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Type 1 and the menopause ... help!

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Daisy Bee

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Hello, I've never been on a forum before but wondered if anyone might be able to offer some advice.

I am 51, been Type 1 for 22 years. I have always managed my diabetes very well and have a very active, busy life with a physical job outside.

About 2 years ago I started to get very high blood glucose readings for a few days before my period. I believe this is called 'catamenial' resistance where the increase in oestrogen affects the effectiveness of the insulin. I was able to manage this fairly well by almost trebling my insulin doses and it was fairly predictable when it was going to happen. However, recently my periods are completely random - I can go from 110 days to 15 days in between cycles. Clearly, they will stop one day which is fantastic but this could take 5 years. My insulin levels are now all over the place. Has anyone got any advice they could give me? Freestyle Libre has made it much easier as I can scan myself many times a day. I'm not sure what else I can do? Anyone been through it?
 
Hello, @Daisy Bee , and welcome to the forum!
I have no experience with menopause but others will probably come along with their experiences :)

It's not very important in regards to this question, but if you want to post more it would be helpful to fill out some details on your profile, like type of diabetes and insulins used. Many of us mainly look at the new posts section and often won't notice what subforum a post is in.

Hope you'll get some useful answers!
 
@Welcome to the club.
I am a similar age but, so far, menopause has not given me too many symptoms. I had a subtotal hysterectomy (still got ovaries but the rest was taken out) a couple of years ago so I don’t experience bleeding which makes menstrual cycle a little harder to spot.
I remember someone else suggesting going to the doctor and insisting on menopausal hormonal treatment to reduce the effects it has on diabetes.
I would tag the helpful person. But I can’t remember who she was.

As for the first time on the forum, we all had a first time and, hopefully, realised, the “old timers” are quite friendly and some of them are quite knowledgeable ... or at least harmless.
Hopefully, one of the knowledgeable ones will be along soon.
 
I believe the helpful person might have been me. I never had any real problem caused by hormones until I hit age 50. I was working full time as a computer programmer and one day I went out to buy a sandwich etc at lunchtime as usual. Once back in the office, did a blood test which showed 4 point something mml, did a jab and started my lunch. Only took the minimum half hour for lunch, re-started work and about an hour later started to feel odd and thirsty. Blood test showed above 22 mml. From that point my levels just soared and plummeted unpredictably. Every time I took extra insulin, I ended up hypo. There was no pattern to what happened. The internet confirmed that this was a known effect of approaching menopuse. I insisted my GP noted down what was happening, as I could see myself ending up in A and E. He had nothing useful to say at all and no suggestions, just registered concern.

After three months of this I went to my usual hospital clinic appointment and complained to a consultant about what was happening. I was in despair, totally exhausted because sleep-deprived, after weeks of alternately shivering and sweating. He told me that only a small percentage of female type 1s have this extreme instability caused by hormone fluctuations and that the only answer is HRT. A minimal dose of the offending hormones everyday keeps levels more or iess steady.
Do you attend a hospital clinic ? This seems to be an area that no GP knows anything about. I was told that HRT is only needed for around two years, as by then sugar levels have usually settled back to normal. I took the tablets for around 2 and a half years because I was dreading what might happen if I stopped. I needn't have worried. My sugar levels really had returned to behaving normally.
 
I recently got a Fitbit Versa (actually to integrate with xDrip and show my blood glucose) and one of the interesting things I noticed was that my resting pulse rises as my hormone levels rise and then drops off again, with lowest resting pulse on week 2 of cycle when hormones are lowest.

I haven't reached menopause yet, but this may be a way of predicting when your erratic period will arrive? Or you may notice changes in cervical fluids?
 
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