Thursday, March 10, 2011

I don't understand you!

I've been silently screaming this at diabetes all day.

I decided to eat oatmeal this morning because I haven't had it in a while and I can usually count on stable blood sugar levels 2 hours later. I bolused early and even ate my breakfast veeeery slowly while browsing blogs. I had woken up with a 90ish and noticed my BG went up about 20 points while showering. I used to bolus for lost time but I don't really do that anymore...should I? Does my body get slowly resistant in the morning and I need more insulin? So I check my BG before I get in the car to drive to work...250. I am HATING on spikes. I decided to wait it out because I had enough insulin in my system. Sure enough, within 2 hours, it came down to 125. I was happy about that, but I don't understand the huge spike. It makes me feel like I don't know what the eff I am doing.

Then, during the end of a meeting today, my sensor started vibrating. I look at my pump and it says "sensor end." They told me I could wear my sensor for up to 5-7 days if it was still accurate. Well, the last two times I've put in a new sensor it was because the sensor ended after exactly 3 days. My CDE told me to disconnect the sensor, connect it again, then see if it works. It wouldn't find it or reconnect to the old, so I had to choose "add new sensor" and of course then it has to warm up for a couple hours before it kicks in and gives a reading. Switching out the sensor doesn't bug me...it bugs me that I have to wait a couple hours for it to start again. I don't understand why it's ending after exactly 3 days...does it know the FDA rule or something?! They shouldn't always end after 3 days, right?! Is this just a fluke?

Dinner time at my parent's house was fun. My brother, sister-in-law and 1 year old nephew came over and it was great seeing them. I know everyone says this, but I really do have the best and cutest nephew in the world! He is such an awesome kid, and it's been so fun watching him grow up and learn new things. My sensor showed I was at 100ish and dropping so I waited to bolus, which may have been a mistake. I ended up going high a couple hours after dinner...and as I was driving home, it apparently started to go up quickly. All of a sudden it showed that I was in the high 200s with double arrows up...craaaap. I checked my # and it said 220. OK, not too terrible...I will just do a little bolus and check back. I felt a little funny half an hour later so I decided to test and the meter read 118. What?! I was half a second from pounding my cran-raspberry juice when the logical part of my brain kicked in and told me there is no possible way it dropped so much so soon. I decided to re-test and the re-test showed 278. Ummm, awesome. I love getting such a huge variance like that! Obviously my sensor had been right and I was rising fast. Bolus, bolus, bolus. An hour later and my # started to drop with 2 arrows down while I was in the shower, but now it shows a steady high and an arrow up. What?! I don't understand!

Good. Bad. Really good. Really bad. With diabetes, they always talk about the risks--possible health complications, etc. But, they don't mention that those numbers can bring you from a high to a low mood within seconds. I feel like I have been pumping my body with extra insulin for the last 2 hours and it doesn't seem to be doing a thing except keeping it from going even higher than it already is. I wouldn't say I'm in a bad mood, but I'm not in the cheeriest mood either. It frustrates me that the stuff I pay money for doesn't always work or isn't always accurate. It frustrates me that I can't figure out my highs. It frustrates me that one bad number can put me in a bad mood.

9 comments:

  1. WOAH! CrAzY variance there...as if this crazy mess isn't crazy enough!

    We've experimented with the Super Bolus
    http://www.candyheartsblog.com/2011/01/super-bolus.html

    It was all good for a bit, but I have mixed reviews at this point.

    Lately, I've been trying what I'd like to call RageBasal -- I haven't blogged it, but have heard success stories (and saw the Dex to prove it!) from Laura (Houston We Have A Problem). Basically, I double her basal one hour before she eats breakfast and make sure she gets a 15 min prebolus. Postprandial numbers are coming in nicely, but she's been on a Dex break so I don't know the whole story -- that changes tomorrow since we put a new sensor on tonight ;)

    RageBasal is a little scary though, because we MUST make sure she eats on time - OR - make sure that we change her basal back on Friday night.

    Anyway, just a few thoughts :)

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  2. im excited about CGM, they are super expensive here and not really in common use. wonder whether you can really ever test enough to know whats going on?

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  3. Hi Val:
    Sometimes it's probably better not to know what's going on, ie CGM data! IT can make you crazy when you see all that stuff going on that you never expected was happening...

    It's funny though-- even when the cgm is not accurate, I still am so happy to have it! I love it so much when it's actually working...

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  4. it makes me mad that one number can throw my whole day off too. Then i'm mad BECAUSE i'm mad... never ending cycle.

    Here's to a happy Friday and an even better weekend :)

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  5. Thanks for your comment! I'm happy to "meet" you!

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  6. UGH! I had one of those up and down days with my daughters BG #'s the other day too...beyond frustrating! I hope things smooth out for ya very soon!! :o)

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  7. @Wendy- that does sound a little scary, but I might try increasing my basal a bit when I eat to see if that helps. I've also been trying to wait at least 15 min to eat which seems to help a little so far.

    @Roselady- Yes! Even when it's not accurate, I still love it. It has been pretty accurate for me, and when it is way off, it seems to get back on target within an hour. The arrows up seem to be more in line with what my meter says. The down arrows and predictive low alerts don't seem to be as on. It wakes me up every night with a low alert when really I am in the 120-130 range.

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  8. Those differences in numbers can make you want to scream sometimes! But I'm like you, even when it's not accurate, I still love it!!

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  9. I'm on the MM sensor occationally too. They are still set to expire after 3 days as per the old "regulations". I'm pretty sure the FDA approved 6-day use not too too long ago. Either way, when the sensor ends, just go in and select "start new sensor" right away. It will ask for a BG within 5 or 10 minutes but then picks up right where it left off. It won't make you wait the 3 hours. At least that's how its worked for me all this time.

    I am currently wearing a sensor and I'm on day 8.

    P.S. Nice finding you!

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