Last week's schedule was all over the place. I didn't have my usual class times, my tests were at very abnormal times for me, and I just wasn't home very much. And my logbook shows the effects of that lack of schedule.
My averages bounced from 103 to 246...not so steady of a pattern. And my daily blood sugar checks ranged from two checks to four...my average is five per day. On top of all that, my food patterns were really all over the place, waiting until 3pm to even eat or eating in the middle of the night on several occasions.
It really bothers me how necessary a schedule is for my body. I'm not an 8 to 5 kind of girl. I like to sleep in if I can. I don't want to eat if I'm not hungry. I generally hate doing the same thing every day. But with diabetes, it's hard to manage a life like that without totally wreaking havoc on my blood sugars.
That logbook is enough evidence that a schedule is necessary for good control. The weeks where I'm keeping that kind of situation, my blood sugars are in prime range. But the weeks like this last one, they bounce all over the place. And it really isn't about a base-line number.
Those basal rates are nearly perfect. I'm waking up at numbers like 100, 128, or 140. Perfect for me. And the days that I continue without eating much, the base rate holds steady sticking from numbers like 133 to 128 over a five hour window.
It's just the food interference that throws my numbers for a loop. I eat more than I account for, I misjudge how much honey (a favorite breakfast treat) affects my blood sugars, or the Humalog just doesn't last long enough in my system.
One major issue is that a lot of my insulin dosages are total guess work. I don't pull out a calculator and tally the insulin to carb factor. I just tally it roughly in my head and give what I think fits. Generally, this works. But it's these random times that throw me into a 274 or 289 tailspin.
The frustrating thing is that I know exactly what I need to be doing. I need to carry my pump around and become religious about using the bolus wizard (or find some sort of program on my phone to do it). I need to fine-tune that bolus rate so that I know what works for which foods and what doesn't (like accounting for the honey). And I need to fill my Symlin prescription and try that.
I'm working on one last major school assignment (a 10 page research paper) until Monday. So I'm letting myself slide until then. But Monday, I plan to ingrain these insulin to carb habits in my system. Calculating isn't that hard, just time-consuming throughout my day. So it's a matter of biting the bullet and knowing that my averages will fall if I can get that portion of diabetes right.
Once I get the ratio set, maybe I'll be able to more readily calculate my insulin amounts (after all, I've made it habit for 1:15 and 1:10 over the past several years). Maybe eating won't be such a chore then. Of course, once I get the carb ratio set, I'll be changing it once I start Symlin...but I can't do one without the other so this is just something I'm going to have to endure.
I just pray it really works.
