Type 1'stars R Us

Ok fellow Type 1s it has been a roller coaster year with parent illness and my subsequent involvement. The stress was enormous and I couldn’t keep levels down during May and June. Subsequently for the first time in 10 years my HbA1c went up rather than down. 41-47 I didn’t change my diet really it was just totally stress and extreme fatigue. Things are calmer now and I have been working hard at keeping calm and getting plenty of relaxation. Was delighted with todays never happened before result.

Just shows that stress is the hard to factor in issue in our daily management and how it is not just about what we put in our mouths.

@becca59 That's doing great! Sometimes things happen and you just can't make your blood sugars magically behave. I'm sort of thinking my A1c might have gone up too. I won't be surprised if it did.
I hope everything is okay now and life stays calmer.

Hilarious! After I posted the above, the wretched sensor failed. It’s a longtime since I have had a failure. It could have happened when numbers were High lol! Put a new one on and had the biggest bleed I’ve ever had. Pouring out the hole quite a while. Must have hit a large blood vessel. Anyway all up and running again and replacement on the way.

becca59 said:

Was delighted with todays never happened before result.

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Well done @becca59 that's brilliant.
Sorry your run of time in range ended because the sensor failed, just typical!!

Totally fed up with diabetes. I've had more than 24 hours of fighting to keep bg levels above hypo, Dexcom checked with finger prick tests.

Periodically this happens with no warning. It's not very warm, which would require less insulin, and carb intake's been normal (everything weighed). Sigh!!

Either my pancreas has decided to work for a few hours, or the insulin is super strength (it all started when I opened a new vial of insulin), or it's the colour off my socks (same every day though!)

Whatever the reason I've enjoyed some 'free carbs' but feel rung out.

@Hopeful34 I've had that happen too! Every once in a while and you get so sick of eating anything sweet. You can't reduce basal for too long because you don't know when it's going to stop. I understand when I've gone snorkeling and that night , but it happens out of the blue for no apparent reason. I'm well past my honeymoon period, plus we are talking every 6-12 months that it happens. I've consumed over 50 carbs extra plus probably more. It drives you nuts!

Speaking of snorkeling....... We went today and after two hours we hear a loudspeaker saying snorkelers swim towards shore and get on the beach......... I know what that means! Shark sighting! Sure enough a Lifeguard had a confirmed shark sighting. The beach isn't a Lifeguarded beach but we have roving lifeguards that stay there a lot. A small boat that was coming in to use the ramp saw a Bullhead shark in the channel coming in at the same time. They were calling all the people in the water to come in. I know a friend of ours saw a Tiger Shark there about a year ago. Bullheads are worse though. Tiger sharks might bite to see if you are edible and by mistake. Bullheads will bite and demolish you. We had just left that area. We cross the small end of the channel to cut across two areas. I keep saying one of these days because we snorkel so much we will end up seeing a shark. I prefer not!

@Hopeful34 so so annoying when that happens. Mine definitely goes in cycles. Following a period of unexplained lows I get a couple of weeks of unexplained highs. Then all goes calm again. It makes it all hard work. Just shows as I mentioned earlier, this disease is not as easy as calculating food and injecting accordingly. Friends I know think this is the case. Not maliciously, just because they are not living with it. I think hats why it is all so fatiguing sometimes and gets us down. Because we cannot actually beat it!
@Marie 2 Sharks-eek!!!

@becca59 Yea, at our potluck where all the regulars know I'm a type 1, I mentioned having to adjust my doses for some reason and that I had to take extra for a few mornings and then it changed and it was too much. Someone then said I thought you had been at it for a while and would know how much to take. I was totally caught off guard. I did mention that no, things affect my insulin need like exercise, weather, stress and sleep. But I got the feeling I'm not sure she really understood? But the conversation around the table moved on. But yea, I think there might be quite a few that think it's that simple.

Marie 2 said:

. It drives you nuts!

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Yes, it definitely does!!

I hope you don't end up seeing a shark!!

becca59 said:

I think hats why it is all so fatiguing sometimes and gets us down. Because we cannot actually beat it!

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Oh how I wish we could beat it!! Pumps and cgm's are way better than the 1 injection a day I started out on, but even control IQ couldn't keep up yesterday.

