T1 Pregnant Diabetic dealing with late evening Blood Sugar Spikes!

[stereotypeone86]

Hey All,

I wonder if I could get some advice.I’m 33 and was diagnosed with T1 Diabetes 13 years ago.I am currently 8 weeks pregnant and overall my blood sugar control has been pretty good.

But I have found over the past couple of weeks that about 3 1/2 hours after dinner (after I have taken my long acting insulin dose) that my blood sugar levels will suddenly spike up into the 9’s and even 10’s on a couple of occasions.

There seems to be no logical reason why this should happen so I know it must be due to hormones but it’s very frustrating.I already wait 30-45mins after injecting insulin before eating at each meal to prevent immediate post meal spikes which has helped but I can’t seem to prevent these late evening spikes.

It makes no difference if I have a low carb snack before bed or not-it still seems to happen.I’m so exhausted and fed up with this as I have to pace my living room like a mad woman desperately trying to curb the spike which sometimes takes 30mins to bring down and so I’m often up late dealing with this.Could anyone possibly offer any advice as to how I can deal with this phenomenon.Thanks in advance!

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @stereotypeone86 Welcome to the forum and congratulations

Unfortunately we cannot give you advice about insulin doses, however I would ask you to review your evening bolus ratio with your diabetic nurse as this looks like it could do with a tweak, I find as a rule my bolus ratios vary throughout the day and as you're pregnant and as you've rightly said are experiencing hormonal changes, as well as weight changes then your needs will change.

Do you use the libre ?

Please try not to stress though, it doesn't do you or your baby any good, and it can be easily resolved with some tweaking, best wishes J

 

[RI&P]

Hi juicy j I've been trying to find someone having similar exsoeriances to me so it's not so much advice but just a comment hope you don't mind so I've just found out I'm 2 to 3 weeks after trying for 2 and a half years we decided ro give it a brake 5 months into not thinking about baby's I finely got it out of my head that it was going to happen anytime soon till 2 days ago I start to think I'm about a week late (very unlike me) so I do a test..... It hasn't sunk in anyway I've been type 1 for 20 years this year and I think I've read all I can about type one and being pregnant enough to know your ment to have low bloods in your early weeks but mine are the opposite I'm all over the place I'm starting if in my 8s up to 13s and that's without food just me I wear a sensor so I'm constantly checking it against my blood machine I don't know if it's just the hormones as it's very early and maybe they don't know what there doing yet. Ask your doctor about going onto a pump as it would be much safer during pregnancy and control is alot easier maybe ur not having enough back ground or maybe try changing the time of day you give ur slow acting.. Have you done dafne????
Xx

 

[NicoleC1971]

When I was pregnant (3 times) I ended up slitting my dose to get over the fade out of the single dose of basal insulin after about 24 hours. Insulins do not always do what they say on the tin so you might consider this option so that the tail off of the first dose can overlap with the start of the second.
Hoping you have a consultant who specialises in type 1 pregnancies and do have an FSL (pregnant women should have one according to NHS guidelines). Your insulin needs are likely to increase so this could mean adjusting both bolus and basal rates though 8 weeks seems early on for this to be happening as the baby is still strawberry sized!
And finally, although it is a worrisome time I would not fret too much (that raises bgs too obviously easier said than done) about these 9s and 10s if the rest of the day sees you achieving stable bgs in the right range and taking your folic acid etc.
Best of luck!

 

[stereotypeone86]

Hey everyone,thanks for your responses-I found them all really helpful.I was able to contact my Diabetic nurse this morning and she said that there’s not much you can do about the spikes themselves-it is more than likely hormonal (and no surprise given the amount of hormones and chemicals flooding our bodies to create and sustain a growing life).

She recommended taking a half unit of rapid acting insulin if my blood sugar levels rise above 9mmol (after I have taken my long acting dose) as she said it shouldn’t interfere with my long acting insulin.I’m hopeful this will work and I’m going to try it out tonight to see how it goes.

I am on the Libre sensor which has been a massive lifeline.There’s no way I would be able to catch these spikes in time otherwise.I’ve been offered the pump but I’m quite comfortable with injections generally and my control is considered good (last hbA1c test two weeks ago was 38 or 5.6%) I only seem to have these spikes before bed.

I haven’t done DAFNE yet but I may consider it as my pregnancy progresses if I run into more issues.Good luck with your pregnancy, RI&P!

 

[RI&P]

Thank you juicyj I think maybe I'm stressing too much witch is increasing mine but my body seems to just hold on to every carb I eat and stores it for about 2 hours then I come crashing so I fix it then it happens again because its holding onto the sugar and its a visious circle have my 1st apointment with diabetic nurse on 26th so I have a while to wait so I'm hoping I can sort it by then just need to calm down as well I'm just scared I think good luck with everything and ur hb is perfect so don't worry about anything x