1.6, yikes!
About a week ago I took my nightly pills (beta blocker and antihistamine) with some almond milk instead of water. The next morning I woke up with a blood sugar of about 4.5 (81). Morning blood sugars are a HUGE struggle for me, probably the hardest thing to keep steady. Usually I am either high or low. Lately I'd been waking up around 10 (180) every morning. Anyway, I did it the next night and the same thing happened. So since then, every night I have about a cup of almond milk before bed, and every morning I've woken up perfectly except for yesterday when I woke up low.
Overall I get so confused about overnight readings because although I wake up to test several times per week, sometimes I am high and sometimes I am low (or have dropped a lot), and some mornings I wake up low while others I wake up high or in range. One of the biggest areas I think a CGM would be helpful for (the other being seeing what happens after I eat different foods).
Yesterday I was stuck around 10 (180) all afternoon and then after dinner I shot up to 15 (270). I was super annoyed so piled on the corrections. One thing I dislike about the Ping is that it is not NEARLY as good at preventing stacking of insulin as the Cozmo was. I don't know what it does differently, but I often notice it doesn't reduce bolus suggestions much at all even if there is a lot of insulin on board. Anyway, last night I sort of forgot about that, and I took almost 10u of insulin over a period of three hours (that's a lot for me).
I went to bed around 10:30, and around 3:30 I woke up for no reason and could not figure out why. I didn't feel low at all, but as usual I went to test.
I was 1.6 mmol/L (28 mg/dl)!!!
I had to test twice to see if I was really that low! According to the meter, I was. I ate four glucose tablets and less than 10 minutes later was 5.1 (91). So then I thought maybe I hadn't really been that low after all. I ate some cheese and a glass of almond milk, just in case, but I was sure I'd be high this morning because it looked to me like I was already rebounding!
Nope. This morning I woke up at 6.8 (122). Crazy!!!
That's the first really major overnight low I've had since living on my own (since August). I've had many other overnight lows, but not super scary-low lows! This one was totally my own fault, but I think at my appointment next week I'll ask about CGM. I could technically get a new pump (even though I've only had the Ping for two years) as I'm with a different employer so have different health benefits. I don't know if the stand-alone Guardian unit still exists in Canada (I haven't been able to find any information on it), and no clue if/when the Dexcom will ever get here, so I wonder if it would be worth putting up with the non-waterproof pump and super low-contrast screen for the benefit of the CGM (assuming it's covered).
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Comment by Howie767 on December 31, 2012 at 8:51am -
Some locked-in highs seem to need stacking in order to make them come out of orbit. But you don't want to stay too high for an extended period of time.
One method I use to help correct a persistent bad high is to set an extra large dual-wave bolus. When my BG starts to drop to below 180, I cancel the undelivered bolus. Usually the BG continues to normalize, but doesn't crash. With a bit of luck it stops on a dime at 100.
I can't do a muscle inject without feinting. Although if a nurse does it, there's no pain?
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Comment by nel on December 31, 2012 at 4:32pm
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I called Medtronic this morning (Not related to your discussion ;wanted to know about infusion set tubing length for my Sure-t') Took advantage of the connection and asked about the Guardian as I had seen it on the web; the gent confirmed Guardian is available ...found something else you maybe interested in ??
Too computer unsavvy to supply the link , but please google Reimbursement Assistance Centre
http://www.medtronicdiabetes.ca/download/documents/Guardian%20RT%20...If you like to call : 1-806-444-4649 , prompt # 1 ...suggest to wait till the holidays are over ; waiting to get connected a bit dicey .
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Comment by Jen on December 31, 2012 at 9:09pm
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Thanks Nel, I'll probably call them next week before my endo appointment to check. If the Guardian is available and my work benefits will cover it, I'd seriously consider getting it if Animas is going to be a while coming out with the Vibe in Canada (I'll probably call Animas at the same time to see what they say about this).
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Comment by Howie767 on January 1, 2013 at 9:22am
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Nel is correct, the Guardian is still available. Unfortunately it has the same display screen as the Medtronic Pump.
http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/products/guardiancgm
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Comment by Howie767 on January 1, 2013 at 9:24am
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Has your endo tested you for gastroparesis? Your symptoms exactly match the problems that this complication can produce.
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I've never been tested for gastroparesis, not even sure how that test is done. But when I look up the symptoms of it, I don't seem to have any of them. It mentions erratic blood sugars, but it mentions going low after meals and then going high hours later. I tend to have the opposite problem, spiking high after 1-2 hours some meals, but not all. Most lows I get are explainable, either from stacking corrections or exercises. Sometimes I get lows in the middle of the night that are totally random, but I get MANY more random highs after eating compared to random lows. I think hormones and such play a huge role as well. My "erratic" blood sugars aren't a new thing that appeared recently, more like a lifelong problem I've just never been able to figure out.
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Comment by Janice on January 3, 2013 at 1:53pm -
You might want to talk to your doctor about your doses of insulin and make an adjustment, if necessary. Perhaps you're taking too much insulin when you go to bed. The danger is if you go into a sugar low while you're sleeping.
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I have an endo appointment tomorrow morning so will definitely be talking to him about this. Unfortunately, most endos I've met with, including this one, can't spot any consistent patterns in my readings so have trouble making recommendations about doses. They usually just tell me to keep testing a lot and correcting/treating as needed. The endo I'm seeing tomorrow is a new guy who is apparently excellent, and I've only seen him once before, so I'm hoping that he may have some suggestions now (even though the first appointment he said he couldn't spot patterns and had none). I did adjust my basal down by 0.05 u/h and haven't had any lows today (have had them daily for the past week or so), but since doing that I've been running on the high side.
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Comment by Janice on January 3, 2013 at 8:55pm
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Ya, I really think you need an insulin adjustment. There should be some diabetic nurses available who can easily determine patterns in your sugar levels. After I had my kidney transplant, I had to write down my sugar levels about 5 times a day. The nurses analyzed them and we re-adjusted my insulin levels accordingly. Since then, they've been fairly good.
Good luck with everything!
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Comment by Gerri on January 3, 2013 at 10:34pm -
Why do you take beta blockers?
Do you have high BP?
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