I shall scream

[margie]

I don't know if any of you remember but months ago I was having issues with my insulin and worked out that the Basal was running out. I split it and things had been a lot better until the last few weeks.

The basal is an issue and I think its been degrading - see fridge thread. So last night I changed to a nice new cartridge that has been in the fridge less than a week. Bed on 7 get up on 20.

So contact DSN giving her a weeks overnight readings.

Response - don't understand why its erratic, can't give any advice other than check sites and keep testing, can't see me before clinic appt in a couple of months.

OK I can understand that it can be hard to interpret the figures sometime, but I would have felt better if I had been asked to keep testing over the next few days, to keep in touch, provide whatever else she might find useful. I just feel like I have been cut loose and left to my own devices. Feeling all alone and struggling.

Sorry just needed to rant

 

[Northerner]

I might agree that we know our bodies best, but sometimes it can be helpful to get a little input from an 'outside authority'. Even if it is wrong, it might switch on a light bulb for you to try something else. I'd feel exactly the same Margie, what a completely unhelpful response - you may as well have asked Rolf Harris 😱 And having to wait two months for an appointment is poor also - I can usually get to see a DSN in two weeks at most, usually a week. This patchwork approach to levels of care is so poor.

Is it worth doing some 3 am tests to see if it's a steady climb through the night, or if you are being hit by a big Dawn Phenomenon? Have your activity levels changed drastically at all lately? My levels rise if I'm not active (and I'm not in this weather). It may also be that your new insulin is taking time to take effect, I know they normally advise 2 or 3 days between changes in lantus in order to see the effect of the change. I know you haven't changed dose, but if the other was degraded you have, effectively done so.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

What a terrible response from your DSN

'Oh. I don't know. Next!'

Pffft! Makes you want to spit dunnit.

Have you run any basal tests since you changed things around? Overnighters seem worthwhile. I've been mucking about with my basal for a month or two (with some success) but like you, as soon as I got it sorted it went a bit pear-shaped.

In my case it was hot weather and a lower insulin requirement.

Never sure about DP for my own basal quandaries... I don't know how consistent the results need to be before that can be argued as the case. Mine never seems to be regular enough for that to be likely.

Can you try a completely new injection site? I don't get lumps or classic telltales but I know I do get dodgy absorption if I've been reling on the old faves. Currently experimenting with buttocks (if you'll pardon the expression) which I find slightly awkward, but Lantus seems to be behaving itself again, for the moment at least...

 

[margie]

My correction dose seems to have brought things back down. I will see how my other levels go today, then consider testing overnight. Its possible that I had a hypo then dp.

The irony was that when I woke I was happy that I had slept through the night - for most of the last week I have been waking early - and getting woken at around 2 when OH comes to bed.

I think I may test at 3 and see where I am. So many variables....

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Ah the ole hypo-then-liver-dump double whammy!

Yes that could well be it. Just a shame the liver doesn't pull its finger out and prevent the hypo in the first place 😛

 

[Northerner]

The Liver Dump

?Come on Bill, it?s nearly time ?
The Sun?s just coming up!?
?I?ll be there in a minute Spike,
Just let me drink this cup!?

Billy Rubin and Spike Mackay
Were on the early shift,
Their job to stoke the levels high
With a liver glucose lift.

?We?ll get this fella up to speed
And ready for the day
With all the glucose he will need
So he can work and play!?

?Remember how, the other night
His level dropped right down?
We called in all the guys on site
And really went to town!?

?Aye, how we laughed when we found out
His levels went so high!
He didn?t have a clue about
The real reasons why!?

?But not today, I?ve heard he tests
His blood at three each night,
And if he?s low he snacks and rests
He?s putting up a fight!?

?We might find out our jobs are gone,
And we?ve been superceded!
There?ll be no Dawn Phenomenon!
We?ll be no longer needed!?

?Don?t worry Bill, it might get slow,
But there?ll never be a slump ?
There?s always work, I know it?s so,
Here at the Liver Dump??