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Diabetes annoyances

everydayupsanddowns

everydayupsanddowns

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Type 1
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What’s annoying you about the way your diabetes behaves at the moment?

For some years now I’ve seen a weird ‘trapezoid wave’ structure to my sensor data. It’s nothing… nothing… nothing… nothing… BOOM!
And it drives me nuts.

I first noticed it when I switched to Dexcom from the Medtronic G3 sensors. I wondered if it might be a combination of the Dex algorithm, and a bit of sensor lag. But exactly the same is happening with Simplera sensors, so it just looks like what my diabetes has decided to do.

Like this prebolus ‘fun’ this morning. A few days recently I’ve had a bigger than expected spike from breakfast (I suspect more enthusiastic Springtime FOTF). So today I thought I’d wait until I just about saw the trend line beginning to dip from mid-6s before eating.

It was a LOT longer than my current standard 15-20 min breakfast wait. And I was checking every 5 mins or so. 6something… 6something… 6something… eventually I thought it was getting silly, so I went to put a slice of seedy toast in. I think it was still 6.2 when I went to boil the kettle, get a plate. By the time I reached the bread I had a 4.8 alert before low. 😱

And now all of a sudden it was panic stations. And with sensor lag putting that 4.8 maybe 10 mins ago, I had to reach for full sugar Coke to try to catch the drop. 😡😡😡

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You can see where the meal dose was… and then there’s just ‘nothing’ until right at the last minute and then it’s all downward arrows and panic stations.

Bah!

What’s your current pet peeve? Feel free to rant and moan below about the annoying nonsense your diabetes is inflicting on you at the moment.
 
When you said trapezoid wave I thought you meant what I call "Table Mountain". Levels suddenly climb fast and then level out usually about 10/11 and then I have to inject stacked corrections which do absolutely nothing for a couple of hours and I get a nice flat line along the top of my mountain and then all those corrections that have been sitting there doing bot all for ages, suddenly wake up, join forces and drop me like a stone. Sometimes I get the opposite too, particularly at night where I drop as soon as I fall asleep, crawl along just in the red for a few hours in a really straight line and then the minute I eat a jelly baby I am heading into orbit. The lines along the top of my mountain or the bottom of my trench can be unnaturally straight and I almost never manage to achieve straight lines like that in range, so how come it happens so frequently just outside range? It is almost like some force pushes them away from where I want them to be and holds them there.
 
rebrascora said:
When you said trapezoid wave I thought you meant what I call "Table Mountain".
Click to expand...

Yep! That’s exactly it.

Steep rise… flatline… flatline… flatline… steep drop…flatline… flatline… flatline… steep rise… and repeat with increasing annoyance!
 
Oh yes, I get 'Table Mountain' , when I know i should have
enough insulin on board to be doing something, but the minute I capitulate and whack in a correction dose, even just one unit, it’s as if that unit kickstarts all the rest of the insulin that's lurking, and my levels plummet to the extent of having to take enough carbs for the one unit I bolstered myself with.
 
Mine sounds the same. That extended wobbly flat line just higher than I want to be showing no indication of dropping. Every time I think “don’t add a correction, don’t do it” but my blood sugar hangs on until I override my better judgment & bolus a small correction.

It is a split second between me bolusing and my cgm showing double down arrows and alarming with a prediction of a hypo.

I know that it’s going to drop the minute I correct but my blood sugar knows to hang on just long enough to make me act - every time!
 
Flower said:
Mine sounds the same. That extended wobbly flat line just higher than I want to be showing no indication of dropping. Every time I think “don’t add a correction, don’t do it” but my blood sugar hangs on until I override my better judgment & bolus a small correction.

It is a split second between me bolusing and my cgm showing double down arrows and alarming with a prediction of a hypo.

I know that it’s going to drop the minute I correct but my blood sugar knows to hang on just long enough to make me act - every time!
Click to expand...
Oh I’m so glad it’s not just me!
 
khskel said:
Having to split bolus to avoid post meal hypos but the next day spiking when doing the same.
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Yes, my constant annoyance is the inconsistency.

Often this is exercise related.
One week, I can suspend my basal and keep my BG stable through a 60 minute spin class. If I try the same in the next class, I am fighting off hypos.
"Most" of the time, exercise will temper DP the next day. But not always.
Sometimes, my BG rockets when I go climbing but, if I increase my basal, I will spend more time chatting between the routes so I will need an earlier tea break for cake even though I have done less climbing.
I see the same during a workout - I suspend my basal (a workout causes hypos, otherwise) and then meet someone and spend 30 minutes chatting so my BG will rise.

I do not have HCL but, if I did, I think it would struggle to predict what my BG is going to o in the next hour when I am hiking, climbing, cycling, or just doing a work-out at the gym.

I feel it is not the technology I need but faster insulin. Faster than FIASP so I can adjust my basal for what I will do in 2 minutes rather than what I might be doing in the the next 2 hours.
 
The usual. My menstrual cycle.
The new. HCL.

The theory this time last year was, get sterilised, come off contraceptives, see how I cope, should have been TIR all the time. On the Dash I was getting the hang of it. I had settings I could use for the background and it worked well Not prefect but the best I have ever had it.

This HCL doesn't know what's going on at all with my menstrual cycle. Normal days, fine. TIR as good as I was these days. Those other days it is so much worse than I was getting on. Because there is only exercise mode (which again is only suitable for certain cardio).
 
D'you know - it's reading threads like this one that long ago made me glad I never pay that much detailed attention to what my BG is doing except in a more general (trends) context.

I just can't persuade myself to pay more attention.
 
When you eat lunch, wait for the usual rise in sugar levels ... Wait for it ... Wait for it ... It's not happening today for reasons unknown and then you go low instead. And yes, it's just happened to me today. And no, I haven't exercised, eaten different to normal, I'm not stressed (no more than usual) or on my period
 
Flower said:
It is a split second between me bolusing and my cgm showing double down arrows and alarming with a prediction of a hypo.
Click to expand...

YES! It’s always timed for maximum irritation isn’t it. Bah!
 
Everything about it. Im high all the time at the moment. My dad died a week ago, not that old and hadn’t yet retired. I knew it was likely and all the build up and since he died were just really stressful and my bgs just aren’t recovering. My brain feels like it’s been replaced with marshmallows and I don’t really have the brain space to sort it out. Back to work tomorrow which feels quite the test of my brain.
 
@Lucyr I'm really sorry to hear that you just lost your Dad. It doesn't seem that long ago that you managed to save him when he had a heart attack in the car. Not surprising that you are struggling to cope with your diabetes in such circumstances. Sincerest condolences for your very sad loss.
 
trophywench said:
D'you know - it's reading threads like this one that long ago made me glad I never pay that much detailed attention to what my BG is doing except in a more general (trends) context.

I just can't persuade myself to pay more attention.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear someone else has the same attitude as me. I just can’t focus on the tiny details. All I want is to be able to exercise and for my BG to behave the same way on every walk / swim / bike ride...ooh look, a flying pig! 😉


So sorry to hear about your dad @Lucyr. (((HUGS))).
 
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