Just when you think you have it all figured out

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#1

Having type one diabetes is like being in a science class sometimes. WE might have a hypothesis as to why our blood sugars are high or low and then sometimes the hypothesis does not pan out.

Just the other day, I had my usual oatmeal with chia seeds, skim milk, and almonds. I am sort of boring most days with my breakfast foods - because I love oatmeal in all its many forms. Most times, with the injected Victoza I use and my insulin dose, I can prevent my morning blood sugars from going into the stratosphere of the 200s. Some mornings though - with all factors the same - (time eaten, Victoza injected, corrections made, etc) and my blood glucose will take an excursion upward.

It is not fun to have high blood sugars - and it is likewise not fun having lows. I feel the highs in many ways - a sugar high, increased bathroom stops, itchiness in my skin. Lows are intense shakiness, psychedelic dreams at night and waking up in a sweat.

Type one diabetes can be unpredicatble, even with the most fastidious use of technology, journals and paying attention to every detail that can affect blood sugars.

Is it better with the technology? Absolutely yes! Getting an insulin pump was a life-changing event for me. My first pump was a Minimed 508. For the first time in my life, I felt like the food and insulin were not completely controlling my wake up times. I was on NPH and it was unpredictable. I could not exercise without a low. With an insulin pump, I was able to lower my basal rate or suspend my insulin for an hour without any lows. That was indeed life-changing!

I had a Dexcom Seven for a while and used it for trends. The much newer G4 has also been life changing. My meter and my CGM are within points of each other. I am liking both my Animas Ping pump and the Dexcom G4 as a pair. Am now considering the married pair in the Animas Vibe.

And even with the technology and all the advances in diabetes care - I am still trying to figure out things every day. It is a disease where we cannot take for granted that everything will work out the same.

Just when I think I have it all figured out....

#2

Yep, I'm on MDI, and it seems as if I have to figure it out all over again at least every other day, if not every day. Infections and two rounds of antibiotics recently didn't help. But never mind, it just keeps changing and I have to keep figuring it out.

#3

I feel like my type 1 just does what it wants to i have lost two jobs in the last six months over this problem. My wife is a type II, says not to let this disease control my life. I do the best i can with technology and doing the journal stuff and working with my diabetic nurses. Still it bites me in my butt, i shovel snow for an hour and half i drop like a hammer into 50's, 40's, i eat something before i start do my reverse equation for less insulin as well. It still drops and i'am wasted for hours afterwards. I deal with a ton frustration which drives me high, i'am on meds for anxiety now also. I get in my head and the frustration goes around and around.

#4

Brian - are you on an insulin pump? Do you feel like your doctor is helping you work through these issues? When I was on MDI - I had a lot less predictability of my blood sugars. I could not exercise on MDI - and when I got a pump - I could set different basal rates for different activity levels.

Do I sometimes get lows? Yes I do but not as much as on MDI.

I agree with your wife - you need to be in control of your disease and not let it control you. There will be unexpected things that will happen with it - but take advantage of support groups and any diabetes training that you can. It is constantly "thinking like a pancreas." I highly recommend that book by Gary Scheiner. Your insulin levels might be too high for your activity levels and a good CDE should be able to help you get the doses right. You might even have 2 differen profiles for your work days and you not as active days.

Good wishes!

#5

HI Susan, I'am not on a pump yet i was thinking of getting one in the coming months though. I do not feel like my doctor is helping me at all. I have done the separate profiles, eventually the process just gets all jumbled together into a big mess of guessing. At my last full-time job i worked three and half days a week for total of 42 hours. I worked the second half of the week,so i was light on the insulin as i was very active. When i was off i needed more insulin as i was not as active. The part-time job i had ran 2 months i worked all crazy hours at that job. Sometimes mornings, mid-day and then late afternoon. At that job i had a hard time with control, i often had to get on the manager case to give me a break and or a lunch even in order to take care of myself.
I have a good amount of reactivity as well when comes to my BS, finding my target of 140 often eludes me. I'am either pushing 200 and over or dropping 100 and below especially when really being active.
Oh well thanks for the comments Susan perhaps i will get this figured out someday until i will take it day to day.

#6

The pump saved my life! You might want to find a CDE whom you can trust. I feel like doctors - unless they also have type one - do not understand. A nurse practitioner, dietician or CDE nurse would be able to help with your doses - in addition to your doctor. Been doing this now for over 20 years and I have had to fire people off my team who were not helping me.

Best wishes!