Can the cold lower blood sugars?

[gillrogers]

Hi, still waiting for docs to do yet another blood test to decide wether i do need thyroid medication for an underactive thyroid.

Im finding that my basal seems to ge on an ever decreasing drop! Over two weeks ive gone from 6 units in the morning to 3.5 units with 1 at night. That ones not changing. Its seems tove tying in with the weather getting cooler but i was on 3 units during the hot summer. But could it be that my control is better than its ever been and that's what's bringing it down?

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Normally the hot weather results in lower BGs and hypos remind us that summer is coming!

I had a review of my injection sites by a DSN last week and she told me to avoid 2 areas I routinely was using for my basal. I did and my basal needed has noticeably reduced; so change of injection routine could be a factor - obvious enough in hindsight! Certainly better control could explain your drop, but it seems a lot, from 6 to 3.5. Because there are so many things that affect one's BG, its a true challenge to spot what a cause might be.

 

[Robin]

I can get lower BGs at the start of winter, if I'm still being as active, ie, walking and gardening, and using extra glucose to keep warm as well, it’s only if I curl up with a book and start to hibernate that my BGs rise and my basal needs go up. My body normally adjusts over a few weeks, though, and I find myself having to put my basal back to what it was…until the next time there’s a change in the weather.
Ive also found that this last week, I’ve been suddenly hypoing at night all the time, and the only difference I think, is that I had my Covid booster and flu jab a week ago. When I had Covid itself, my basal needs dropped temporarily as well, contrary to what I was expecting.

 

[gillrogers]

Thanks both, its not injection sites. Those haven't changed. But i have just been reading about underactive thyroids and it messess with hormones and that it can cause insulin to be metabolised more slowly can cause sudden drops . But then i expect to have higher spikes and im not. They're actually lower. Perhaps its a mix of all of it. I know the year before last my basal came down for winter. Just dont remember it being this low but then im not as stressed as i was then. Hey hoo.

 

[gillrogers]

Can better control also reduce bolus ratios and improve resistance?

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Can better control also reduce bolus ratios and improve resistance?

It has certainly got to be a possibility. I think in principle the logic would be the other way around, ie better control (= lower overall BG and more time in range) should improve (=reduced) insulin resistance (=increased insulin sensitivity) and thus your insulin goes further, so needing less bolus.

The same logic would (should) apply to your basal dosing. Although we happily discriminate between bolus and basal as 2 types of insulin, as I understand this our body doesn't recognise that difference: insulin is insulin - if its there it will be used to facilitate glucose transfer from the blood into cells, regardless of whether it is slow or quick release. Quite how our body recognises the different release profiles is beyond me!

 

[nonethewiser]

Always found, on injections & now pump basal dose goes up in winter down in summer.

 

[gillrogers]

It has certainly got to be a possibility. I think in principle the logic would be the other way around, ie better control (= lower overall BG and more time in range) should improve (=reduced) insulin resistance (=increased insulin sensitivity) and thus your insulin goes further, so needing less bolus.

The same logic would (should) apply to your basal dosing. Although we happily discriminate between bolus and basal as 2 types of insulin, as I understand this our body doesn't recognise that difference: insulin is insulin - if its there it will be used to facilitate glucose transfer from the blood into cells, regardless of whether it is slow or quick release. Quite how our body recognises the different release profiles is beyond me!

Thanks thats making sense with what im seeing. This couple of months is the first time in 8 years that my predicted hba1c is 57 (7.4%). This has come down now as ive been correctly diagnosed as type one lada and not type 2. Ive just looked back in my diary for last winter and my bolus ratios where lower and im hitting a pattern now that suggests im going back to them for this winter.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I’ve given up expecting my diabetes to do anything reliably or consistently year to year!

I just tweak-and-watch. If things are pootling along I leave well alone, and may think occasionally “Ah it’s rising because it’s Autumn probably”, but then when I had to wind some of those rises back down last week I just had to shrug!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I’ve given up expecting my diabetes to do anything reliably or consistently year to year!

I was expecting to need to increase my insulin a little because it's a bit colder. Instead I've had a few nights with low alarms so I'm decreasing my evening Levemir (which worked OK yesterday night).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I was expecting to need to increase my insulin a little because it's a bit colder. Instead I've had a few nights with low alarms so I'm decreasing my evening Levemir (which worked OK yesterday night).

Yup me too!

Went down a bit in the warm bit of october, but going back up now. 🙄