Hi all, not been around for a day or two, wish I'd caught up earlier - @becca59 I had a sensor fall off about ten days ago, replaced it and had exactly the same as you, blood everywhere. Anyway, I phoned Abbott about the one that fell off, and whilst I was talking to a very helpful customer service person, I mentioned what had happened with hitting a blood vessel etc. He immediately said I should have taken it off and started another one, because it meant there could be blood in/around/under the sensor which could affect the readings. I was able to give him a couple of comparison readings of the Libre and finger pricks and the Libre was on the low side, but I find they're almost never 100% in accord with my meter so I just kind of accommodate that. Anyway, he told me to take it off, and sent me two replacements. I'd never heard this before though I've heard of others occasionally hitting a blood vessel, so you might want to think about what to do with yours?

@Marie 2 and @Hopeful34 I don't seem to have your kind of problem, and I sympathise hugely - it's bad enough on a day to day level as doing exactly the same thing never seems to give exactly the same result , but to have a stream of days where it's up the creek - not funny! The only thing I can think of is whether you may occasionally have a low-grade infection that doesn't give noticeable symptoms? Is there even such a thing? or am I trying to explain the inexplicable vagaries of T1? and yes, those people who think inject eat done drive me round the bend too! I have to remind myself that I know very little about all the facets of living with most other long-term conditions, as I discovered when I worked with the Expert Patient Programme, so I try to appreciate that it's hard to appreciate the implications of T1 without living with it or with someone with it. Needless to say I don't always succeed...!

@hh1 I was all prepared to ring Abbott again re the bleeder, especially after a day of wild ups and downs and signal loss. However the following morning all was calm and it is bang on with blood glucose measurements.
Didn’t half make a mess though. Husband was horrified!

becca59 said:

Didn’t half make a mess though. Husband was horrified!

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That reminds me of when I inserted a cannula once. I've obviously had times in the past when I've seen blood on the inserter needle, but this time when I took the inserter needle out, the blood immediately filled 3/4 of the tubing before I could take the cannula out. If I'd only had the vials the hospital use for bloods, it would have saved me seeing the phlebotomist

I've got a friend who faints at seeing their own blood, even a tiny nick on their finger, and it makes me glad it doesn't bother me.

Weirdly though, whilst I love watching operations on tv, I don't like seeing blood in a drip.

Yes, i got unexplained highs and lows sometimes. You feel so tired fighting this things. You have to be 24hrs awake to control it or (sort of). But this community you can talk and we feel the pain of each other.
Thats fab

Ok 3 weeks of lovely controllable levels and a week 100% boast. This morning I awoke to 15 with an upward arrow. Shot up at 3am. Checked with Bloods-bang on correct! Had unfortunately switched alarm off as it was teetering on high and I had taken half a unit. I didn’t want it keep going off as it kept dipping over and falling back. As I had a lowish carb lunch, with no fats or alcohol and hadn’t eaten since 3pm (a usual event) I’m non plussed. I’ve either forgotten my basal or am sickening for something. Grrr! Sat here hungry unable to eat til this lot settles. Have a good day everyone lol!

@becca59 It rarely happens, but could your insulin be bad? Or you are right and it's the heads up some kind of infection is going on. That's how I found out I had a tooth infection a few days before my tooth started killing me.

I used to really like the option on the Miao Miao/tomato ap of suspending the alarms for a time period. That way if it was dipping back and forth, going to hit your alarm number soon, or you knew you needed some time before your BG dropped you could silence the alarms for whatever time you wanted instead of turning them off. I often wished they had that option on the Dexcom.

The other day I went to give myself a larger dose in a shot instead of my pump and I gave it through my dress I was wearing, I didn't feel the needle or a sting and looked down and I had forgotten to take the little purple cap on the new needle off. Luckily that is a obvious mistake to spot anyways once you put the bigger cap back on. But I was calling myself names.

Don’t think it’s illness. All calm and stable. Suspect a basal issue.

I take Tresiba at bedtime, usually around 10pm. I see my diabetes team tomorrow. Thanks to you all for giving me a question to ask. One thing I worry about is the fact I take 48 units. I'm 51, and have been a T1D since 1985.

What are the advantages of taking Tresiba in the morning? .

Well done on such brilliant control, @becca59. I know you've said this elsewhere but how long have you had Type 1 for? I am obsessed with my mortality and complication anxiety and need a positive story to counter that.