Slightly confused...blood sugars

[MarkGeordie]

Been getting good readings and improved HbA1c as reported.

Out of the blue two days ago my blood sugar was 7.4 at 10.30pm and I woke up at 3am to a blood sugar of 2.7, it went up again after treating my hypo to no more than 4.5.

Same routine, same evening insulin etc.

During the day I had been getting very low readings and when I ate and injected the ratio insulin I do depending on meals, instead of the usual movement in sugars, all the time it was just going down to

So has my insulin requirement just randomly decided to change?

I’ve had this for few days now.

Thought it was my libre sensor but been checking using meter too.

 

[trophywench]

Well a human's BG naturally drops around 2.30 - 3am ish. Years ago trainee doctors doing their time on the rota in A&E called it the 'suicide hour' as it was the time most unsuccessful attempts at that were admitted. Also people on night shifts - like my current husband - on the nightshift on the production line at Jaguar during its heyday in Coventry - still says everyone on nights gets the munchies about that time but didn't know until much later it was low BG which caused that - and still does.

In a non diabetic body - and if the rest of your innards are still working well which is much more likely with T1 than T2 because on only insulin you aren't preventing that (whereas some T2 drugs, notably Metformin, suppress this) - your liver has stores of glucose, which the brain will tell it to release into your bloodstream. BUT because of the basal insulin still circulating in our blood, we can't afford to just wait patiently since nobody knows how much the liver will chuck us, or when.

Getting the balance right is a long term project - for the rest of all our lives.

Ratios do not stay static for a really long time. May be months, could be less or more. You are just discovering this. Test test test and adjust. Welcome to our world!

 

[MarkGeordie]

I feel so deflated because I thought I had it spot on and now I’m thinking what the ****.

my last injection of novo is usually around 6.30pm and I take Tresiba at 10.30pm.

should I be reducing the Tresiba first?

 

[trophywench]

Well if your BG is still OK at 10.30pm then I'd be inclined to think that - but I don't actually know what the profile of Tresiba's action is, so don't know when it is most active. It is also very long acting so I just wonder whether changing the timing, from at night to in the morning, might be worth trying. The snag with it is because it lasts up to 42 hours, it will be several days before any change in your BG will be really apparent. (I found it frustrating enough having to wait 3 days to see what difference any change in Lantus dose or timing had really made)

 

[MarkGeordie]

Decided to contact DSN. My heads mashed.

 

[helli]

@MarkGeordie it is amazing how many things can affect our blood sugars.
This is the best list I have seen but I am sure there are more than 42 things that can have an affect.
I'm not sure how long you have been diagnosed but are you still in the honeymoon period? Islets of Langerhan (the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin) start dying off they occasionally get a little spurt and remember what to do which results in excess insulin and a low.

 

[MarkGeordie]

20 years come May. You would think I’d be used to it by now.

It’s mainly because I am still adjusting to MDI. For some strange reason I was always treated with a mixed insulin twice daily. Moved area and trust and first thing they said were, why are you not on MDI? My response...what is that?

 

[grovesy]

20 years come May. You would think I’d be used to it by now.

It’s mainly because I am still adjusting to MDI. For some strange reason I was always treated with a mixed insulin twice daily. Moved area and trust and first thing they said were, why are you not on MDI? My response...what is that?

Mixed Insulins are considered very inflexible, though many Type 2 on Insulin are put on it.

 

[MarkGeordie]

Yeah which is why I think the new trust was confused and I had no flexibility with eating when I was on it.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I feel so deflated because I thought I had it spot on and now I’m thinking what the ****.

Ah sorry to hear that @MarkGeordie

Yes that’s the real drag of T1 for me. The jabs, carb counting and BG monitoring are all completely do-able. What grinds me down is that you can very carefully adjust things and develop a basic system, along with a bunch of ’exceptions to the rule’ for this or that, and it will work brilliantly... but then suddenly not. And you have to go around and fix everything again.

I wrote this a while back - about those weeks when it all ‘works’ almost feeling like a holiday from having T1

Diabetes days off

Reminiscing about times when it has almost felt like type 1 diabetes was giving me a day (or week) off.

www.everydayupsanddowns.co.uk

 

[MarkGeordie]

Ah sorry to hear that @MarkGeordie

Yes that’s the real drag of T1 for me. The jabs, carb counting and BG monitoring are all completely do-able. What grinds me down is that you can very carefully adjust things and develop a basic system, along with a bunch of ’exceptions to the rule’ for this or that, and it will work brilliantly... but then suddenly not. And you have to go around and fix everything again.

I wrote this a while back - about those weeks when it all ‘works’ almost feeling like a holiday from having T1

Diabetes days off

Reminiscing about times when it has almost felt like type 1 diabetes was giving me a day (or week) off.

www.everydayupsanddowns.co.uk

I will give it a read yes.