The last couple of months have been hard for me with my diabetes. Medications and illnesses which needed the medications have kept me in the higher bs ranges regardless of what I did.:o( I know my doc will not be happy at my A1C when I see him next (My 90 day average is 147 where it was 121). For now though, I seem to be doing ok withwith my pod, but at the moment, one thing has me frustrated. I can not seem to manage my bs when I eat pasta! I was 76 before dinner last night and ate some alfredo pasta at home. Before bed which was approximately 3.5 hours later, I was 127. Not too shabby. I woke up this morning and I was 466!!! This happens on a regular basis when I eat pasta and I can't seem to figure it out. Are you supposed to do an extended bolus like you do when you eat pizza?
Also, I didn't think it mattered when you ate, your bs should stay in normal range. I find if I eat later in the evening, my bs in the morning is high. If I eat at a normal time they are fine in the morning. In both scenerios my bs before bed is normal. It is just frustrating and I want to control this wonderful (enter sarcasim here) disease we all share. I have an appointment with my doc late next month but dont want to wait that long since I do have left overs in my fridge :o) Any ideas?
Kelby - I find whenever I eat pasta OR pizza I have to extend my bolus…and give myself more than I usually would. I guess it is just the Italian foods! Sounds to me like you may need to revisit you basals overnight…especially if you wake everyday with a bg over 150. (dawn phenomenon?) I have done many readjustments, and sometimes I just stay up all night to monitor what is going on!
One word…FAT! I usually eat whole grain blend pasta and am finding I don’t have the spikes or extended higher #'s…unless it is very cheesy. Alfredo,like pizza, is loaded with fat. What I would do for that is fiqure out the carbs and add about 30% more for the fat, bolus about 70% and extend the rest for 3 or 4 hours. Your body will have its own special way of dealing with it, but absolutely, fat causes a delayed high for me.
Thanks Steve. I was guessing that was what it was with the extended bolus but wanted to make sure before I tried it. Got to love Italian food! My doc doesn’t seem to believe in having more than one basal rate. I was at 1.15 and was having a lot of extremely low lows. He changed it to 1.10 and sometimes its normal and sometimes it isn’t. Guess its just a lot of trial and error! Do you adjust your own or do you have your doctor do it? When I was on the zpack for bronchitis (twice in the past couple months) I tried to adjust it myself because I didn’t want to bother him…
I only use the whole grain pasta. I have never really liked the other stuff. I know the stuff is bad for you and I dont have it often, but sometimes you just crave it! Thats a good idea about adding more for the fat. Never thought of that idea. Thanks Elaine!
Thanks Nate. I have actually thought about going out and getting that book. It is referenced quite a bit and thought it could really help me since I have never pumped before. I have had a few responses about the fat. Throughout my entire fight with Type 1 (22 years in October), no doctor had ever told me anything about how fat changes your bs levels at a later time. I felt like I was just really out of control and guessing at everything. I finally decided enough is enough. Thats why I decided to go to an endo and get the insulin pump. To finally take control of my life and do things the right way! I always thought I was doing it wrong and now I know why. It would be really nice if they would make something where it monitors your bg levels on its own and automatcially gives you insulin without you telling it to!
Thanks for the help! I have learned more from all of you in this group than I have from any doctor! You’re the greatest!
If you are always eating alfredo pasta, then it probably has as much fat (or more) than the some pizzas. You can check the fat content on most any Italian restaurant website but most list it at about 30% fat.
With that being said, when my 16 year old son extends we usually extend out only 3-4 hours even though the fat will be active for 8 to 10 hours. It sounds like if you extend extra insulin to 3.5 hours you will be really too low for sleep since you are already 127 before bedtime.
You may have to set your alarm (on a night when you can get a nap the next day) and test every two hours and see if it is a gradual rise through the night or a peak right before morning. That is what we did for basal testing. A CGM really helps with this I’m told.
I tested my son at 3pm the other night because he normally drops 6 hours after playing hockey and we were doing a 15% reduction in basal. He was 126 - better than the usual 56. The reduction gave him some room. But, much to my surprise he was almost 200 by morning. So now we don’t do the reduction past the 6 hours because he doesn’t need it and it makes him too high. We are always too high or too low!
Be careful changing things at night unless you have a person to help monitor you.
i AM surprised by your doctors advice! IN fact, I was told by my endo, and a few other members here on TU…that it is the “norm” to have at least 3 basal rates, if not more! I change them myself, and at this point I am running 5 different basals over a 24 hr. period, which includes a bout of working out, and fighting a dawn phenomemon. You just need to get comfortable with changing your numbers on the PDM…it becomes second nature! (note: you cannot change your basals w/out “suspending” insulin delivery…last choice on home page) (I just “suspend” for :30…then, “resume” right after I have made changes). Good luck, and PEACE
I’m (unoficially) part of a huge Sicilian family, and my boyfriend’s grandfather was Diabetic…He said that the way they eat long, coursed out meals made it a lot easier, you would be at the table for the whole BG rollercoaster!
Also, all the wine lowers your BG over time, so I find that if I am eating a High Fat meal, a little wine with it will normally nip high BGs hours later in the bud
I discovered this after I lost some insulin in a very remote location due to HEAT… I drank pretty heavily to keep my bloodsugar down for the 24 hours it took to get back to civilization. Perhaps not FDA (or Endo!) approved, but it worked, and now I’ve got drinking with the big D down to a science!
I was just seeing my nutritionist the other day (who works closely with our Diabetes Education program and she said that the only people who do not have lots of basal’s throughout the day are those that are still thinking in terms of pumps 10 years ago. My current program is set up to give me 9 different basal’s during the day and we’re still fine tuning some hours. Your body isn’t limited to just one basal and so your pump shouldn’t be either. My basal at night is half what it is during the day (although from what I hear that’s odd, usually it’s the other way around) so one rate wouldn’t work for me.
It’s all about trial and error.
I had a family member say to me today "I saw a photo of you online where you are drinking and I can see your pump, did you know that drinking can affect your diabetes?"
Of course I scoffed and said “of course” and inwardly chuckled and thought of this discussion… Perhaps a new thread?
ONWARD HO!
