what I’ve done:
Three basal patterns.
Start with a “standard” pattern.
Have a “low” pattern that’s 20% lower for the beginning of your cycle, until whenever it is that you go back to "standard."
Then, have a “high” pattern that’s 20% higher than “standard” for when you ovulate and if you go higher during PMS.
Personally, I have found that my low and high patterns are more like 30% higher and lower, but that’s just been through trial and error.
ALSO, when you are fighting resistant highs due to ovulation or PMS, since you are ALSO more insulin resistant, your correction bolus and insulin:carb ratios will need to be adjusted. She suggested increasing those by 20%, also, but you may find you need more.
I also recommend this: if you chart your glucose values, instead of charting by the month or just whenever you run out of room on your old chart, chart by the CYCLE, and note when you’re having a day of can’t knock-it-down highs or floor-dropping-out lows. If you’re really into it, chart your total insulin for the day, too. And if you’re REALLY into it, put it into an Excel line graph and you’ll probably notice a pattern in your insulin intake.
I started doing this, and I discovered something.
I ovulate around the 10th day, and I was having highs then, which I expected.
What I didn’t realize until charting that way and taking notes is that for three consecutive months, I also have had a day of crazy, inexplicable highs on the 18th day of my 25- day cycle. Why this particular day is significant, I have no idea. In retrospect, I’m sure I’ve had this happen many times before, because I knwo I’ve been up half the night chasing highs down many times before and feeling frustrated. However, since I realized that there was a pattern, this cycle when I was 200 for no reason, instead of being high for half of the day trying to chase it, I immediately increased to a 30% higher basal, increased my correction bolus and meal boluses by about 50%, and VOILA, I kept testing around 100 for the rest of the day. The next morning I was low, so I went back to standard and the rest was fine.
BG