Scared to sleep at night?

Jbgreen

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Anyone else terrified to sleep for more than a couple of hours in case their blood sugars peak or go too low? I'm 6 weeks 6 days pregnant and have not been sleeping for more than a couple of hours at a time so that I can stay on top of my blood sugar - every day seems to be so different - but it's taking it's toll and I've been told by my doctor to sleep! I'm convinced that I will wake up to a high reading and that this will cause damage to the embryo ... Can anyone relate or offer advice? Would love to be able to have a good nights sleep!
 

Serenede

Well-Known Member
Messages
49
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi,

Yes I can relate, it is scary and doesn't help when there's no pattern to your blood sugars. Are you on a pump or injections? I find the one thing that helps keep them stable is not eating after 7.30pm and going to bed no higher than 6 stops them from creeping up during the night. I still usually test twice during the night though!
 

Jbgreen

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Thanks Serenede ! Good to know that it's not just me! I'm on a pump and eating earlier is def a good tip - I don't like going to bed with active insulin! The last couple of nights I have risen from 4.2 to 9 within 1 hour of going to sleep - last night though I had 3 sets of low blood sugar during the night! So frustrating ! I usually test 1 hour after going to sleep - at 1 am and then at 3 am but if it rises or goes low I will test again 30 mins to 1 hour later. I don't
 

Jbgreen

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I don't want to risk having high blood sugar for any length of time !
Especially because I seem to have low levels of ketones (0.2) all the time now I'm pregnant !
 

PatsyB

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,956
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Diabetes
Oh how bad is that you need all your sleep.....I do hope this sorts itself out for you mega hugzzz
 

ljwhite1983

Member
Messages
6
Hey girls

How are you both getting on now?

I've just recently found out I was pregnant and although I'm excited I'm a little scared!

Blood sugars have been all over the place! Just checked there and it was 16 so I've done some insulin and will stay up a few hours. My blood seems to be fine and stable during the day then mental at night. Can't explain my highs and just doing correction insulin to help.

Really worried about the effect this is all having on my baby though.

Any help or suggestions would be great. Still not spoken to any midwife or diabetic maternity specialist yet.

Plus someone told me diabetics are at a higher risk of MC? Is this true?
 

JessP

Well-Known Member
Messages
139
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi LJ,
congrats on your pregnancy! That's great news. Sorry you're having a rough time with the BMs, this is very normal but still scary. Have you seen your diabetes team yet? They should be able to help. One thing I've found really helpful, especially early on (am now 24 weeks and far too hungry to do it all the time) is to cut my carb intake right down to almost nothing. If you're mainly going high in the evenings maybe try having carb-free dinners and see if that helps prevent some of the higher BMs in the evening. One thing to say on that, I still have to bolus for large protein intakes so don't cut out your bolus all together but beware of not giving yourself too much.

Yes unfortunately the risk of MC is higher for us ladies, you should get a scan between 6-8 weeks to check early on that everything is ok.

Hope that's helpful. Good luck!
Jess