Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kate on January 25, 2012 at 6:24am

I was told very similar targets. If you are unable to keep crashing, maybe your basal or i:c is off? I would try tweaking those and see if that helps you hit your goals. Do you have access to a cgm? I wore a blind one for one week prior to getting my dexcom and found that the blind study was very helpful in setting trends.

I also want to add that I do hit these targets often, but not all the time. Diabetes is hard, and pregnancy makes it harder. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Katy on January 25, 2012 at 6:53am

I agree! I've been trying to meet these targets pre and post meal and instead I seem to be constantly low. I think adjusting basal rates are the best way to go but I haven't mastered this yet. It's really trial and error. I did learn by one great Endocrinologist not to make too many changes at once. Try one change and monitor what happens, then adjust if needed before making a 2nd basal rate change. Also, wearing a CGM helps tremendously! Keep in touch...

Permalink Reply by HFXNS on January 25, 2012 at 7:20am

Thanks, Kate and Katy for your replies.

Here are my basal rates:

12:00 AM - 0.200
5:00 AM - 0.300
9:00 AM - 0.200
11:00 AM - 0.300
3:00 PM - 0.175
5:00 PM - 0.300
8:00 PM - 0.425
10:00 PM - 0.200

I do agree that it might be a basal problem, but my basal rates seem so low already, I worry about reducing them further! Every time I try basal testing, I never finish, because I cannot bear skipping lunch a few times and skipping supper a few times. I would be so hungry (and grumpy!).

Nonetheless, I might try lowering them a tiny bit, as Katy suggests, but not making too many changes at once.

And no, I do not have access to a CGM. I live in Canada. Very few people have them here, as they are not covered by in$urance. ; )

Permalink Reply by Kristin on January 25, 2012 at 11:08am

I live in Hungary and CGMS is not covered here either. Just wanted to reassure that my pregnancy went very well without it!! I'm not saying that it would not have helped, but actually following the schedule (that I described below) made testing and adjusting more effective and I don't think that a CGMS would have made a big difference.

Permalink Reply by Kristin on January 25, 2012 at 11:12am

My endo does not do fasting basal tests. Basically using the schedule, I test before every snack/meal and one hour after some of them (measuring one hour after different ones each day). Each week we reviewed my numbers and she increased the basal if she say an increase from BEFORE previous snack to BEFORE next snack and she increased the bolus if she saw a jump from before to one hour after snack...

Let me know if this is not clear...

Permalink Reply by Kate on January 25, 2012 at 12:04pm

I agree with Katy - slow and steady wins the race. Maybe try attacking one meal at a time. When I lower my basals, I usually do it by .05 or .1 unit at a time. Since yours are so small, I wouldn't make any drastic changes.

How are your fasting bg's? If they are good then you can rule out tinkering with the overnight basals.

Just remember that you will get them all figured out and then they will change again. Thankfully, the prenatal vitamins will help you keep the hair that you don't pull out! haha!

Permalink Reply by HFXNS on January 25, 2012 at 3:27pm

I have done overnight basal testing, and that rate is fine. I've done morning basal testing, with less success (I generally go low before lunch). I haven't even tried afternoon or evening basal testing. Seriously, how can anyone skip lunch or supper? They're the highlight of my day!!

Permalink Reply by Kate on January 26, 2012 at 6:19pm

I could skip lunch or dinner, but DO NOT take away breakfast! haha! I become a disaster without it! :)

Permalink Reply by HFXNS on January 27, 2012 at 5:12am

I have an office job. Lunch is what keeps me from going crazy. If I ever do get around to lunchtime basal testing, I will need to find a way to distract myself from the fact that I'm starving.

Permalink Reply by Kristin on January 25, 2012 at 11:07am

The ONLY way that I found to meet these targets was to eat on a schedule... Basically I ate every three hours during the day (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm). This is my endo's protocol. I had a fixed amount of carbs and a fixed bolus which we adjusted from week to week. I think that the reason that I was able to have good postprandial numbers was that some of the bolus from the previous meal/snack covered the next one. If I was late with a meal or snack, I would have gone low.

Actually I think that eating this often also helped me to feel better during pregnancy. I am not usually a big "schedule" person, but this method really worked for me. It meant that I did not eat carbs other times, but I rarely craved them because I at scheduled snacks and no carb snacks in between if I was hungry.

My fasting was not always below 100... but I am going to work more on that before the next pregnancy.

Permalink Reply by HFXNS on January 25, 2012 at 11:25am

I find the idea of eating on a strict schedule very interesting. How many carbs were you eating at each meal time? What did you eat? How much insulin were you taking?

Permalink Reply by Kristin on January 25, 2012 at 12:02pm

Here are some more details about my diet

I was taking about 28-30 units of insulin per day before pregnancy. During pregnancy, I think that I got to about 15 units per day and then up to 60 units per day. So I do not think that you should focus on how much insulin you need. There is no good or bad amount of insulin. You just need to figure the right amount to get the right blood sugars...

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