I thought maybe I was delusional or going crazy but I swore that my blood sugars were always spot on in the morning. I would get to work at 80-100 and maybe go up to 130 max by lunch unless something unexpected happened.
For the past two weeks I've still been starting out at 80-100 but now I'm rising up to 160-180. No change in diet, no change in routine at my 8-5 desk job. I even skipped breakfast and it still went up.
I'm adjusting my basal rates but I'm annoyed. Can't anything just be easy?? Anyone else have spontaneous changes in insulin needs?
My Endocrinologist says that this is not unusual, he had to create a new pattern on my pump basal rates for the changes I had experienced. I started going too low in the post lunch periods, pre-lunch as well, and sometimes at night, which would wake me up with low blood sugar symptoms like nightmares, sweating. Weather, stress and unknown reasons cause this change and it may hang around for months or forever! Does your doctor work with you and help you set your basal rates?
Yes, I experience changing insulin needs. I just figured it was part of the drill. The human glucose metabolism is complex, even in those of us with a broken pancreas. The liver plays a significant role secreting glucose. First phase insulin delivered by a healthy pancreas in response to a meal inhibits liver glucose production. Our subcutaneous insulin injections don't affect the liver that way so that's often a complicating factor for us.
The important thing is to pick up on the change when it happens and respond appropriately. For much of my diabetes life, I spent far too much time observing the changed pattern and not acting! Now I try to fix things as quickly as they change, but only if it is a trend. I define a trend as something that happens for at least three days in a row.
For me, diabetes is not easy. I take great satisfaction, however, when I can outsmart it!
