I’m having a really crappy blood sugar day.
I know it happens to all of us, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
I know that I sometimes I cause my own bad days, especially when I can’t contain my food cravings. But you know, those days are a little easier to handle because I know the cause of it.
I woke up high this morning (well, technically morning I guess (11:37AM)). I’m not sure, but I think it was something I didn’t count right last night. I hate that I was high much of the night, but stuff happens. I realized I had my high BG alarms on my Navigator disabled, most likely from some trouble I was having a while back that I just never remembered to enable again. Having those turned on would have been valuable last night. 20/20 hindsight.
I had a little breakfast (a couple slices of toast) and added in a monster correction dose. There are many of you out there that won’t eat anything until your blood sugar is down, but I’m not one of them.
I used up all the insulin I had left in my pump with that bolus, so I changed everything out. New infusion set, new tubing, new cartridge, fresh insulin. That’s a recipe for good numbers, right? WRONG! I struggle with high BG’s after a site change. I don’t know what it is, but I know that it is not consistent, which means I can’t figure out what to do! Today it has me thinking that going back to shots might be the way for me.
My breakfast and correction bolus (on my old set) held me pretty steady (but still high – around 250 mg/dl) most of the afternoon. I was hitting the high with correction doses every hour and a half (on the new set now) and it just wouldn’t budge.
In the eight hours I spent fighting that damn 250’ish, I got hungry (what – I’m still human) I hadn’t eaten anything else until late in the day, maybe around 8:00 PM, and that’s when the shit hit the fan. Even though I bolused aggressively and about 30 minutes before I ate, within about twenty minutes I shot up to 397mg/dl. I have been stuck there for hours. About 45 minutes after I ate, and saw what was happening, I did a rage bolus. I am just now starting to trend down.
So now that I’m on the downswing, I get the notification that my Navigator sensor expires in about two hours. So I won’t have that guarding me against lows through the night. Great.
What makes me angry about this? That I didn’t do anything “wrong”. This is not my fault. I didn’t go crazy with food all day, in fact I didn’t eat much at all! And I’m also mad because there is not just one issue to deal with. There is the fact I woke up high, then the site change, then the first meal on the site change, then the expiring sensor, then the massive low I’m predicting I’ll have tonight.
If it were just one issue I think I could handle it just fine. It’s when they team up on you that life gets a little harder, and it seems when diabetes is involved, it is always more than just one thing. It’s never a fair fight.
So sorry about your crappy day Scott! I’ve had quite a few of those recently and it can be so incredibly frustrating. I mean, things don’t go *that* well, even when things are going well. Hope you’re feeling better.
Hi Scott, I have been a diabetic for 3 years and still I go high and low EVERY day. Doesn’t seem to matter what I eat either. Just went to yet another doctor. I have been on the pump for about a year and a half. When I print out my weekly readings on a graph it looks like a 2 year old got hold of an Etch a Sketch. I can’t remember the last time I felt fine. Have recently been told that I can’t work or drive at this time, Which really sucks. Was wondering if anyone else… Read more »
Scott, I know you know that we all understand, but sometimes that does not even help. Moments like this you feel that no one gets or feels your emotions about it, not even a fellow diabetic. I sometimes think about going back on shots, because lately there have been some horror stories about the Lot 8 recall, etc., but then I HATED shots, but I always think the grass is greener on the other side. I just don’t remember with shots not gettng a good absorption, but I also could not adjust my basal rate like I can with the… Read more »
Thank you so much for all of the empathy and suggestions. I am feeling better, with better BG’s, and a better attitude (funny how those two so often go together!).
I’ve tried many of the suggestions over the years, with mixed results. Maybe I’ll go into some details on all I’ve tried in a future post.
Thank you all again!
Frustration. I think that’s the best word to describe a day like yours. I get them every once in a while, which is (of course) way too often. Oh yeah, and not eating anything until the blood sugar goes down usually takes more will than I’m able to supply. High blood sugars = increased appetite. Yeah, that’s my excuse. What? It’s true!