once again: heat and insulin!

[Patricia]

hello all

I have a feeling we've 'done' this subject, but I can't find a full discussion about it at the moment -- a moderator please put me right, if it's around!

Here's the deal: last week, E had several days of feeling 'low' but not being low. Very hungry. Then I wondered if it was heat? Then it kind of got better once he started eating loads.

THEN, last three mornings has woken high -- like 10, 16, 14! He's newly on a pump, but the previous two weeks had been pretty much rock solid waking, on 5-8 mmols. He's running slightly higher in the day (like, 7,8 and 9mmols), but it's this weird night blip we can't understand. And to make matters more tense, he's due to go away for two nights starting Wednesday! Argh. We won't want to put his basal way up because of this...

Of course we are contacting DSN -- but just wondered what your experiences are...

Could it be the heat?! Or are we looking at another growth spurt....

 

[Patricia]

Got somewhat of the low-down on this from our DSN: most people, as are finding on here, go lower with heat, and fight hypos etc, because the insulin is absorbed more efficiently. Very occasionally someone will go incredibly high in response to heat.

Suspect after all this that my son is actually growing, accounting for morning highs. Not the heat. The heat will be the lows last week...

 

[tracey w]

Patricia, i feel for you and your struggles!

I have had 4 hypos, in the afternoons this week and feel drained! I have reduced my lunchtime insulin and will have to do again tomorrow as had a hypo again today I dont usually have this many hypos, usually on higher side if anything, i feel surely it is to do with the heat. I will be on 0.5:1cp ratio tomorrow the lowest ever.

And i feel sure that when it gets cooler i will be upping again, i have found my diabetes ratios contstantly changing and have neve had the same one for more than a few weeks before i have to tweak them again. I think with diabetes we need to realise its never a constant but an ever changing thing , good luck with it all. 🙂

 

[Adrienne]

Hi Patricia

Use the temp basals. Have you been doing those at all. They are great for weather changes. I do them an hour at a time and no more, another friend does them for 30 minutes at a time but that makes it easier if you have sensors otherwise you would need to test half hourly. If you know that the extreme weather is having an effect and E needs less insulin generally you could try putting on a temp basal of say 70% for 3 hours and see what happens and test say hourly. Or you could do a temp basal of 60% for an hour and see what happens. You may get a feeling for it.

My daughter is on very small increments of basal so 70 or 60% do nothing at all to help and we have to use 0% (no basal at all) for an hour at a time sometimes. I had to use that today. She has been low all day but not hypo. It has been a perfect day for her which is unheard of. However a perfect day level wise is a very very hard day for whoever looks after her, with lots of tests just in case she drops which she could very well do.

 

[Patricia]

Gosh this is interesting Adrienne -- we've done temp basal for PE, and the DSN is now suggesting them for hot weather, but I've never thought of doing them for such short periods -- but of course this makes sense. Many thanks.

Tracey -- argh! So exhausting for you! Hope the reductions ease your hypos -- and soon. Oh dear.

 

[Adrienne]

Hi Patrica

The short periods are for safety and to check that you are not over cooking it really. You just don't know with diabetes do you which way it is going to go. We have been chasing 4's and 5's all day which may seem perfect but boy is it hard work to keep it like that or try to keep it like that. At least with a pump you can turn on and off.