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Bad few days

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Woodywoodpecker

Woodywoodpecker

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Pronouns
She/Her
Having bit off a moan today, fees like ave been on a rollercoaster for a few days. Kicked off with my soup, decided to make chicken and rice and had small roll, didn’t take enough insulin and ended up about 13 for a good while, next night took unit more not as high. Then Chinese and drinks out 14 for a wii while. Last night think a had my first compression lows or could have been new sensor, went off at back off one 4 took glucose pills then dropped off, again 4.45 4.4 took another 2 glucose pills half asleep, then woke up to a 12 then realised I shud off pricked my finger, by my graph was no where near a low, will teach me to wake myself up properly and do a finger prick. Pleased to go back to work tomorrow and back in a routine
 
Hi @Woodywoodpecker moan away so you had a good time but the BG was playing up thats how it goes sometimes Good luck with going back into a routine
gail
 
Sorry to hear the Diabetes Fairy has been up to her tricks with you @Woodywoodpecker

It’s a frustrating game to play at times, but you are doing amazingly well. Learning to sigh, respond, and move on from a wobbly day or two (hopefully without giving yourself too much of a hard time) is a valuable part of your early learning.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Sorry to hear the Diabetes Fairy has been up to her tricks with you @Woodywoodpecker

It’s a frustrating game to play at times, but you are doing amazingly well. Learning to sigh, respond, and move on from a wobbly day or two (hopefully without giving yourself too much of a hard time) is a valuable part of your early learning.
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Thank you, that’s the problem I am hard on myself. Never think I’m doing well, even when the hospital tell me am doing great
 
I think it is something that many of us have found hard to adjust to. For me, Libre helped with the mentality because before Libre I was really struggling to keep my premeal levels within the 4-7 guideline, probably because of protein release so it seemed very binary like I was either successful or I failed and I failed quite a bit. Once I got Libre and I was looking at a wider range and only needing to be within range 70% of the time, even when I went outside that range for short periods, it wasn't a failure because I wasn't expected to be within range 100% of the time. I have never not achieved 70% TIR so I am very successful and to be honest I have only once dropped below 80%. Yes it is nice to get 90+% and have regular "unicorn" days but Even if I drop down to 75% I am still winning.... and indeed, usuig the "winning" is very much how I see it now rather than success or failure. It is more a game now than managing a serious health condition, where I play to the best of my ability in the circumstances I am in at the time. It doesn't stop me enjoying life but I do also get a sense of achievement from getting good results. Who doesn't like a "unicorn" day for making you feel like you "nailed it" but there are other things in life that you get enjoyment from too, like the Xmas pudding on Xmas Day and Boxing day which both were clearly well beyond my skills level to manage. Maybe next year or the year after I will have cracked that challenge!
 
Woodywoodpecker said:
Thank you, that’s the problem I am hard on myself. Never think I’m doing well, even when the hospital tell me am doing great
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I find that catching myself saying "should", "ought" or "must" to myself - and training people close to me to point it out to me when I do it - is a good first step towards keeping my perfectionist tendencies under control.
 
rebrascora said:
I think it is something that many of us have found hard to adjust to. For me, Libre helped with the mentality because before Libre I was really struggling to keep my premeal levels within the 4-7 guideline, probably because of protein release so it seemed very binary like I was either successful or I failed and I failed quite a bit. Once I got Libre and I was looking at a wider range and only needing to be within range 70% of the time, even when I went outside that range for short periods, it wasn't a failure because I wasn't expected to be within range 100% of the time. I have never not achieved 70% TIR so I am very successful and to be honest I have only once dropped below 80%. Yes it is nice to get 90+% and have regular "unicorn" days but Even if I drop down to 75% I am still winning.... and indeed, usuig the "winning" is very much how I see it now rather than success or failure. It is more a game now than managing a serious health condition, where I play to the best of my ability in the circumstances I am in at the time. It doesn't stop me enjoying life but I do also get a sense of achievement from getting good results. Who doesn't like a "unicorn" day for making you feel like you "nailed it" but there are other things in life that you get enjoyment from too, like the Xmas pudding on Xmas Day and Boxing day which both were clearly well beyond my skills level to manage. Maybe next year or the year after I will have cracked that challenge!
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Thank you I think I’ve got used to being in the 80s, down to 70% but have been trying new foods, so I know I need to give myself a break. I’m in the honeymoon period, does it get better or worse after that
 
CliffH said:
I find that catching myself saying "should", "ought" or "must" to myself - and training people close to me to point it out to me when I do it - is a good first step towards keeping my perfectionist tendencies under control.
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My friends are always telling me off, saying they think I’m doing great and they couldn’t do it
 
