I need to start again

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Emmal31

Emmal31

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All

Since having Jessica (she's 10 months now) I feel like my control has completely gone to pot :( I gave myself a break at the start because obviously having a newborn takes up a lot of time and all the good habits I got into whilst pregnant with her like making sure I check my bg's 2 hours post meal etc I didn't do.

Since then I feel like I have just muddled through really. I know that I really need to start writing it all down again because that's the only way that i'll get back on track again. I've had some ridiculous high's in the last month or so they are regulary 15-17 mmols :( usually after I go swimming.

For instance last night I was 14.1 before I left in the car this was 1hr post meal went swimming came out and checked before I drove home and it's 12.1 so it had come down but I know that it always rises about 2-3mmols afterwards so when I got home I gave myself 2units of novorapid I check 2 hours later and I'm 15.4 😡 so I did another correction before bed. I didn't get up to check it in the night (really should have done) this morning it's 12.3.

So where do I start really? how do I get my control back again? it's really getting me down lately I feel like a total failure and the high's have been making me feel really unwell.

Any suggestions on what to do would really help me right now. Sorry for such a long post x
 
I don't really feel that I can make any safe suggestions for improving control on MDI - on MDI my control was terrible, and after 18 months I can only think in pump terms.

I just wanted to say I know exactly how you feel. My control had slipped so that I was always in double figures for about 6 years on MDI 😱 I had actually stopped checking BG 'cos I just didn't want to know. When I did start checking again, I felt terribly guilty & so mad at myself for leaving it for so long.

All I can say is try not to stress about it too much. A few months shouldn't have a long-term impact, and it's understandable that BG control hasn't been your priority since Jessica was born. Sometimes diabetes just has to take a back burner for a little while. You've made the most major step in regaining control already, by deciding to do something about it. Take things slowly & good luck - you will get there 🙂
 
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Jessica is beutiful and healthy so you are not a failiure.

It is hard work sometimes getting back into a routine. My little feller is six, he came to live us when he was two and a half and I still have days when everything just is out of sequence.

Being mum is a very importnat, sometimes hard often rewarding job, so don't beat yourself up about things.

I'm sure someone else with a little one will be along soon with help, but you are not a failiure.
 
Thank you so much Emma that really helped I needed to hear that to stop beating myself up about my control for the last 10 months. I think that I expected my diabetes to be exactly the same as it used to be before I had Jessica but that's just not the case and I need to look at my ratio's and correction doses and also my lantus x
 
Alex always used to go high after swimming and then we realised he didnt have enough IOB - so would give him a small correction just before and this helped - but never had great levels - just more acceptable. Its not your fault that you go high when swimming - its what happens - so dont feel like a failure - the data is only data - its not an exam you have to pass - its just your body telling you that it needs to be tweaked.🙂Bev


p.s. It also takes 1 year for your body to fully recover from a pregnancy with hormones and all that - so you have a lot to contend with so stop feeling that its all your fault please.
 
Caroline said:
Jessica is beutiful and healthy so you are not a failiure.

It is hard work sometimes getting back into a routine. My little feller is six, he came to live us when he was two and a half and I still have days when everything just is out of sequence.

Being mum is a very importnat, sometimes hard often rewarding job, so don't beat yourself up about things.

I'm sure someone else with a little one will be along soon with help, but you are not a failiure.
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Thank you Caroline
 
Hi Emma

Sorry you are feeling so down. The D can do that to a person :(

Sounds like you sort of have a plan, but it might be worth considering tackling one thing at a time so that it's not too exhausting (and doesn't get in the way too much - when you have little uns knocking about I know from experience that you don;t really have much in the way of time to focus on yourself!)

Do you usually go swimming at the same/a similar time? If so I suppose I'd look at the meal before that and try to make sure I was getting some fairly consistent results. I've also heard that it's not good to exercise if your sugars are above a certain level (12 or 14 I think) because it stimulates the release of glycogen from liver/muscles which pushes them up still further.

The only other thing to consider I guess is your basal. Over the course of the last year I've really being trying to sort out my MDI control and I've had some success with it. One thing I have found though is that my basal dose (which I always used to pretty much ignore) seems to vary a unit or so every few months. If it's not at the right level all my bolus guestimation just completely falls apart, and doses/corrections etc don't work as expected. 1u too little Lantus (for me anyway) can require 4-6u extra Humalog over the course of a day with constant highs, swing to low, bounce back etc etc... 1u too much any I'm in a constant hypo/liver dump nightmare

Look after yourself and try not to beat yourself up about it. I'm sure you'll get there soon.

M
 
Emmal31 said:
Thank you so much Emma that really helped I needed to hear that to stop beating myself up about my control for the last 10 months. I think that I expected my diabetes to be exactly the same as it used to be before I had Jessica but that's just not the case and I need to look at my ratio's and correction doses and also my lantus x
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I suspect the place to start is with the Lantus to see how your basal's doing. I always find starting with the overnight BG & getting that sorted first is a good start when things just seem to be allover the place - I think overnight BG can be a good indicator of whether or not basal is at the right level? Having said that, perhaps someone else on MDI should comment - Alan? Mike? 🙂

I have no children yet - but I do want them in the next few years. I expect that after baby is born I'll just be muddling through 'til I get used to the routine (or lack of!). I think it's completely natural that you haven't been as disciplined with it - of course all your energies have been going into taking care of Jessica & enjoying your time with her. Be proud of yourself for being a great mum, and as I said, taking the first crucial step to better control 🙂

Edit - aha! Mike beat me to it!
 
Hi Emma, you have done a wonderful job in being a mum to Jessica, she is such a beautiful baby 🙂 I think what bev says is probably the case, you might not have enough insulin circulating when commencing the swimming and you are relatively high to begin with. The rises aren't that huge though, so it sounds like you should concentrate on trying to get your basal sorted first - if you started your swim at 6.x and rose to 8.x or 9.x you probably wouldn't be anywhere near as concerned, yet the rise is the same.

