Now that I feel like I've found a solution to a lot of my random highs I feel like I can start fine tuning and working on some solutions. My control the past three days has been sort of a roller coaster, not as pretty as the graphs I posted over in the forum ... But this morning I checked my average and my 7-day average is 7.5 and my 14-day average is 7.4! Before I hardly ever had averages below 9.5 or so!!!
One issue I noticed that I want to figure out is that I rise a LOT in the morning if I don't eat. Yesterday I went to work without eating breakfast (I ate when I got to work), and my blood sugar went from 4.7 when I woke up to 9.5 three hours later. This morning I did the same, except I bolused a correction plus an extra half unit. I woke up at 6.7 and bolused 1.5 units with no food, and two hours later when I got to work I was 9.0 ... But if I sleep in, I seem to be fine.
Yesterday I had two random spikes to 15.x but I think part of the problem is it's nearing that "time" and also I started taking Symbicort the other day, and I'm also taking Nasonex. Both of those are steroids but are apparently not supposed to affect blood sugar as they stay in your lungs or nose respectively. It has been GREAT for my allergies but maybe negative for my blood sugars? But I will wait a few more days and see.
Also, even though my doctor said the GI doctor may be a few months, I got a phone call this morning saying they want to book me for an appointment on Tuesday and book a gstrocopy (sp?) for Friday! I'm not sure I've ever gotten such a fast referral! I have no idea what is involved in this type of test for people with diabetes, but I'm going to call the office this afternoon and talk to them and see about getting time off work on such short notice - might as well get it over with if I can.
Hi Jen. I might now be the best advisor on this topic but I just wanted to let you know I’ve experienced the same problem. I asked my endo about it and he said never skip breakfast. Your liver produces glycogen when you first wake. Everyone’s does to give them sort if a “boost” in the mornings. This combined with no breakfast can send some into starvation mode where your liver produces even more sugar. I personally give a slightly higher ammount for breakfast because of this reason. The problem I have is when my sugar is high from a set coming out in the middle if the night I CAN’T eat breakfast until it starts to lower or my entire day is ruined. It takes a very long time to come down because of the glycogen effect but I’ve found it works a little better if I can wait it out during a high and eat breakfast once it finally starts to lower. I hope you don’t feel discouraged as most diabetics have their roughest times in the morning. I’ve honestly just had to get my hands dirty and experiment with eliminating certain types of foods that trigger highs all together. Cutting out gluten, most milk and sugar has helped me but it’s a persobal test as each body is different. Try reading Dr. Mark Hyman’s Blood Sugar Solution. I was so discouraged about my morning highs and when I hit rock bottom and asked God to please help. It was a miracle how he led me to this book which is another story but hopefully some of these tips will help! Try asking your doctor about giving more insulin for food in the mornings or increasing your basis during that time. I will most certainly be praying you find a solution.
Thanks for your comment - always making sure to eat breakfast was something I was thinking about, too. I'm not discouraged, though; until recently I had crazy numbers all day, almost every day. Since changing to metal infusion sets I seem to have eliminated that problem! During this post i was having 3-4 days of sort of crazy readings (though not compared to before), but I changed my site the evening before yesterday and since then things have been PERFECT! (I've also eaten breakfast, so I'm sure that helped!) So I will probably avoid the location I was using those two days (left stomach) for a while as it seems to have been causing the highs. I didn't feel the cannula go in at all so am guessing there's some scar tissue around there. Now that I FINALLY have decent control I feel like I can start doing the fine-tuning stuff. Before I always just felt like it was a massive battle just stay anywhere close to the lines, not to mention between them.
It is that Darn Phenomenon again. I found that I must eat and bolus in the morning. If I don't eat, I still have to bolus and probably need to bolus even more than when I eat. Sounds strange, but I am strange and everybody is different. You may find that you also need to have something upon waking. If you are really pressed for time, you try a protein shake, that works for me.
This is amazing! You know what I forgot to mention that I switched to a metal “sure T” set as well and it has done wonders! Doesn’t even hurt like those dang plastic ones. With all of the scar tissue I was getting insulin clogged in that thing! Keep us posted on any other changes. There are some wonderful tips from great people on this site.