Woodywoodpecker said:
Thank you I think I’ve got used to being in the 80s, down to 70% but have been trying new foods, so I know I need to give myself a break. I’m in the honeymoon period, does it get better or worse after that
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As with everything diabetes related, "it depends". 🙄 For me the honeymoon period was rather unpredictable, I didn't have CGM for most of it and of course I was very inexperienced. Other find that the honeymoon period acts like a buffer to smooth things out a bit. There was a girl on my DAFNE course like that.
To me experience is the key. The more experienced and confident you get, the better you get at managing it, so in reality, it gets better with time. It is just so unfair that it can be a really rocky ride early on when you have so little experience to deal with it.
 
rebrascora said:
As with everything diabetes related, "it depends". 🙄 For me the honeymoon period was rather unpredictable, I didn't have CGM for most of it and of course I was very inexperienced. Other find that the honeymoon period acts like a buffer to smooth things out a bit. There was a girl on my DAFNE course like that.
To me experience is the key. The more experienced and confident you get, the better you get at managing it, so in reality, it gets better with time. It is just so unfair that it can be a really rocky ride early on when you have so little experience to deal with it.
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Thank you some days feels very rocky. Hoping being back in a routine will help as well
 
I think one of the things I have come to terms with is that there is always an ebb and flow with my diabetes management. I will get periods of relatively plain sailing and then I will get a bit of a turbulent patch. I think this is fairly normal for most people and you do your best to do all the "right things" when you hit a bad patch and after that you just batten down the hatches and wait to come out the other side into another calm spell of easy sailing. It no longer frustrates me like it used to and I think a large part of that is acceptance. It is like getting frustrated when it rains. It doesn't help, you just have to hope tomorrow or the day after, it will be sunny. I think everything in nature has this ebb and flow, good and bad, easy and challenging, so there is no point in taking it personally or being self critical as a result of it. Basically it is just life!
 
Thank you good advice. I need to chill and just go with the flow. I have become a bit obsessed looking at the app to see where my glucose is, time to wean myself off it I think. Was obsessed with it in the beginning as well, was frightened off the lows. Think being on holiday for 2 weeks and bad few days, has me back looking at it
 
Woodywoodpecker said:
Thank you I think I’ve got used to being in the 80s, down to 70% but have been trying new foods, so I know I need to give myself a break. I’m in the honeymoon period, does it get better or worse after that
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The answer to that question may depend on one's experience(s) of marriage 🙄
 
Woodywoodpecker said:
Thank you good advice. I need to chill and just go with the flow. I have become a bit obsessed looking at the app to see where my glucose is, time to wean myself off it I think. Was obsessed with it in the beginning as well, was frightened off the lows. Think being on holiday for 2 weeks and bad few days, has me back looking at it
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I don't think I am obsessive about it, but I find it useful to keep tabs on my levels very regularly and in fact since starting on Libre 4.5 years ago, I have consistently averaged mid 30s scans a day (I have a reader, so have to scan for readings) Apart from the obvious times when I need to scan, I don't have any real schedule but I find that having all this back ground info gives me a real insight into how my body responds to all manner of stuff and usually I can predict what my levels will be when I scan to within about 0.5 of a mmol. In fact predicting the result is part of the game for me.... I am sad, I know! 🙄 I don't stress about the results I see but I take action when necessary and "when necessary" has changed as my experience and confidence has grown.

As an example, this morning, at 10.30am before breakfast I got a reading of 4.2 with a vertical downward arrow just as I got back in the house, but experience tells me that Libre is being over dramatic. I didn't feel like I do with a fast dropping imminent hypo, so rather than eat a JB, I made my breakfast of berries with seeds and yoghurt and cinnamon and a cup of coffee and as I sat down to eat 8 mins later, I scanned again and I was still 4.2 but the arrow was sloping downwards instead of vertical as Libre was catching on that my levels were no longer dropping or indeed as low as it suggested. My levels had been dropping fast earlier because I had been outside working. The drop had slowed down as my FOTF insulin had run out, but Libre was still predicting a fast drop which was no longer happening. I didn't hypo and my yoghurt and berries brought me up before I hit the red.
If I didn't monitor my levels regularly I would probably have panicked at that 4.2 with a vertical downward arrow and eaten a hypo treatment and then ended up high later and needed more insulin. Keeping a close eye on Libre helps me to compare what I feel with what I see and know when to trust it and take action quickly and when I have time to potter on as usual.
 
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