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Having a bad day, but not the usual way...

tim2000s

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,936
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
Well, I've had a difficult day today, but not for the usual reasons. I've been having one of those days where keeping my bg level up has been hard.

The context is that I had a couple of glasses of wine last night following cycling on Tuesday. My basal insulin levels have been my normal ones and my food has been the same as normal. I have reduced my bonus a little though.

My bg has been anything but. I've been fighting to keep it up. I've got through more than a pack of dextrosol fighting hypos. Argh! Just one of those days on the diabetes roller coaster....

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I'm a bit inexperienced, but would a few carbs be of help to stabilise your bg. I understand glucose or dextrosol only pull you out of the hypo for a short time and you're then back down again unless you follow up with biscuits or bread or some other carb.
 
If the hypo triggers a glycogen dump from the liver then long acting carbs are advised to replenish the glycogen. And if the hypo is aggressive, a steep decline, then initial fast acting carbs may only stabilise BG temporarily.

But presumably what is going on here is different - the suppression of normal background glycogen release, due to the alcohol taking priority in the liver, combined with post exercise. Meaning that normal basal is temporarily too high. An ideal case for a reduced TBR for a pump user. Trickier on MDI.
 
Put it another way, this is a "basal hypo" rather than the more severe "bolus hypo".
 
Spiker said:
Put it another way, this is a "basal hypo" rather than the more severe "bolus hypo".
Click to expand...

That is the one thing I like less about Tresiba than Levemir- with the split Levemir dose I would always drop a couple of units off the morning basal if I'd had a couple of glasses of wine the previous evening - it's trickier to know how to handle that on the single long-acting Tresiba dose.

TBH though I'd rather have a few mild lows (and a few Celebration choccies ;-)) than spend the whole day fighting highs.

Smidge
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Whilst the additional choccies are welcome, the damned lows make working a little harder than normal!
 
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