How much did you have to increase your insulin?

Janelle123

Well-Known Member
Messages
155
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I'm currently 27 weeks pregnant. I'm on an insulin pump and starting a few weeks ago I had to increase my bolus with my meals but up until a few days ago my basal rates have remained the same. For the last 3 nights I've been waking up about 1-2am with blood sugars anywhere from 10-12. Each time I've required about 3-4 units to bring me back down to 5-6 by the morning. Each night I've increased my basal rates but my changes don't seem to be enough to stop the high readings. My night time basal rate was 0.900 which I increased to 1.000 then 1.200 last night. My plan tonight is to try 1.400 though I still don't think that will be enough to keep my blood sugars where I want them.

This seems to be a sudden and large increase in my insulin needs. How fast and how much did your insulin requirements change during pregnancy?
 

sleepyheadzzz

Well-Known Member
Messages
75
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I think everyone's body sort of does their own thing so don't stress too much if you're not following the trends you were told or not experiencing the same changes as other diabetics.

I expected sudden and large increases, but I've really been bouncing all around. My doctor told me what to expect but I've been bucking the trends the whole time (within reason).

I started to have a few increases around 27 weeks, but they weren't huge for the most part. My basal rates have changed less than I expected but my ratio's increased quite a bit around 30-31 weeks.

I've been running lower than expected now (35 weeks) but my rates and ratios have sort of steadied, rather than dropping, so I'm hoping that doesn't mean anything for the placenta - my sugars have actually been the best they've been in weeks the last 2 weeks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Selfish folk
Hi Janelle, I'm currently 26 weeks and at 24 weeks I experienced exactly the same thing as you (although I'm not on a pump, injections instead). My eve reading were all fine, but overnight my sugars were rising and I was waking up high (like you around 10/12). then my usual breakfast ratio wasn't touching sides. I increased by basal by 2 units and my morning ratio. Now looking like I need to up my dinner ratio also...

My DSN has told me this is a bit earlier than expected, but a healthy sign that my placenta is producing the hormones to make my baby grow, so nothing to worry about!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people

Janelle123

Well-Known Member
Messages
155
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Thanks ladies. Looks like I have to lower the rate back down again because this morning at 1am I was 3.9. It's so confusing!

I'm curious, how much has your carb ratios change? So far I've only increased my dinner ratio from 1:12 to 1:10 but recently I've needed to take corrections so I think I need to increase it more but I get nervous taking so much insulin! It's hard to get my head around the fact that I actually need that much insulin and it won't cause me to go low.
 

sleepyheadzzz

Well-Known Member
Messages
75
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Thanks ladies. Looks like I have to lower the rate back down again because this morning at 1am I was 3.9. It's so confusing!

I'm curious, how much has your carb ratios change? So far I've only increased my dinner ratio from 1:12 to 1:10 but recently I've needed to take corrections so I think I need to increase it more but I get nervous taking so much insulin! It's hard to get my head around the fact that I actually need that much insulin and it won't cause me to go low.

My ratio has always been 1:5. A few weeks ago I had to have a few different ones going.
Breakfast - 1:3
Lunch - 1:4
Dinner/evening - 1:3

For 2 weeks I went back to 1:5 when I stopped working. In the last few days I've been running higher between 12-2pm so I've had to re-adjust again.

Currently:
Breakfast: 1:3
Lunch - 1:5
Dinner/evening - 1:4

I had trouble with the bolus increases too. It took a few days of running a bit higher to finally bite the bullet and commit and once I did that my numbers evened out. It felt like a ton of insulin but it was apparently necessary.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people

azure

Expert
Messages
9,780
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
By the late stages of pregnancy my basal rate had almost tripled. I'm on a pump. I dont remember the exact details but I remember that to cover my Dawn Phenomenon, I had to put my hourly basal rate up to 2.0 for a couple of hours whereas before pregnancy, those hours were 0.8. So that's just an example of how my insulin needs increased. The change was less during the day time.

My carb ratios changed too. In the third trimester there was quite an increase and a smaller increase in the second. By the end of my pregnancy, the ratio for my evening meal had changed from 1:10 to 1:4.

I know what you mean about being scared increasing your insulin. It used to shock me thinking about how much it had increased, but I knew it was perfectly normal. My consultant told me that one lady's ratio had changed from 1:10 to 1:1. A huge increase!

What I did was monitor my sugar for two or three days before changing my insulin dose so that I could be sure I was seeing a genuine change in need rather than random highs. I also tested my blood sugar lots!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people