Type 1 Insulin Not Working While Body Not Moving

[Marco7757]

It sometimes happens that I wake up in the middle of the night because of too high blood sugar. I cannot seem to sleep again, with my blood sugar being so high. I usually inject some insulin then. But here is the problem:
Usually, when injecting insulin (during the day), my body reacts within a reasonable time (about an hour to get back to normal levels if I was high). However, during the night/in the first hour or so after getting up, my body hardly reacts to insulin at all.

My question is if it is possible that my body cannot react to the insulin because my metabolism (?) is not running as "fast" when I am lying in bed.

Have some of you experienced similar issues?

 

[Deleted Account]

Like you, I wake when my BG is too high at night and struggle to get back to sleep.
However, I am able to get to sleep after taking some insulin.

Two things come to my mind
- how high is your BG? If it is high (typically, above 14), it is common to become insulin resistant and need more insulin. I try 1.5 x my usual correction dose when I am this high and test after an hour (if I am still awake).
- as you say, you are not moving which may be why you are less sensitive to insulin. It is not unusual to have different correction factors at different times of the day. This may take some trial and error to work out your night time correction dose.

The other thing to consider is working out why you are going high at night, if this happens often.

 

[paulus1]

think its more to do with your Circadian rhythm

 

[paulus1]

Do circadian rhythms affect body function and health?
Yes. Circadian rhythms can influence sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, eating habits and digestion, body temperature, and other important bodily functions. Biological clocks that run fast or slow can result in disrupted or abnormal circadian rhythms. Irregular rhythms have been linked to various chronic health conditions, such as sleep disorders, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.

 

[Scott-C]

Cells have a mechanism called glut4 - glucose transporter 4. They allow uptake of glucose into the cell to be used as energy and work much more effectively when exercising. It's why we are advised to generally take less insulin if we're going to be exercising, and why you can drop quite a bit during and after exercise. They'll be less active when not exercising, so there won't be as much of an effect at night.

Also, if you're not moving about much, your heart rate will be slower than when active, so your bloodstream will be slower, so it takes longer for insulin to be distributed around the body and get to work.

And insulin generally has a harder time of it when levels are higher.

If you're able to afford cgm, either dexcom or libre/blucon/xdrip+, they're really good for this sort of thing. I've got a night hyper alert set at 7.8, so my phone rings if it goes above that, and I can then make a judgment call on whether it looks like a temporary blip up, or a constant rise which needs a unit or two to pin it, or, indeed, if there's a repeating pattern, whether basal needs tweaked. I just find it makes it a lot easier to correct when still at a relatively modest 8 or so, rather than above 10.

 

[Marco7757]

If you're able to afford cgm, either dexcom or libre/blucon/xdrip+, they're really good for this sort of thing. I've got a night hyper alert set at 7.8, so my phone rings if it goes above that, and I can then make a judgment call on whether it looks like a temporary blip up, or a constant rise which needs a unit or two to pin it, or, indeed, if there's a repeating pattern, whether basal needs tweaked. I just find it makes it a lot easier to correct when still at a relatively modest 8 or so, rather than above 10.

I use the Libre, but as far as I know it cannot alert me, right? Unfortunately, the Libre is the only device paid for in my country :/

 

[Scott-C]

I use the Libre, but as far as I know it cannot alert me, right? Unfortunately, the Libre is the only device paid for in my country :/

There's a neat little transmitter called a Blucon, costs about 100 US dollars one off cost from these guys www.ambrosiasys.com . Stick it on top of the libre sensor, it reads it every 5 minutes and bluetooths the results to an android app xDrip+ https://github.com/NightscoutFoundation/xDrip/releases

It turns libre into full blown cgm so you can calibrate to improve accuracy and get alerts.

There's quite a few of us using it now. There's a thread about it here if you're interested in finding out about it. I've used it for 4 months now, makes libre a lot better.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/getting-hypo-alerts-with-libre-blucon-and-xdrip.127195/

 

[Marco7757]

Wow! Never heard of this one before. Looks good on first glance, however, I find their delivery delays very much discouraging. I don't want to spend 150$ on something so shaky ...

How long does a battery work in your experience? CR2032 go for 5-8$ where I live, this could pile up quickly.

Also, a lot of people seem to have a hard time getting it all to work. I use a Samsung Galaxy S8. Samsung phones seem to be problematic.

I wonder why Abbott won't just put their own Bluetooth device on their sensor and be done with it: CGM for almost no money.

 

[Scott-C]

I find their delivery delays very much discouraging.

Yeah, they're a small start-up company who are quite badly organised and swamped by demand so there's always a risk there. They'd sold out at one point but some recent posters have got theirs after a couple of weeks so maybe they're getting on top of it.

How long does a battery work in your experience?

About 3 weeks. A shop near me sells a pack of six for 7 UK pounds Sterling but prices vary a lot between shops - I've seen them in some for £2 each.

Samsung phones seem to be problematic.

Appears so, there's so many phones out there with their own quirks it seems difficult to cover all bases. Got mine running fine on a cheap LG K8 - I've always been immune to expensive phones!

I wonder why Abbott won't just put their own Bluetooth device on their sensor

There's talk that they're doing a version 2 which does that but I've not followed it much.