Postpartum and period

[Hl1109]

Hello I am a type 1 diabetic, have been for 21 years now.
I had my baby 7 weeks ago and started my first period postpartum on Saturday. Ever since my levels have been completely out of range and it’s really getting to me. I’ve upped my levemir and still nothing is working.
Has anybody experienced this before? I know I had slight issues with periods and blood sugars spiking before having my little girl but nothing like this. I’m guessing my body is not used to the hormones maybe and just reacting more drastically than it would have done?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, at a bit of a loss!

 

[42istheanswer]

I can't help with experience regarding T1 diabetes and periods (since I'm not T1) but with regards to hormones, they'll be at their lowest level for 10 or 11 months - pregnancy hormone levels are much higher than when not pregnant, and they drop in the last couple of days before a period (except testosterone which slightly rises).

Are you breastfeeding (including mixed feeding) or formula feeding? (I'm not sure how much impact that might have on exact hormone levels, but might have some. If you are breastfeeding then potentially in your body's attempts to maintain equilibrium glucose may move in and out between your bloodstream and already made/stored breast milk between feeds also - I'm not certain if it does, but do know that alcohol does maintain an equilibrium between the two and get drawn back out of breast milk as the liver processes it out of the bloodstream.)

Return of periods after having a baby can certainly have some impact on other body systems - my IBS was diagnosed when my periods returned after my second child due to significant increased hormonal impact (i.e. difficult to be far from a toilet for the first few periods). It did stabilise somewhat with time.