Can any woman out there help me?

[barbieguy]

Hi. Recently diagnosed T2.
This week is PMS week! I am very, very hungry. This is a norm for me. I am 45 and going thru peri-menopause too! The hormonal changes make me hungry and sometimes crabby and tired.
This is my first monthly cycle being diagnosed. Just wondering if my blood glucose readings will be different?
Can any women shed any light on this?
Thanks,
Barb

[sweetcheeks]

some women have a problem.... i have had three periods since diagnosis.... and i havnt seen a problem myself

i have heard of lots of others with problems

[tanyatype1]

My bg usually goes up for a couple days beforehand - I seem to be constantly doing correction boluses. Frustrating because I'm not super regular so I don't know exactly when it's coming. I see the high numbers that seem to come from no-where and I think, hmmmmm.....is my time of the month coming, or is something wrong with my pump-site, or an air bubble in the tubing, or am I coming down with something, am I stressed and don't realize it?????????? Soooooo many variables!!!! BUT.....you might be totally fine and not have higher blood sugar! Will have to wait and find out. You could try to keep a journal tracking your numbers to see if you find a correlation after a few months. Good luck to you!:)

[Emm]

My BG is always a little bit higher around that time of the month. I add an extra unit to my Lantus for a few days, and end up using more Novorapid at meal times too.

That's even if I DON'T give in to my cravings!! When I do (and ******, ya have to...) I just try to keep jabbing to keep up with it, and I try NOT to eat too much in the evenings because it's so much harder to keep track of junk food carb levels vs insulin, and overnight lows OR highs SUCK big time! (of course, the evenings are when I'm most likely to crave that **** food.. typical isn't it?)

[princesslinda]

I'm about your age and have had 5 cycles so far since diagnosis. I have noticed that my levels go up just a few points around the time of my period. I, too, have problems with being esp. hungry around that time....it's harder now, not being able to eat lots of chocolate for that first few days. I have found that the jello s/f chocolate fudge pudding with almonds sprinkled on top is a great substitute when you HAVE to have something sweet. You can also make and freeze in paper cups with a spoon inserted and have a nice pudding pop as well.

I'm thinking the BS levels go up around that time due to stress levels being up...we are at that lovely perimenopausal age:wink:

[mommaterra]

I have never had any particular cravings, although in higher-carb periods I did eat more bulk of food before satiety. All this is intro to say my mileage is a bit weird. I used to gain weight every winter before any increase in appetite, and lose in spring before any decrease ... until my body adjusted to a milder climate, which took almost a decade. In my experience, caloric intake doesn't have much meaning, but bodily adjustments and hormones definitely do.

Along came diabetes dx, almost 10 years ago, and with it I found BG changes that accompanied menses exactly -- I'd be up 10 points (mg/dl) and then my period would start and I'd drop 15, edging up over the next three weeks. I was still very regular, but if delayed, my BG would increase a bit until I finally started flow. No cravings, but BGs that had nothing to do with intake and everything, apparently, with hormones.

A bit over a year ago, going into the tail end of menopausal changes, my BGs got really weird, and I was all over the map from 80 to 175 for no known reason. I stopped most testing because I was freaking over 130s and bumping them up to 150s. I hoped it would be a quick transition, and then I could resume my usual pattern of frequent testing. My A1c was up to 6.2 eleven months ago, which I hoped I could endure for a short while.

Things seemed to have calmed down (fewer and less intense power surges), so I went in for another A1c. It was 9.4! Had I known this was going to happen, 20-20 hindsight here, I would have done back then what I knew worked -- cut carbs to a carefully-measured <30g per day, pored over the B Book, launched into a solid exercise program, and considered whatever drugs might be useful to get me through that time. I actually did just that -- but a full year later, and I have endured BGs in the mid-200 range for an extended timeframe. Hope some of this may be useful (and that your ride will be easier!). --diana

[princesslinda]

Diana:
Thanks for the info...sorry you're having such a rough time with A1Cs.

I have recently read the Bernstein book and am really trying to keep the carbs down (though i've not made it to just 30/day yet). I admire the way you can stick to it. I'd love to hear some of your daily meals plans.(I know this is off-topic, so you could PM me if you have time). I'm a picky eater (hard when you've got the big-D) and don't know how I could manage with the allowed foods...but results seem to be good, esp with Mark-Tn.

Anyway...it's good to know other women out there have noticed the same elevations at that time of month. HOpe you can get things under control with your A1C.
Linda

[grace girl]

I am usually higher the week before my cycle, then lower than normal the week of. If the pms symptoms are worse in a given month, my numbers go even higher. It's a total pain! Sometimes the extra insulin doesn't seem to help, and I suspect that insulin resistance is higher during that time. The only thing I've found that really helps is extra exercise during that time.