Hormonal changes - periods

P

Pjs191184

Member
Hi ladies specially!!!

I’m recently diagnosed and my BGs go absolute crazy mental from the time I ovulate to my period starting when they immediate go back to normal! I can’t seem to control it even my increasing insulin loads and cutting out most carbs!

As such I’m thinking of getting the coil (hormonal) to try and stop my periods! Has anyone experienced this and got any advice on how they deal with it!!
 
I used to take the pill in the mistaken belief that eliminating my periods would stabilise by BG. Oh dear, back to school Jas, it made everything worse. The hormonal coil was actually recommended to me over the pill but I decided against it (and all other control methods). At the end of the day your hormones and the progesterone on the coil may impact BG anyways so IMO it's not a choice to make to get better BG regulation.
 
It’s not uncommon for hormones to mess with your BG. I’m presuming you’re type 1 or other insulin dependent type from what you’ve said. It’s worth chatting to your diabetes nurse to see if you’re eligible for a pump as you can set different profiles including one for hormonal changes so you can get a change in basal and ratios easily to help cover it.

You can try hormones - my kid is on a progesterone only pill as that suits him (he’s trans) better than the combined pill and his numbers are very stable now whereas they were all over the place before. The mirena is very good at controlling periods for a lot of people and the amount of progesterone is tiny because it’s topical so often has less side effects. It’s sometimes uncomfortable ranging to very painful to insert so you might want to try tablets first but if you get on with the mirena you don’t have to think about it for another 7 years. I bled my coil out after 6 months but while it worked it worked well to stop my periods.
 
Yes, that sounds like hormones @Pjs191184 I don’t think you’ve been diagnosed long? I thought it was the progesterone in the second half of the cycle that causes the issues. I found the Pill didn’t help as it made me more insulin resistant. Personally I wouldn’t have the coil because that seems to be their answer for everything 🙄 If you’re recently diagnosed, I’d give yourself time to get the hang of things first. You should then be able to consider things like increasing your basal insulin for the relevant days of your cycle and/or changing your meal ratios.
 
Am I right in thinking you are on Tresiba as your basal insulin? You might be better with a shorter acting basal like Levemir that you can adjust as soon as you see levels rising and then reduce when you need less. Tresiba takes 3 days for any changes in dose to become fully effective both increasing and decreasing so you might just be getting it about right for your increased needs when you start hypoing because it is too much. Levemir or I think Humulin I are both more flexible for this sort of scenario. Thankfully I haven't had to deal with this as I was diagnosed during menopause but my body is very susceptible to changes in insulin needs due to exercise particularly my nighttime basal needs and I have to adjust my Levemir doses on a very regular basis to balance my basal needs. I simply could not manage with Tresiba.
 
These are all really helpful comments!

I’m undiagnosed at the moment (6 months since being hospitalised with DKA) so I’m very much in limbo with everything!! They are so focused on my diagnosis that everything else has gone out the window! The diabetes nurse was useless when I mentioned that I think my periods were impacting me, but the nurse at my GP was the one that mentioned potentially getting the coil. I need to get some form of contraception anyway!

The comment about the pump and adjusting for hormonal changes is really interesting and also levemir. You’re right I am on tresiba and it does take a few days for any increase to take place. The increase of 1 unit is so impactful that I have to wait and see what it does. It’s frustrating as when I’m having all these hormonal changes in the evening my sugars just go up and up and up and then I end up giving a bolus or 2 overnight to try and bring back down and then during the day I go on a walk (say 2.5km when I’m on day BG of around 9 and then end up having a hypo) cos I’m trying to fix my mental hormonal changes that impact me from about 7pm-11am the next day!

It’s crazy… I was pretty much 30% in range (the rest amber and some red and had been increasing basal with not much impact) and then the first day of my period… 100% in range and basal back down! ‍♀️

I’m struggling with it a lot to be honest!!
 
T2 with coil here for ten years, l still got the hormonal swings without the bleed until I hit peri menopause and then things got worse, there’s downsides to stopping having a regular bleed so do your research on that as well before you decide on what option you want to try, coil does seem to help reduce those but other things might be better.
 
I’ve always been impacted by my cycle. The libre helped me and my team track this, we took the implant out of my arm and put me on the mini pill with the break, the implant was irregular periods and cycles from 9-90 days so impossible with diabetes. Going back this pill allowed me to kinda know when ovulation was and definitely when the no pill days where. I could then plan-ish my background insulin levels my the pill days.
My consultant and GP both referred me for sterilisation (my third time asking) as we don’t want more children and it was the main factor in every 2 weeks my diabetes going nuts.
We changed my background twice, and then I got onto the pump. I was on the pump for a year and month until my operation. I took the pill until May and was told 6 months until my new normal cycle, so the land had changed again but I have a setting for my period and as soon as I start I put it on and it’s easy.

Before the pill it was hard, then it was about tracking / calendars and organising the background to match. It can be done but it is faff. And most medical people won’t believe it without the support of the CGM or other glucose data so make sure you have that to share with them to prove what you believe is happening.

Libre changed my life with this as medical people can see it.
 
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