Too Many Lows - Help

[morethanyouknow]

Hello All,

I'm confused, can anyone shed some light?

Friends Back Ground -

Gestational during pregnancy 2 years ago
Immediately developed Type 1 after pregnancy
Using insulin pump to maintain

We spent the past four days together, she’s had 6 lows.

The ones I was there for were 53, 62, 31, 51

She hasn't been doing anything different, It's almost like the insulin is more potent or she started making some of her own. Can that happen? Can your pancreas just start working for a week at a time? Has anyone else had this kind of experience?

By the way, she’s going to see the MD. I'm just the concerned friend.

Thank you!

[Emm]

Nice of you to be concerned about your friend :)

Lows are unavoidable to some degree, but 6 is a few too many in a short space of time...

Does your friend know how to adjust her own insulin? Doctors are all fine & dandy, but a diabetic has to be in control themselves as changes are always happening.

Lots of things can affect our blood sugars:
Maybe she's had a busy time lately, thus the body is getting more exercise and helping her to absorb the insulin?

Has she been ill, maybe needed more insulin but recovered and now needs less? Illness can also make us need less, but I think that's a lot less common.

Periods & menopause can affect BGs sometimes to a stupid degree, sometimes causing changes daily.

Has she started on new medication, or recently gone off medication? Lots of meds can affect BGs and insulin absorbtion.

Has she lost any weight lately? If she has any insulin resistance (maybe not since she's a type 1, but still quite possible) then weight loss can make a difference to the amount of insulin needed.

Has she made any diet changes? Specifically with her carbohydrate intake?

Could she still be in the honeymoon period? (the pancreas often dies out in fits & starts, can kick in for a while to confuse things then die off again and leave us wondering what the heck happened...)

I could probably go on for ages, there are so many things that make a difference to BG levels, some of us never know with certainty where we are or what our correct doses should be!

Please note... lows over 55 aren't anything to worry about UNLESS she isn't noticing them (hypo unawareness). We try to avoid them, but diabetes is all about balance and is all together too much maths & a good dose of guess work. Lows happen. So long as they're caught and dealt to they don't need to be a big deal. Lows under 55 don't have to be a problem either, but can be... depends on the person and their awareness & willingness to cope with the problem. I am not saying that her lows are acceptable - just that they don't have to be a big issue, so long as she's working on it.

It's good she's seeing her doc - hope he/she knows what they're doing and is able to help her :)

Any chance she could come on here? DF is a brilliant place for diabetics to share issues and learn a heap more than any doc or endo could ever tell us.

[marked]

I don't know if this is the case for your friend but I have discovered my culprit in having lows, The inhaler has made this pretty clear. I think there can a tendancy to over dose by a unit or two when injecting or.I never would of thought that this is likely true. Denial is wonderful thing.! With the inhaled insulin there is it seems to level out my BS's in the higher range of normal , some 140's but few lows. If give up on this thing (because it is very humbug)I would dose down in my future injections.
Also I think that the body likes the lows better than the highs, physiologically speaking.
Mark

[DeusXM]

Insulin requirements will fluctuate all the time. What worked fine one day will almost certainly not work for the next day. Almost anything can affect insulin requirements - temperature, time of year, how recently you exercised, illness, stress, the orbital positions of the moons of Saturn...

Your friend 'simply' needs to take less insulin.

[mcneely]

Insulin requirements will fluctuate all the time. What worked fine one day will almost certainly not work for the next day. Almost anything can affect insulin requirements - temperature, time of year, how recently you exercised, illness, stress, the orbital positions of the moons of Saturn...

Your friend 'simply' needs to take less insulin.

Well, don't know about the moons of Saturn thing, but deusxm is right, many things will affect how much/little insulin is needed.

It sounds like to me her bolus or correction rations need to be adjusted. And, 6 lows in a week is not that bad. I get low almost daily. Keep in mind, a meter can be 20% off, plus or minus. If I were her I would keep a bottle of coke or juice nearby, esp when driving or out and about.

[glashalful]

I think sometimes I hit bad sites and will have three days of highs, then the next site goes in, and I'll have three days of crazy lows! Could be a possibility.