I know you can do this, you have proven how dedicated you can be to a task! Just make a plan and be methodical and try and stick to it as closely as possible. Get some input from your DSN and go through a plan with her/him. Wishing you all the best - do let us know how things go (when J allows you the time! :D)
 
bev said:
Alex always used to go high after swimming and then we realised he didnt have enough IOB - so would give him a small correction just before and this helped - but never had great levels - just more acceptable. Its not your fault that you go high when swimming - its what happens - so dont feel like a failure - the data is only data - its not an exam you have to pass - its just your body telling you that it needs to be tweaked.🙂Bev


p.s. It also takes 1 year for your body to fully recover from a pregnancy with hormones and all that - so you have a lot to contend with so stop feeling that its all your fault please.
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I think I just need to start giving myself a correction when I get there and hopefully my bg's will behave before I need to drive home.

Thank you, I didn't know that it took a year for the hormones to settle down. I'll be good now I promise 🙂
 
Mike- Yes I think I should also start with the lantus because I don't think that's quite right really. I was never told to do 3am tests to see if my lantus was right I was just told that if it's say 7.0 before bed and 7.3 in the morning that it must be at the right level. I think I need to do some 3am testing to see what's going on because recently I've been waking up in double figures. Yes I go swimming the same time three nights a week.

Northerner- My problem is that I eat an hour before I go swimming so my bg's are in double figures but at that time I've still got the insulin on board. I worry that if I don't eat before that I'll hypo and then will have to wait quite a while to drive myself home. Thank you for your kind words 🙂
 
I just want to say you are definitely not alone with this one, I have so far failed to regain control since the birth of my 2nd daughter and she is now 15 months old. Have had months of highs followed by months of lows (which I am trying to control at the moment), spoke/met with DN countless times and we have altered things but no matter what I've done it swings one way or the other. I didn't have this problem after having my 1st daughter (6 years ago) so know how frustrating this is. The problem does seem to be my basal though so I am continually correcting that and that is probably a good place for you to start.

Hope things get better for you soon.
 
Hi Emma sorry i dont have any practical advice hun feel so useless for you, but you know im only at the end of the phone if you need me xx

chin up
 
When I was feeling like I wasn't in control a few months ago, I read Ragnar Hanas' book "Type 1 diabetes in children, adolescents and young people" which was very helpful and gave me some new ideas. Might be worth a try if you haven't already read it. Good luck with getting back on track - I know it's hard, but if you keep a diary for a week or so hopefully you will start to see patterns. You could start with trying to get one time of day on target, e.g waking up to a good level. Then work on lunch, etc.
 
Emma
Sorry you are having a tough time. I can understand where you are coming from. Now Nathan is here I find it hard to eat at regular times and I have also rebelled a bit against being so incredibly strict during pregnancy.

My only advice would be to start keeping a diary again. I think I am going to have to start doing that myself.

I hope things get better soon, remember you are a great mum to jessica.

Rachel
 
I cant add to what others have said.

Id start with the basal if i was in your shoes, or like Pigeon said one thing at a time.

And like when being pregnant you need to test,test, test.

Cant belive shes 10 months already. I am so worried about having her here and my diabetes, thinking about hypos and being at home alone with her is scary, yourdoing a great job 🙂

xxxx
 
Thank you ladies I'm glad it's not just me.

Phoebe I think the best advice that I wouldn't take myself is when you have a hypo don't feel guilty for stopping a feed or anthing like that because if you know you're having a hypo and try to carry on it only gets worse. I'm terrible for carrying on with something like the washing up especially when I know that I'm hypo and I have no idea why I do it:confused:

Pigeon- I've ordered type 1 for dummies it's supposed to be a good read and I though I might pick up some tips.
 
Update

Just thought I'd let you know of my progress over the last couple of days.

Friday:

Breakfast-8am 12.9mmols 2 hours later it was 11.6

Lunch -1pm 9.2mmols still too high even though I did a correction with breaskfast:confused:

3pm 8.4mmols 2 hours post lunch

Dinner -5:20pm 7.0mmols

8pm 3.8 I realised I had given myself too much for dinner.

10:24 I went to bed on 6.0mmols should have had something bearing in mind I'd had a hypo couple of hours earlier so at 1:50 am I was at 3.0mmols:(
 
Saturday

Breakfast -9am 5.4mmols

Lunch- 12:30 5.0mmol 2 hours post lunch 5.1

Dinner- 5.4mmols

8pm 6.6mmols had a biscuit as I was drinking.

went to bed on 9.7mmols so I was happy with that.

2:50 am 2.7mmols:( coke + biscuit

7:09 am 3.0mmols:( coke + biscuit again

Sunday I was in the 5-7's most of the day so very pleased with that. This morning woke up in double figures again.
 
Emmal31 said:
Saturday

Breakfast -9am 5.4mmols

Lunch- 12:30 5.0mmol 2 hours post lunch 5.1

Dinner- 5.4mmols

8pm 6.6mmols had a biscuit as I was drinking.

went to bed on 9.7mmols so I was happy with that.

2:50 am 2.7mmols:( coke + biscuit

7:09 am 3.0mmols:( coke + biscuit again

Sunday I was in the 5-7's most of the day so very pleased with that. This morning woke up in double figures again.
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Hi Emma,

Your results looked pretty similar to mine a couple of months ago, especially the unexpected morning highs. It was only when I had a CGM fitted for a week that highlighted I was sleeping through mild night-time hypos but as a result was waking with high readings, I have since lowered my evening dose of Lantus and that seems to have worked.....not always though! 😉
 
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