Stability in old age

[Terry Marriott]

I am 81 and been a Type 1 diabetic for 68 years but now as I become less mobile my diabetes is bordering on being unstable - and it would be unstable if I did not have continuous blood sugar monitoring with my Freestyle Libra sensor and app on my smartphone. I have regular low sugar alarm readings (set at 4.0) and take sugar to avoid a coma - but the delay between taking sugar and my blood sugar retuning to a norm is too long so I take more sugar to switch the low sugar alarm off. Then an hour or so later my blood sugar surges to a high level where it stays until I take my next injection.
My daily chart is a series of highs and lows whereas only a year or so ago it was much steadier between 7 and 12 on my Freestyle Libra app.

I am using Alpha Rapid insulin 3 times per day and Lantus insulin once per day at breakfast time.

I believe that my metabolism has slowed down but how can this be changed? Seeing a doctor is no longer possible and my nurse has no answers.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I am 81 and been a Type 1 diabetic for 68 years but now as I become less mobile my diabetes is bordering on being unstable - and it would be unstable if I did not have continuous blood sugar monitoring with my Freestyle Libra sensor and app on my smartphone. I have regular low sugar alarm readings (set at 4.0) and take sugar to avoid a coma - but the delay between taking sugar and my blood sugar retuning to a norm is too long so I take more sugar to switch the low sugar alarm off. Then an hour or so later my blood sugar surges to a high level where it stays until I take my next injection.
My daily chart is a series of highs and lows whereas only a year or so ago it was much steadier between 7 and 12 on my Freestyle Libra app.

I am using Alpha Rapid insulin 3 times per day and Lantus insulin once per day at breakfast time.

I believe that my metabolism has slowed down but how can this be changed? Seeing a doctor is no longer possible and my nurse has no answers.

Hello Terry, when your blood sugars drop. Do you also double check using a meter? Libres can lag on a rise causing some to overtreat the hypo.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Terry Marriott 🙂 Have you spoken to your DSN about this? Insulin needs often decrease as people get older, so it might be that your doses need adjusting despite things like you probably not being as active.

One tip: set the Low alarm on your Libre higher. If you set it at 5, for example, you’ll have an earlier warning to ward off lows. Always check Lows with a fingerprick and as your blood sugar goes back to normal, continue to use the fingerpricks to check it’s back up.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Terry Marriott

And congratulations on 68 years of life lived well with T1. What an inspiration.

Glad to hear you are keeping up with the latest fancy gadgets too!

I'm another who finds I have to set my 'low' notification in the upper 4s, or low 5s to give me time to steer away from a low BG. 10g of fast carbs taken 10 minutes earlier seems far less likely to result in rage-carbs double-treatment with the alarms continuing to warble away long after things should be set aright.

Which is another vote for always checking hypo recovery with fingerprick checks, rather than waiting for a sensor which is telling me what happened 10 minutes ago. Less than helpful with a hypo - especially as sometimes you DO need to double-treat, and other times you definitely don't!!