End of my tether!

[TrishO505]

Hi, i'm new to this forum and i just needed a place to vent, cry and let out my fears and rage.

I was diagnosed with my diabetes in 2004 when I was 12 years old. I will be honest i've never been good at monitoring blood sugars etc. Mostly so since I became an independent adult.

However, I am about to become a mother and I was given the Libre to help monitor my sugars better, and I do find it easy for me to use.

The issue I have, is that when I get into the swing of checking my blood sugar levels, I become obsessive over the numbers and what I can do to get them on target, it take over my life and I can't focus on anything else. I have found in the week i've had the Libre though, that my blood sugar seems to spike in the evenings.

I currently use novorapid and lantus insulins. I carb count and inject at a ratio of 1 unit per 10 grams carbs, which tends to work fine throughout the day for breakfast / lunch. However, by the time dinner comes around, I am seeing higher numbers in the evening post dinner and post novorapid and lantus injections.

I have been advised to take my lantus with my dinner, and with this not kicking in for the first four hours, I think it may be better for me to move my lantus injection to late afternoon, so this kicks in along with my dinner novorapid and I hope to see this reduce. A few months ago, I was experiencing late night hypos and based on what I've read, I believe this to be due to the lantus so I reduced the amount I was taking of this which seems to have helped that issue.

Does anyone else have this issue / combination of issues?

I should note as well that I'm 10 weeks pregnant at the moment, so unsure if this is part of the issue also.

 

[EllieM]

Congrats on the pregnancy.

Just a few thoughts, as we really aren't allowed to advise on doses here and you should be talking to your team.

1) Insulin ratios can indeed vary by time of day (and also by activity level).
2) Lantus is supposed to last 24 hours but it doesn't for everyone. If you're already having it with your dinner I'd personally be more inclined to increase the dinner bolus to compensate, but talk to your team. (Some people have two doses of lantus per day and there are other basal insulins). You want the lantus to keep you level overnight, you can tweak bolus doses during the day if you need to.
3) Your doses will change a lot during your pregnancy. I don't know how high your spikes are but remember that T1s were having babies long before glucometers let alone cgms were invented, so if you're not quite perfect it may not be as bad as you think. Be careful, but your mental health is as important as your physical health.
4) Most people concentrate on getting the basal dose right first (nice level line overnight) then tweak their day time bolus. It's hard to tell what's happening if you change too many things at once.

Good luck.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi, i'm new to this forum and i just needed a place to vent, cry and let out my fears and rage.

I was diagnosed with my diabetes in 2004 when I was 12 years old. I will be honest i've never been good at monitoring blood sugars etc. Mostly so since I became an independent adult.

However, I am about to become a mother and I was given the Libre to help monitor my sugars better, and I do find it easy for me to use.

The issue I have, is that when I get into the swing of checking my blood sugar levels, I become obsessive over the numbers and what I can do to get them on target, it take over my life and I can't focus on anything else. I have found in the week i've had the Libre though, that my blood sugar seems to spike in the evenings.

I currently use novorapid and lantus insulins. I carb count and inject at a ratio of 1 unit per 10 grams carbs, which tends to work fine throughout the day for breakfast / lunch. However, by the time dinner comes around, I am seeing higher numbers in the evening post dinner and post novorapid and lantus injections.

I have been advised to take my lantus with my dinner, and with this not kicking in for the first four hours, I think it may be better for me to move my lantus injection to late afternoon, so this kicks in along with my dinner novorapid and I hope to see this reduce. A few months ago, I was experiencing late night hypos and based on what I've read, I believe this to be due to the lantus so I reduced the amount I was taking of this which seems to have helped that issue.

Does anyone else have this issue / combination of issues?

I should note as well that I'm 10 weeks pregnant at the moment, so unsure if this is part of the issue also.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your pregnancy.

It's great you have a Libre sensor. They do help spot BG trends. however, please don't rule out finger pricking completely..

I would agree with @EllieM , see what your basal is doing first on the performance front.. This link may explain.. https://www.mysugr.com/en/blog/basal-rate-testing/

 

[EllieM]

It's great you have a Libre sensor. They do help spot BG trends. however, please don't rule out finger pricking completely..

Just seconding this. Libre sensors are very accurate for a lot of people, but there are times they can be inaccurate
1) they often read too low at night (supposedly caused by lying on the sensor?)
2) sometimes a new sensor can be faulty
3) some people never get accurate results from them (@TrishO505 would probably already know this if this was the case for her)
4) they can be very inaccurate at supposed hypo levels. Obviously treat a hypo immediately if it says you have one, but try to test with a meter as well before going overboard with the jelly babies or whatever.

 

[Jaylee]

Just seconding this. Libre sensors are very accurate for a lot of people, but there are times they can be inaccurate
1) they often read too low at night (supposedly caused by lying on the sensor?)
2) sometimes a new sensor can be faulty
3) some people never get accurate results from them (@TrishO505 would probably already know this if this was the case for her)
4) they can be very inaccurate at supposed hypo levels. Obviously treat a hypo immediately if it says you have one, but try to test with a meter as well before going overboard with the jelly babies or whatever.

Oh yeah, I have to make notes with the lows.. There can be discrepacies with the Libre & meter. The Libre also has a tendency to suggest I'm lower longer, too.. I still carry my meter, especially when driving.
As an aside, @TrishO505 . There are trusted free apps like "Glimp" or Xdrip that can be calibrated to the meter which can make life easier.. Even better still, Bluetooth bridges that act like a "CGM."