My first semester at Darden is finally over so now I have a chance to focus on my internship search, marathon training and diabetes. Last week was hell with 5 consecutive days of 5 hour exams; not a good time by anyone's calculations but thankfully the stress didn't throw my blood sugars out of whack as they were kept pretty steady over those 5 days. However, in general I've been having a much harder time locking in my basal rates.
Over the past three months I've been playing with my basal rates on a near weekly basis; while getting my blood sugars to spike prior to a workout has been much easier. I'm pretty sure the honeymoon is over and the fight in my last islet cell has been won by diabetes. In a way that will make life easier in terms of knowing how my body will react to exercise, food and basal rates. But in another way that kind of sucks since there was a time period when I could eat pizza with just a moderate bolus.
I've been working out consistently for the past two and 1/2 weeks but have not had the reduction in basal rates that I expected. I have encountered more lows over that period than I had when exercise was less consistent due to class work but I still haven't had the blood sugar reactions I expected. Although it does seem like the overall trend in my basal rates is changing; at night I've had to increase my basal rate by a huge amount as I woke up a few nights it a row with blood sugars above 300 at 4 am; but then I would hit consistent lows around 11 am. To get all this corrected I'm going to have to keep detailed notes over the next few weeks to identify the trend and figure out exactly when my basal rate errors are occurring - consistency is the key and I just need to get back to that.
5 comments:
I found that triathlon training--and, in particular, Ironman training--brought my insulin needs down significantly more that marathon training. I think the cumulative effect of all the cross-training really boosts insulin sensitivity.
Sometimes I think my honeymoon period lasted for about 4-5 years, but it's hard to say because I entered college after 4 years and things got difficult mostly because of my erratic schedule.
I'm glad that you are having fewer exercise lows but understand how constantly changing basal rate needs can be challenging.
Congrats on finishing up your first semester!!!
-Anne
My diabetes educator says that when you start waking up high, that means your body is not longer able to keep you steady with no variables (food and exercise) and that usually means your honeymoon is over. You've had diabetes for awhile and I don't know that many people who have their honeymoon longer than a year. Most people think when they have a few good numbers that means they still have their honeymoon, but honestly, if you're 300 at 4 a.m., your honeymoon has been long gone...
Oh, and nothing about diabetes is predicatable. Your honeymoon being over does not mean all your basal and bolus rates will suddenly stabilize. You'll be making changes pretty much forever.
Also, since you've started school and aren't training as much, that might have something to do with why you need more insulin than before and why you've had such a hard time with your basal rates. Of course, you might not have a problem with your basal rate - it could be your bolus ratios. Timing is key in figuring that stuff out. It's usually not one or the other.
Wishing you the best as you work through it all. Consistency can be an elusive thing in life! :-)
grrr my blog post was deleted. it's a good thing i am providing you with 4am wake up calls to check your BS :) no more mellow mushroom or dark beers for you!
you can live normal life with diabetes , all you need to do is follow doctor's recommendations and fight with it darely
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