One roller coaster I am not fond of, however, is the glucose roller coaster (also known as the "glucoaster"). And for the past 24 hours, that's where I've been. I'm currently on the last reservoir refill from my latest insulin vial, which means there is a good possibility my insulin is going bad. This has happened to me several times before, and I've thought about chunking the vial once I get down to less than a reservoir's worth of insulin. But the conservative side of me begins screaming, "That's wasteful!" So I refill my reservoir like I always do, and spend the next 3 days coasting out some major BAHs. It's not that the insulin has completely crapped out, it just takes longer for the insulin to really kick in to my bloodstream.
The other side of this glucoaster involves some homemade eggrolls I made last night. In my humble opinion, I make the best eggrolls. I can't stand ordering them from a Chinese restaurant because I'm very picky. So when I feel the need to fulfill that eggroll hole in my heart, I make them myself. Each eggroll only contains 12 grams of carbs, but they pack a mean delayed punch. I forgot about this. So when I bolused and ate 4 eggrolls while watching Date Night for our date night, I went to bed with a perfect reading of 100 mg/dL (score!). But I woke up this morning to 298 mg/dL, with Constance showing that I had been over my high threshold for more than 3 hours. (Why, oh why, do I never wake up?!)
So I dialed in a correction before my shower, and downed a bottle of water while I was getting ready. Keeping an eye on Constance, it seemed I was dropping, FAST. I checked an hour after my correction bolus and saw that I was 120 mg/dL! (So much for the insulin being bad.) So I quickly scarfed down some cereal between putting on my blush and mascara. (Don't worry, I totally didn't try to eat my mascara brush and put the spoon to my eye. Nope, nuh uh.) Things seemed to have settled out now. I'm currently 99 mg/dL with a straight arrow. But I did delay leaving for work for 20 minutes to make sure I didn't crash.
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| I'm ready to get off. |
I'm so exhausted after these last 24 hours, and all I've done is live my life! Most roller coasters are fun, but sometimes I need a break. Now, where's the funnel cake stand?
Ahhhh I know the feeling all too well... your comment on being exhausted from just living life really hit home. I hear ya!!! I too have been having a real bear of a time with bedtime blood sugars. I tweak the basal and I'm in range. Next night I'm peaking to 300. I tweak again. Next night I wake up 4-5 times with lows. Next night I'm okay. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd how am I supposed to know if the high in the middle of the night is delayed response to something I ate, or basal issue? I never have issues with delayed responses during the day so I don't know why my dinners would be any different. AHH I'm exhausted just from leaving this comment.... hahahah
I wrote this for another blog but I think it could help here. The key might be in knowing which sites work the fastest and which work the slowest. I just had to pull a site that I put in after 24 hours. It was the last of the insulin and in a site which I now know has "slowed down". After a miserable 24 hours I changed it out. I should have done it sooner. I usually can tell within 6 hours.
ReplyDeleteI think I've managed a routine that works for me based on these principals that I have discovered about my body.
I rotate my sites based upon the age of the insulin bottle. A new bottle is more potent so I place those first two "pulls" from that bottle into my slowest site, ie Arms. Then I place the next one in my leg or backside. The final pulls from the bottle go in my abdomen which is my fastest site and at that time the insulin in the bottle is the oldest and less potent. I don't think your insulin goes bad at the end but is less potent.
I also gently rotate the bottle in my hand before I pull insuiln out of it. This helps the particles of insulin to mix more evenly. Sometimes at the end of a bottle I will get a really aggressive site and that is because the last of the insulin has more "particles" in it.
hth
Ressy
Ah, glucoasters. What fun they are. Good luck leveling off, and hope the coaster rides aren't as regular down the road.
ReplyDelete