i know the feeling, i have just thrown my hands up in the air in frustration…..for some reason lately im waking up high in the morning between 9 – 13mmol….i have tested at 2 am to see if maybe im going low in the night then releasing glucose to counter act, but no. Then just to confuse me totally i give myself my usual insulin with breakfast plus correction and test after 2 hours and im high, then i drop rapidly in an hour and end up hypo…..im at a loss :S

The other day I took an over-the-counter cold preparation – and of course I should not have – it not only played havoc with my blood-sugars – 23 mmol/l but upset my pulse as well. I just had to lie down for a while until I came right. The mucking around with testing/correcting seems such a hit and miss affair – trying to avoid the inevitable ‘crash’ – it must be something to do with the insulin sensitivity factor – and mine is different at different times of the day.
However, I have another point to make and that is having fasting tests done at the lab. I know there are various reasons why this is required, but if it is for measuring cholesterol levels, then it is not necessary. I know some doctors insist, but if you ask them to look in the pharmaceutical schedule on the page where the anti-cholesterol drugs are listed it says quite clearly that people on insulin do not need to have fasting tests done. My specialist always writes ‘non-fasting’ on the form. My GP always writes ‘fasting’ which I duly cross off and go when I feel like it.
I feel it is a down-right dangerous practice – especially if one has to drive a considerable distance, wait at the lab, and then go home again. My tuppence worth!

Nic, it sounds like your liver decided to come to the party and mess your day up.
I currently have a head cold – and had to work for 4 days with it (an overseas supplier was with me doing training – so I had to be alive and present – I put the pump to 120% then when I started the coldral went to 130% – it’s been pretty good D wise considering!
I am loving the basal rate increase feature for this sort of thing.

I feel for you Nic – those days are the pits. Once your sugars are out of kilter like that it seems you spend the rest of the day yo-yo-ing to try and get back under control. Beter luck tomorrow!

Like Kathy I never get non-fasting tests done unless I absolutely can’t avoid it.

Ugh I hate that. I woke up with a random high of 20 the other day for absolutely no reason I can think of! I haven’t had a number like that for at least 2 years.
I also woke up in the middle of the night a few weeks ago with a low of 1.7! I haven’t had a number like that for at least 10 years!

Hi Kathy. Would your sensitivity be the same as absorbency? I am a believer in the vairibles of insulin absorbency with MDI per shot and I also believe that seasonal changes aggravate this. Add in the complexities of the female body and well?

I saw in a book on pumping that using MDI, about 73% of the first shot of a day was absorbed and about 43% of the next one, but it didn’t cover any more, or give any details, which was a bit daft.
I can’t recall how much better a pump would do, but it was a lot.

I had a touch of the flu, partner went and bought me throat lozenges and they weren’t sugar free but they help with the raspy throat. I had some highs and didn’t include the extra exercise or insulin after the lozenges absorbed in my system.

Oh my G………………….. there is so much to think about with type 1

Sore throat gone by Thursday but I had an art opening to go to. Left after work and went straight to the gallery and got sidetracked with the interesting art and people that I forgot to eat a form of dinner prior to the event and forgot to do my 6.pm injection. Tested at 8pm and I was 22! Freak me out! had the injection and ate pasta and meat for my dinner and felt it was too early to have night time insulin which is 9pm. Night time insulin taken at 11pm. Woke up this morning and BG was 23. OMG!!! What a pain all that was these past 3 days.

I will never skip my dinner insulin or forget to eat when I’m about to go out for the evening.

Today is back to normal BG routine levels for me.

Look out for the sugar free sore throat lozenges at a pharmacy near you.

Tania

oh 1.7 is very low. I’m shaking and have blurry vision at 3.

Roy – I guess it is the same thing – I have the pump set at 3 different ISF rates through the day – I need more per 10g of CHO at breakfast time, much less at lunch and a little more for the dinner-time dose.
BUT I forgot my breakfast basal today – had a houseful of rellies visiting so well out of routine and by the time I got round to feeding myself – having taken my bg reading some time prior to this – just plain forgot – and then I didn’t test again until lunchtime – big shock. Up to 21 + but it is back down again now to 6.5 , so I’m happy with that and haven’t had a crash this time. I guess the reason for the spike may have something to do with how well it comes down.

My specialist has told me not to do fasting blood tests either and my GP agrees. They always ask if I’ve eaten at Labtests but never question it. Much safer! My little girl is 2 and fascinated when I have blood tests. She watches very carefully and likes to put the plaster on. She loves watching my injections too but thinks I’m getting blood! When she gets hurt she says “need blood Mamma” and isn’t happy until I pretend to give her some!

Thanks for all your comments everyone – always good to know you’re not alone in this crazy and unpredictable condition, and Tania – you are right – there is always soooo much to think about.

Re: fasting blood tests – you all raise some interesting points. On a pump though it shouldn’t make any difference – if you have your basals set correctly your levels should just sit steady – guess mine aren’t completely right at the moment!

Thanks Kathy. The reason I asked. When fast acting insulin first appeared in the trenches, a collogue could hypo on two units (syringes, couldn’t take one and why bother?), and they were decleard insulin senstive; although, they never had to stop using it. I have always followed the line of absorbency, as I would never want to be without the free choice use of separate fast acting rather than having to switch to something like the pen mix types, not used that much these days for T1 I believe.

Reading all the settings you pump folk use to maintain control, it is a tad difficult to relate this to the official line that pumps, are just an expensive fancy treatment to MDI, hmm?