Tight Control?
Last night around 9:00PM I got out my Levemir pen and prepared for my biggest shot of basal for the day. Suddenly the dogs began to bark. This is a major distraction: so Dogs, What's up? We have a fence between the kitchen and the living room; they wanted to switch sides. When all was calm, I thought, What did I do? I remembered priming and shooting myself. What I didn't remember is whether or not I dialed up any insulin. So from 9 PM until 1:00 AM I tested every hour or half-hour to see whether my BG was going up or staying stable. First it's dealing with the rise caused by slow digestion (following the low, of course) with teeny amounts, then watching for signs of whether or not I had given myself insulin. Finally I decided that I had indeed taken the Levemir, and my BG was great all night and the next morning. That leaves me wondering, Is all this testing a good thing for every night? You get to read, watch TV, lurk at TuD... Anybody actually spend their evenings this way on purpose?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on -
Hi JohnG. I usually wake up around 2:00 AM to test, unless I'm high. Then I sleep like a rock, so I don't dare risk going all night without basal.
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Permalink Reply by Unicornzzz on -
Over testing is never as bad as under testing. It does make the fingers sore after a while but at least you know what your numbers are. If you want to over test and your insurance will pay for testing strips why not.
I see you are on a pump. How many strips does your doctor prescribe for you test a day?
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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Hi Unicornzzz. I have very few pump sites anymore, so I only wear my pump for holidays and eating out. I certainly make fewer mistakes on the pump. I'm able to get 8-10 strips daily, but I guess I'd have to use fewer in the daytime with many nights like last night to deal with. There is certainly something to be said for spending all the hours in the night with good blood sugars.
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Permalink Reply by Zoe on -
I love to sleep uninterrupted, so unless there is a reason to be concerned like what you described, or I am doing something new with dosing that I need to monitor, I don't stay up to check blood sugar. Not to say I don't test a lot, but I like the idea of "testing with a purpose" - what is it the number will tell me that I can use.
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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Hi Zoe. A admit to a lot of random rather than purposeful testing, but then again I'm often surprised by the result. I expect your new pump is making your diabetes life a bit easier.
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Permalink Reply by Holger Schmeken on -
Hmm, so you think you might have forgotten the Levemir shot. Then you test very often and it turned out as false alarm - and now you ask yourself if this was really necessary? Well, imagine what would have happened without the Levemir. You would have woken up with skyhigh glucose and I am very sure you would have said to yourself "why have I not tested more often to catch it early? I knew what will happen without it".
There is no compromise for me when I have doubts about my Levemir. I will test after 2, 3 and maybe 4 hours and if I see an unexpected rise after 4 hours I will shoot the Levemir. It will cost some sleep but at the end it is better than corrections for very high numbers.
It is a huge investment and because of that I have modified the Lilly HumaPen Memoir to work with Levemir vials. I am still disappointed about the HumaPen. The quality can not be compared with the NovoPen and the battery is dead after 2 years of use. Just recently I switched back to the NovoPen 4 and I try to get very very focused for my Levemir shot - it works so far.
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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Hi Holger. Yes, it was worth it to make sure I had basal for the night; I'm just wondering if I should do the same every night for the sake of "tight control." I use the Levemir FlexPen. which works well for me as long as I don't make mistakes. I deliberately chose to have my fast acting in a vial and basal in a pen to try to avoid mistaking one for the other, another potential disaster.
By the way, you were one of the first to welcome me to TuD last March, and I never said thanks, til now!
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Permalink Reply by Holger Schmeken on
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To me tight control has nothing to do with controlling tight. With some experience you will know what will happen. Glucose numbers are just marks on an invisible chain of numbers. The CGM will reveal this path with some inaccuracy. It deepens your knowledge about yourself. Still I think that testing more than 7-10 times can drive you nuts. It might be necessary sometimes but I try to find the right balance.
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Permalink Reply by caprifoglio on -
I'm very lucky in that so far, I have not had a really good reason to get up in the middle of the night to test. My numbers are very good and I've not had anything happen to me during the night that would be worrisome. One thing I HAVE noticed though and that is that if I DO NOT get a good night's sleep, that affects my blood sugar. So, I try to get a good night's sleep, and that means not getting up to test unless it's absolutely necessary.
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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Hi caprifoglio. Yes you are lucky! The only way I can be sure that my blood sugar will be stable overnight without any corrections is if I don't eat any carbs whatsoever for dinner and all evening long. I have real trouble being that good!
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Permalink Reply by caprifoglio on
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Wow, well that would be deprivation, I agree. One does what one must. It's important to strike a balance between managing this thing and being happy with what it allows.
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Permalink Reply by FHS on -
I don't usually stay up just to test without a reason to do so. But, like John, a full night's sleep is a rare thing so I'll get out of bed to test at least once a night, somewhere between 2 and 3 am. I have a Dex and the one time test is usually just to check it's accuracy. Rolling over and checking my Dex is a regular event during the night. It's just automatic. Roll over, check Dex, doze off, roll over check dex, doze off, rinse, repeat.
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