Why, Why, Why ?

[vince13]

This week I've been waking to levels in the high 7s to mid 8s. OK, not bad, but higher than I'd like and I'd really been good all week with my food.

So last night I cooked sausage and mash, caramelised onions and swede/carrots followed by melon.

Half way through the evening I was hungry so I had brie and 3 tuc biscuits and then said *** it and had a packet of ready salted crisps - this morning's reading = 6.6.

I just can't understand this blasted diabetes !

 

[Northerner]

I wonder if you have a little Dawn Phenomenon and on this occasion the fat and protein slowed the digestion sufficiently to prevent your liver from giving you a bit of a 'morning boost'? Just a theory! 🙂

 

[FM001]

Diabetes does spring up a few surprises from time to time.

 

[AJLang]

I'm afraid that I have no solutions but that diabetes fairy has a lot to answer for

 

[GlucoseGary]

Well if you guys have been dealing with it so long and are still puzzled, at least that makes me feel better about being clueless!

 

[trophywench]

You're right there, clueless pretty much covers it sometimes!

 

[HOBIE]

It isnt an exact sciance with me !!!!! 🙄🙄

 

[vince13]

I just wish I felt I was controlling it instead of the other way round but then I'm only 3 years into it - it's a life-long learning curve I guess. 😡

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Funnily enough I was thinking about this only yesterday (after a string of consistent but illogical results after eating pasta). Now I *know* that some people have massive trouble with pasta, but I never have in the 20 years I've had D. It's always behaved impeccably as long as I keep the overall load within reasonable limits... Except that now I'm pumping the rules have changed and I see to continue rising far over and above the count of the carbs involved for something like 9 hours.

I am continnuing to experiment with dose and timing, but it feels rather like the relationship between grams of carbs and units of insulin is far less important than the pattern of release and insulin activity (pumping has involved switching back to NovoRapid). It seems to be more about the amount of push and pull (carbs vs insulin) rather than the specific grams involved. And while more grams of carbs *can* involve a larger 'push', it won't necessarily obey a linear relationship with the total carb load if the pattern of release doesn't match. Or something.

Tch! Never easy is it!

 

[Ellie Jones]

Mike do you want to repeat that again😉

I know some do use a TBR to counteract the raise later with pasta..

I don't too much of a problem with pasta, but there again I don't eat large quantities of it, a pasta meal will be about 30g's of carb worth for me.. So my tail end, general see about a mmol/l raise..
-------------------

As for diabetes itself, I came to a conclusion many years ago, that it thinks we get bored very easily, so like's to keep us on our toes by throwing the odd spanner into the works every now and again😱

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Haha! Yes I kinda knew it wasn't making as much sense wtritten down as it does in my head...

Your experience with pasta matches mine on MDI, but not on a pump. Most other meals are behaving themselves (including that other notorious troublemaker pizza).

In my head I am seeing a long piece of string representing BG level suspended in an entirely weightless space (go with me on this). Eating carbs will push up on the string from below, insulin will push down from the top. If the pushes from either direction are balanced BG stays level.

BUT

The 'push' of various meals have their own foam-rubber shape. Long and low curvy, or sharp and pointy. And, of course, the insulin action has its own shape too.

So right now, when I eat pasta too much of the insulin's 'push' is happening early on (1.5 hours after eating I was 0.1mmol/L lower than pre-meal). Even if I increase the dose, it won't help. Between 4 and 5 hours after eating because of it's 'curve shape' the strength of the pasta push was much greater than the push of the insulin shape (despite a little bit of dual wave action) and BGs rose from 8.8 right up to nearly 12.

Now, of course, on the pump my evening basal is entirely different. Perhaps a little Lantus peak (later than you'd expect) was holding the post-pasta BGs down, but it is a bit confusing that other meals are behaving fine.

I'm sure a little more experimentation will get a suitable DW pattern sorted that prevents a high reading at 1-2 hours and sustains the insulin action over a longer period. Hey-ho!