So here’s the diabetes tip of the day. Make a basal check a standard procedure every two to three months. Like I’ve said before, I’ve been struggling with blood sugars all over the place but mostly up. My first thought is always to my site failing or my pump not working properly. But rarely do I figure that maybe its my basal rates that have overstayed their welcome.
The last time I checked or changed my basal rates was at least six months ago. I keep thinking that nothing has really changed since then so why change my basal rates, but when I really sit down to think about it, a lot has changed. I have gone from working full time to ten weeks of an amazingly relaxed summer vacation and then back to work again. I have begun working out again and made some huge advancements in my overall aerobic fitness. My stress level has dropped since my kids are now going to the same school I teach at so I no longer have to fight thirty minutes of traffic while preventing fights and major meltdowns in the house and the backseat and worrying if I will make it to my classroom in time for the first bell of the morning.
And the biggest factor in all of this, my thyroid is closing in on being back at a normal level. After three years of being totally out of control, it is responding to the meds and mellowing out. Its amazing the effect it has had on my basal rates over those three years. When it was at its max my nighttime basal rates were reduced by fifty percent while still fighting off constant lows. Now I have hesitantly brought it back up to pre-thyroid levels and even a little higher since I was in much better shape before this whole ordeal started. For the first night in weeks, last night I had a good blood sugar night. Nick didn’t wake me once and the clarity of mind I have found today from quality sleep is terrific.
The worst part is that I should have figured this out months ago, if I had only done a basal check. So now along with my quarterly A1C check, my TSH, T3 and T4 check and my five minute conversation with my endo, I will be performing a basal check.
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