As I looked at my averages last night in preparation for my Friday endo check-up, I couldn't help but complain to myself that there is no pattern. Every day is different, often drastically so. I can't find any constant area. There aren't variables causing these random shifts, at least not to the naked eye.

First, there's my morning blood sugars. Sometimes I wake up low even after a bedtime snack with no bolus. And sometimes I wake up in the 200 or 300 range with no apparent cause. Because of my history of seizures and severe lows, I lean towards the lows though. At this point in my life, I'd rather wake up 300 occasionally instead of trying to raise my insulin to counteract those highs.

After breakfast, there is obviously a pattern. I run high, no matter how much bolus I give up front before or after breakfast. It never fails that I hit the 180 mark and often keep soaring. That's something I really hope to take care of with Symlin. It'd be nice to get that area worked out.

The mid-afternoon and evening looks about the same as the overnight and morning blood sugars. They bounce around. I've forgotten my Lantus before and ended up low for hours. And I've taken my Lantus and ended up soaring into the 200's. No constants, no shifting variables that I can see. Nothing to set me off that A is causing B.

Day to day, my averages range from 128 to 248 to 171 all in a week. Nothing constant about that. And not so accurate when it comes to averages. After all, a mix of severe lows and highs isn't my idea of diabetes being under control.

So what can I change to make this a little more constant? Is there anything? Or am I destined to have no patterns for the rest of my diabetes life?

My first idea was: PUMP. But then I followed that with "Your A1c is lower on Lantus (or has been) and the pump still didn't resolve this lack of pattern issue." So my second idea is to change my Lantus dosage.

Right now, I have my Lantus doses split (something I did back in 2007 that drastically lowered my A1c): 14 units in the AM and 15 units in the PM. The problem is that my schedule changes every single day. Sometimes I wake up at 8am and sometimes I wake up at 11am, depending on how busy the night before was and what time my classes start. So these changing times mean that my Lantus is usually not at the same time. Sometimes I forget the AM dose altogether.

So I've decided to try one Lantus shot, instead of the split doses. I've already skipped my AM Lantus dose and tonight I'll be taking 22 units of Lantus at about 8pm (the time I've decided to take my birth control pill). There's an alarm set on my phone and since I'm taking the pill at the same time, it should be easy to remember that I need a Lantus dose as well.

If you're wondering why I've decided to cut my Lantus down from 29 total units to the 22, here's your answer: fear of night lows. So I'm starting a bit low, willing to run a little high, and avoiding a nasty low overnight (hopefully). Moving it to 8pm is also to coincide with those night lows. Lantus tends to peak for me about 4-6 hours after the injection, so that gives me a longer range of being awake and getting a low than going to sleep and not waking up again.

I really hope this works. Because if it doesn't, I might have to resort back to the pump for at least the next year until my schedule straightens out. That idea does not sit well with me at the moment.