Sunday, March 6, 2011

The cereal spike

I am finally coming to the realization that I have to do something different with my insulin when it comes to eating cereal. This morning, my sensor woke me up twice, alerting me to a low. My # was dropping, but steadily. I woke up to an 89 with an arrow down, so I ate a couple glucose tabs, lowered basal for a bit, then went back to sleep. Woke up a little later with a 90...success!

Put my basal back to the regular .70, and then decided to eat cereal and make a latte. The meal was around 53 carbs, so I bolused, then waited about 10 min to eat. I think I should have waited longer or maybe I need to change my ratio? Maybe I didn't need to lower my basal like that since I was planning on eating soon after waking up? Either way, I didn't do it right because it's an hour later and my sensor started showing double arrows up. 200 went to mid 200s, then to low 300s, then to mid 300s. As soon as I saw the double arrows, I checked my BG, and my reading was actually 20 pts higher than my sensor. OK, this means I need to take action. Insulin correction on its way! Still seems to be going up so I bolus a little more....sensor now reads 355 but only 1 arrow up. Ugh. I hate hate HATE going from being 80ish in the morning to over 300 in only a couple hours. It always feels like I'm doing so much damage to my body.

Cereal is a hard one for me...I generally eat a cereal with a lower carb amount, but it doesn't seem to matter....my BG spikes every time. I think I need to wait longer...maybe 20 minutes? I used to never wait for the insulin to kick in before a meal, but now I'm finding that waiting 15 minutes really helps even out my level as it rises.

It's funny how a success can turn into a failure real fast. I just have to not let it ruin my mood!

4 comments:

  1. You are doing an excellent job taking care of yourself. Attentiveness is a success, not a failure. It looks as though you enjoy the monitor? My son has problems with cereal too. Since his Dad was diagnosed with Crohns Disease, we eat a lot more oatmeal.

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  2. Funny...Joe's numbers do better with cereal off and on. He eats only one type though - Honey Nut Cheerios. I admire your attention to detail Val.

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  3. My 6 yr old son gets a huge spike with cereal....we've tried limiting the amount, adding proteins, pre-bolusing, increased temp basals, you name it, we've tried it. Endo finally said, it is just what his body does and since he comes back into range (plummets is more like it) and his a1c is good, no need to worry (but I do) Wish it was easier.

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  4. Thanks, Shannon! Oatmeal always works well for me as far as stable blood sugar numbers go. I am enjoying the monitor so far, but I am still treating it like a "new friend," so I can just take things as they come and not stress too much about what it all means.

    Denise- that's interesting to hear. It's hard not to worry! My high fell back into range pretty quickly...I think the small amount of extra insulin and walking around at the grocery store helped bring it down. I'm glad I wasn't in the high range for long, but I still don't like hitting those #s!

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