ThThis had been a very stressful week. I have had to travel out of state for business also which didn’t go well. Since last week prior yo my trip I have running high and guzzling insulin like crazy. I have not been like this in a long time. Been home 2 days from the trip and finally getting #s below 200 and I had a majorly stressful incident occur. That pic is what my afternoon looked like. When things got chaotic so did my bs. Is that typical from stress or is it coincidence?
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Stress will spike many of us. It’s not uncommon. I’m sorry that you have the stress to begin with. I hope it all works out.
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spikes me big time. my only saving grace is when I’m stressed, I tend to not eat, or forget to eat.
hugs Reese!! travel and work stress and then on top of that a sudden incident is a triple
Stress makes me spike and travel always makes me run high, even though my travel,is all for pleasure. Go figure.
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It is for me.
For D people, if you are hiking and see a bear on the trail, you’ll get this result every time. Of course there are other stress sources, but higher bg and corresponding higher insulin needs go hand-in-hand with elevated stress.
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stress makes me spike as well. i use a temp basal rate to combat the situation. i will sometimes have to elevate it by as much as 150%. then when my BGs start going back down to normal, i turn off the temp basal and all is well. i have had periods during which i am insulin resistant, for whatever reasons, and i up my basal rates for that as well.
also, i notice that once my BGs get high (from stress or any other reason) i am more resistant than at other times when my BGs are in range. so, that being said, if the temp basal can help keep you in range, you might not have all the stubborn reactions to your insulin.
best of luck and i hope that this helps.
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hope i wasn’t being confusing. i meant that i elevate my basal TO 150% , not UP by 150% 
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My BG also responds to stress by spiking. Combining stress with traveling is a bad combo for blood sugar control. Traveling often means changing your usual diet and tends to inhibit exercise. These two factors also contribute to spiking BGs. Exercise can make insulin work better while it can also relieve stress. It can be difficult to keep up your normal exercise routine when traveling.
I hope you’re getting back on track. Good luck.
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That is a good idea I hadnt thought of that ty
Im glad you clarified that cause I thought up 150 lol
I had to travel a few days to help my son with an incident at college. I wish the school was closer cause the trip itself had me beat. Mid last year I had a mini stroke that left me weak and in pain on the right side so I couldn’t even drive myself. I had to find someone willing to go with me. When we got there it didn’t go so well. Then I return to threats of possibly losing my apartment because I haven’t been able to pay since the stroke. I put in for disability but it takes so long Idk if I can hang on. I feel like my life is crumbling and my dignity is shot. I use to be a self sufficient single mom who worked whatever hours I had to to provide for my children and now I cant even keep the roof over my head and every 5 minutes I am falling. My life has drastically changed from what it use to be and now I feel useless
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Sorry to read about your setbacks, @Reese2! From this distance all I can recommend is to go easy on yourself, pay extra attention to eating well, getting some exercise, and climbing into bed early to help increase your odds of getting a good night’s sleep.
Do you have someone nearby who can lend a empathetic ear? Talking with someone who’s close to you might help identify some ideas about some solutions to your real world problems. I wish you well! It sounds real tough.
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It’s the flight or fight reaction to stress. Think about it like coming unknowingly upon a bear. Your body revs up to fight the bear or run away. Both require fuel, your body releases adrenaline, your glucose increases to help you react.
Everybody, diabetic or not, has a BG rise to stress.
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I need to get with someone my own age to vent too. At the moment I am bombarded by my adult children with ideas of things to do but they dont take into account my dignity. I am a divorced mom of 3 and I worked 12-16 hours a day to make sure I took care of myself and them. Now being a mom as I know it has ended and my career has as well and I cant even support myself. This is not how my life was supposed to be.
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Sounds like a very tough place to play from Reese. I recently met someone who learned they some deep family secrets that most folks would find troubling to say the least (grotesque incest kind of stuff). This new friend looked at me smiling and said “you know what I think I feel a break-through coming, not a break down. this new information explains so much to me” My point is the perspective you view life from has a lot to do with how we handle what is thrown at us.
I am the father of four, my children are not yet adults but mostly budding teens & pre-teens and they are already full of advice for me. I can’t imagine the blows you have taken to have your motherhood taken from you as well as your ability to provide for yourself. It isn’t the storybook we were all told as children for our adult lives.
It is however the reality you have been dealt. And motherhood or your professional life haven’t really been taken but altered and you simply haven’t found your new way with them yet. Hang in there!!
I would encourage you to get creative, you don’t have much choice but to re-invent yourself. Perhaps consider what your passions are and see if there isn’t some way to fashion a new way to make a living out of that somehow. Do you like animals? Could the local ASPCA use your help somehow? Do you enjoy children of a certain age? Could you help out as a para-educator or lunch room monitor in a local school?
Keep your chin up and open yourself to some new possibilities. Best of luck to you turning this around!!
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Your message made me feel so much better. That is the 3rd time today I have heard someone say re-invent myself so maybe that is a sign. Oddly enough I also called the area shelter to help with some clerical stuff. A few hours a week I will go in and help out. I still have no idea where I will be living in a few weeks which is a large cloud over my head but I guess even that will takes its own path and I have to be patient cause being stressed about it isnt helping. Thank you
Ask yourself “what really matters?” and pursue it with EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING!! Go Reese GO! You got this, life gave us lemons, it is up to us to make the lemonade. All it takes is a little sugar 
Yea it definitely happens me too and in addition to the direct effect it has presumably through endorphins or whatever, it also tends to leave me distracted and doing silly things like forgetting to bolus or change infusion set that don’t help the chaotic readings.
Stress guarantees HIGH blood sugar, period.
Barring some other condition(s)/diseases, the all hormones caused by you body/mind enduring STRESS makes several things happen. If stress is a constant LOW level of stress, your body may well endure the adrenaline coursing through your bloodstream with little significant sign. Your body in effect gets used to it. The same manner your body can get used to ridiculously high blood sugar, not healthy that it does so but… it can anyway
IF stress causes your breathing to accelerate uncontrollably… if your hands are shaking and cannot be calmed/slowed down, if your heart is tripping like a hammer in your chest… if THESE signs are happening to you, your body is getting several stress hormones dumped into your bloodstream. Your adrenaline glands, your liver are dumping sugar into you so that you can run or fight with the thing which scared/upset you so badly.
The things historically which scared us as a species were meant for us to be afraid of. Today the emotional side, the physical aspect of that usually is not helpful in the same manner. My wife, the boss screaming violently gets-earns the fight/flight body chemistry but can be endured without any real threat to my body.
My body doesn’t know the difference between the tiger which will eat me, and the same bodily sensations which a boss can generate without any valid threat to my staying alive in order to achieve them.
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Yep! Stress and any illnesses spike me. Used more insulin in 9 days of N/V, pain fever than i normally use in 18 days. Even though I didn’t eat and list 14#. Fevers 102.6 to 104.5 after Tylenol.
OTOH - didn’t eat for 3 days during family crisis and used double insulin.