Good news! Honeymoon period over for T3c

[djdave]

Well, just when I thought I had knocked it out of the park with managing my insulin / carbs / weight / etc, things changed again! Not fair!

Back at end of January I started on the 'normal' 6u per meal to get me used to MDIs. Quick change to my diet (yes I was overdoing carbs/sugar) and things all started to fall into place. Got my Libre CGM 2 weeks after diagnosis and quickly started following what various foods did to my BG levels. Sorry, but I found it fascinating! Started with 1u / 10g carbs rapid and 14u long lasting at night, but quickly found my 'levels' to be about 1u / 6g carbs. I had actually calculated it down to 1u / 5.7g carbs - but that's the programmer / mathematician in me!

Then 3 weeks later I started finding my BG on the low side and had my Libre app shouting at me both day & night! So I started on the path of reducing levels & settled back to 1u / 10g carbs and 10u overnight. Thought that would do me to be 'normal' for once and was happy to keep going at that level for several weeks!

Low and behold, 1 week ago I get low alarms again! Low enough for me to break out my emergency supplies to stop hypos! I think I managed to just keep ahead of things with a minimum BG of 3.5... So start the lowering insulin intake more and more until I went 2 days with only 6u overnight, nothing for meals. But that was still too much! I had to keep a supply of pears and apples on standby... and a couple of biscuits overnight the other night...

Who woke up my pancreas!

Now on an even keel again with 2u overnight (otherwise a slow and steady rise in BG) and 1u / 30g carbs! If I keep under 20g carbs per meal I generally stay in limits... But that counts out so much good food...

Moral(s) of the story: as long as you have got some pancreas left, don't count it out altogether... Take advice from people who had had diabetes longer than you... Find a good healthcare team who stand by you and advise you, not ignore you... Take time to find out how your body reacts to various foods... Find out what diabetes is all about and what it means to keep it under control... And enjoy life as much as you can (within limits)! Now staying over 90% TIR and enjoying the odd splurge in foods.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Ah that familiar shuffle of the ‘right doses’ being found… working for a while… then needing tweaking.

It’s the way of things I’m afraid!

 

[helli]

If only I could put a stick in the sand and say "my honeymoon is over and my inulin dose will never change".
Sadly, it's not that easy. Even after 20 years, I was just tweaking my basal and bolus doses down on my pump. No doubt, I will be tweaking them again in a month or so when it gets warmer or when work gets more stressful or when I have less time to exercise or ...
As @everydayupsanddowns says "It's the way of things" which is why it is great to have a good team to teach us how to take control and give us confidence to understand our body's needs from month to month. (I was going to write "day to day" but that would be making too many tweaks.)

 

[Wendal]

Hi Dave,
We always learn far more when things don’t go according to plan and we have to readjust rather than things running pretty smoothly so there is less need to adjust.
As others have said having a honeymoon period does make life unpredictable and many prefer the ending of it so that they can better control their diabetes.
We can’t control its effects and personally I am pleased when my pancreas is showing signs of life even if severely limited due to necrosis for a whole host of reasons even if it does make life a bit less predictable.
ATB

 

[rebrascora]

Sounds like you are right in the middle of the honeymoon period to me, where the injected insulin has given your remaining healthy beta cells a bit of a breather and they are now feeling revived and able to produce a bit more insulin again. How long this period lasts is anyone's guess. It sounds like you have a really good grasp on managing things, so well done and yes, Libre is fascinating isn't it and makes diabetes management so much easier. I treat it more like a long running computer game than a device for monitoring a potentially serious health condition. When I am on a roll and getting really good TIR results, I make an extra effort and push for a new personal best TIR.

 

[trophywench]

I'm damn well bored out of my brain with it, by now, thank you. It's cruelty to humans to never ever ever have a day off.