• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Night shifts ..

C

clairebear86

Member
Messages
11
Hi, I'm not sure if this has been covered before, and if so does anyone have the link .... I'm wondering how people cope on night shifts with their blood sugars ... I'm on an insulin pump and I'm doing seven 12hour shifts this week .. My sugars have been horrendous no matter what I do .. Been playing around with my basals and are now really high and still I'm getting nowhere ... Any help would be muchly appreciated :)

Claire x


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
clairebear86 said:
Hi, I'm not sure if this has been covered before, and if so does anyone have the link .... I'm wondering how people cope on night shifts with their blood sugars ... I'm on an insulin pump and I'm doing seven 12hour shifts this week .. My sugars have been horrendous no matter what I do .. Been playing around with my basals and are now really high and still I'm getting nowhere ... Any help would be muchly appreciated :)

Claire x


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...


I work night shifts so I understand what you are going through. The main issue you are seeing is that your sleep pattern has changed, poor sleep or lack of dramatically increases blood glucose readings. also don't forget that your liver works harder at night to dump a good dose of glucose into your blood stream to give you energy for the day, so you are working through the night, but your liver doesn't know this, plus eating I guess, so that's more glucose then going home and sleeping just as your liver dumps its load, so glucose remains high.

I would have thought that your pump would normalize this? is it worth talking to your nurse or GP?

The answer I found was to eat a normal meal before I leave for work, usual dinner type thing then take something really light to work, a light salad with tuna or chicken for example, a really small portion of pasta or rice with it, just enough so it fills you up but not too much so that you get a massive glucose boost. test regularly and increase my rapid acting insulin as needed to keep it right.

hope this helps a bit
 
Hi thanks for your reply! They seem to have gotten better now ..... It must have been the initial start of them? ... I have done nights before without my pump but have only managed to normalise them as I'm gettin to the end ! I had my basals set really high and then last night I hit a few hypos and then before I went to sleep I was 4.9 and on waking 7.4 . The day before this is was not going any lower than 15 ! Was well frustrating ! I will take your advice on board ... I will also contact my dsn .. Thanks so much :)

Claire


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
If it was me I would set up a 2nd profile and swop all my day basals to night and versa.. I would keep an eye on bolus.. As you can only set them to give a % more or less and cant necessarily set up a different bolus record for them.
 
Hi,
I also have a pump and work 3X 12 hour night shifts every week. I have a different basal profile for each 24 hours when I am at work at night and asleep in the daytime. I find I need very small amounts of basal during the daytime in bed but I do have an active job.

I try to eat small amounts (about 15g carbs ) every 3 hours or so when I am at work.

I find it much easier to work at night, as I can have my main meal 2 hours before I leave and have time to sort out my blood sugar levels before I go. Whereas working day shifts and starting at 0730 is a nightmare for me. Getting up at 0630 and rushing out of the house to drive to work through traffic means my diabetic control suffers and levels are usually higher than I like to be safe driving.

I am not and never have been a morning person.
 
Back
Top