[sarah91]

Glad to hear your getting the hang of things. In your original post you asked for any pregnancy stories. Mine is an emotional one but I hope it relays to you haow important it is for you to have the best control possible before attempting to get pregnant.
Four yrs ago I was an ok diabetic but probably not the best I could have been. I was suffering with depression but getting better, I fell pregnant whilst on holiday. My boyfriemd and I were over the moon. I had severe morning sickness for the first 3 months and I used to walk home with a plastic bag in my hands as I would be sick as I was walking home it was that bad! At 16 weeks my waters broke and I spent the next 2 months lying on my back as much as possible to keep as much of the remaining water with the baby. At 24 weeks I went into labour and unfortunately gave birth to a stillborn baby girl who we named Abigail. Since then I have not had a period, have been diagnosed with pcos and have
not ovulated. I have seen a counsellor who thinks that because of the traumatic experience I had my body has shut down and will not return to normal until I have grieved properly and sorted myself out physically and mentally.
I don't mean to scare you but it is incredibly important that you are in the best condition possible so you and your baby can be as healthy as possible.

Good luck and let me know how you are getting on

Sarah

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by kribou

... i'm back up again.....but this time to 13-14 in the am and now back to 4-9 the rest of the day! ...

When do take the Levimer? If it is in the morning, you are probably running out of insulin during the night. This would explain your high morning numbers - Levimer only lasts about 18 hours. Alternatively, you could deal with the morning rise by having some NPH before going to bed.

[JJM335]

Kribou:

For most (if not all) T1's, Levemir is certainly not a once-daily insulin. The emc website has some information which indicates once daily in conjunction with oral agents (i.e. for T2's) or once or twice daily as part of a basal-bolus regime

Levemir Cartridge 100 U/ml, Levemir Pre-filled Pen 100 U/ml , SPC from the eMC

If you look at the action curve (which I have attached) you can see that at at low or moderate doses, it is not even a 12 hour insulin. I tried a switch from Lantus (again twice daily) to Levemir and found that I couldn't even get the Levemir to last for 12 hours. Of course everyone seems to react differently and some T1's love Levemir.

My (entirely personal) take on the Lantus/weight gain thing is that it is a bit of a red herring. The "problem" with Lantus is that it is very very easy to take too much - you then end up having to eat more to keep up with your insulin. Worse, as you increase your dose, you start to become less insulin sensitive and you then need even more - this leads to a vicious circle.

If you have your basals set properly you should not be covering ANY of your food with the Lantus, that's the job of your bolus. Getting a correct basal dose requires work, time and a lot of testing but it is worthwhile and if you are serious about better numbers I would recommend you do this regardless of whether you use Levemir or Lantus. IMHO correct basals are the KEY to good control.

A good description of how to do this can be found in two books (both available through Amazon.co.uk):

Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner
Using Insulin by John Walsh

Alternatively, you could talk to your Doctor about going onto a DAFNE course.

Joel

[steph1]

Hi There,

I am also a Type 1 and had a A1C at 7.1 and was given the ok to get pregnant. The great news is that I have a HEALTHY and beautiful daughter who is super strong and has had NO issues (and hopefully never will). I struggled with many lows and highs during my pregnancy (particularily lows due to the hormones). I was monitored very closely (weekly) and tried to eat well and exercise (particularily walking daily).
I was on Lantus during the pregnancy (because my doctor wasn't comfortable yet with Levemir).
Since having the baby (she is now 8 months old), I have switched to Levemir and also had to split my doses to avoid lows. I have now just been diagnosed with pcos...so I am seeking help with that. It is tough, but all you can do is work closely with your Doctors, eat well and do your best. I was SO nervous about the baby's health, but they are resilient and eating and exercise go along way. Good Luck!

Steph