I am a somewhat new T1 diabetic (diagnosed in May 2007 at age 31), and have recently had to increase my insulin dosages by 10-20%. I don’t really understand why my body is suddenly requiring more insulin or why my BG numbers are irradic despite the fact that I haven’t changed my basic diet and exercise routine. I use a MM 522 pump for my insulin delivery. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I strive to have tight control, and I feel like my life is being controlled by my diabetes at the moment b/c I don’t feel like I have good control right now…totally frustrating and draining. Any advice or comments are appreciated.
My body goes through cycles where I need huge amounts for basals (1.5-2.3 units per hour) and then a few weeks later, I can drop everything back down to 1.1 to 1.4. Being a woman with hormones going everywhere is not a help. Winter weather is not helping either. I don’t consider it a bad thing, just a little irritating. Your body will let you know when you need more by your numbers. Don’t let it overwhelm you and don’t make too drastic changes all at once. Only go up by .05 or .1 and leave it alone for a few days to find out if your numbers are responding. Also, if you dwell on a few bad numbers, you’re just gonna stress yourself which will make highs too. Deal with each number by itself unless you see some sort of trend. Journaling helps sometimes to get your frustration on paper, close the book, and go on with your day. Don’t know how much this helps, but I’ve been pumping for 15+ years.
By honeymoon she means newly diagnosed diabetics still can produce insulin as time goes by that will stop and you will eventuly be at a more predictable dosage. Also what she said is right what you need as far as insulin is what you need dont fear it will keep going up, it wont.
Be patient you will be successful best of luck
Like the others have stated, you are coming out of the honeymoon stage. I was diagnosed T1 at 26 and barely took any insulin at all. I still have fairly low basal rates, but not like I did then. Have you adjusted your basal rates? I’m guessing that’s what you need to change, and perhaps your carb ratio. Do you know what that is set on right now?
After a 3 week roller coaster ride, and many basal/carb ratio adjustments later, my numbers have finally leveled out to ranges that I am happy with. I’m still not exactly sure what to attribute my irradic numbers to, but I am thankful that things are going better now. Diabetes is such a delicate balancing act! Thanks for the support.