Someone should have taken a picture: my dad and I checking our sugar roughly two hours after we ate Thanksgiving. He: 114. Me: 86.
"You must have overestimated your insulin," Mom said.
"Yes, but I'll spike later," I said.
Sure enough, an hour later I was 206. Would have been nice to have had a CGMS on my side for Thanksgiving. Between the smooth mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake Thursday was not only a carb fest but a complex-carb fest leaving me hanging out in the upper 200s for most of the Thanksgiving evening no matter how much insulin I doled out (actually, I listened to my pump's recommendations in an effort to avoid a low).
Since we typically eat around 2 p.m., I am usually ready for a big snack around 8 p.m. I didn't eat anything, though, that night since I was still close to 200 around bedtime. Fortunately, the slow-digesting carbs were out of my system by morning and I woke Friday in the 80s.
This really just reinforced how much I want a CGMS. I know in the past I've said that it would be beneficial to head off lows, but I realized on Thursday how great it would be to deal with the highs that come from resistance. Or the highs that come out of nowhere. In some cases I seem to spike around three hours. So I can check my sugar after lunch or after a snack on my way home and be in an OK place and still have active insulin and an hour later when I get home I'm high and have no active insulin.
I've gotten better about checking my sugar lately. In fact, tonight I was counting the number of daily checks I've had over the last few days and I'm really proud of myself. I want to be better, though. I want to be able to react to highs or lows in the process, not deal with them after the fact.
I got fairly obsessive with checking my sugar Thursday evening. I was checking roughly every 15 to 30 minutes and making corrections based on the number and what my pump recommended. It would have been much nicer to be able to watch my numbers fluctuate on a Dexcom screen instead of worsening the calouses on my fingers.
I hear that. I got stuck in the mid-200s for like a day and a half. AND I skipped the desserts! Hopefully one day, insurance companies will approve CGMS coverage for diabetics other than those are trying to get pregnant, or with a history of hypoglycemia unawareness and debilitating lows. One day soon, it'll be standard issue for all of us. Hopefully.
Have you tried the square wave and/or dual wave features on your pump? You can use them when you eat a high fat meal to control the low and then subsequent high blood sugars you describe. The temporary basal rate is also an option for those holidays with big meals and little activity. And then there is the old- fashioned walk to deal with insulin resistance. Though a CGMS would be nice, there is plenty you can do with the tools provided on your pump. A CGMS is not going to solve your problems magically.
Yes, I had that problem on Thanksgiving,only mine went HIGH (400) after breakfast!!! I had a small breakfast, but apparently the insulin didn't absorb right. So, my 3:00 p.m. dinner was low on the carbs and left me rather short tempered.
I had injected additional insulin all day, but it still hung out in the 200's.
I am still 5 or 6 pounds below what my doctor wants my weight to read.
I used to be on the pump but not very controlled at that.
I overcompensated with the 13 settings and the micro measures so that either too many lows.
I think that the CGMS would be heavenly.
My blood sugar pattern is also the same. I can be perfect at lunch, a little lower ok at 3p.m. and over 200 at 5:30 (having not EATEN ANYTHING)
A CGMS would be a big help , if only to monitor my sugars
more .