Diabetes curveballs

[mazea]

It's been one of those weeks. To give you a background, I am a type 1.5 and go through remission depletion cycles every 4 weeks and am sensitive to insulin, diagnosed 13 months ago with type 1 and I am 5 months pregnant expecting a gergeous baby boy in October. Last week started off with me taking 1 1/4 units Levemir in the morning and 1 1/2 units of Levemir in the afternoon last Tuesday. This insulin need has been rising erratically over the the last week to this Tuesay. But it's been a guessing game as to how much insulin to take each day for the last week. Some days I've gone up by 3/4 unit Levemir in the morning and 1 / 1/2 units of Levemir in the afternoon. I am taking 5 14 units Levemir in the morning and 6 1.2 units in the afternoon at the moment. I take an uneven dose of Levemir in the morning so I have to have an extra maybe 3/4 unit Novorapid at 7.30 at night to avoid going up to 10mmol. At the moment, I am guessing at that injection too. My blood sugar was 10.6 at 12 ocklock last night and I corrected it with Levemir and novorapid and it was 6.2 this morning. But increasing my insulin my blood sugar incrementally over the last week my blood sugar was 10.8mmol at 9.00am this morning and then I had 1 unit novorapid and ended up having a hypo of 1.3mmol at 11 ocklock because I took too much insulin. I took too much insulin because I drop 30mmol at 9.00 if I don't have a snack and I am prone to hypos at 11.00-12.00 if I take even amounts of Levemir morning and afternnon. I didn't take my snack this morning. On top of this I also got a cold/flu 2 days ago and I could not breath last night and could not sleep I only got 2 hours and I can't breathe now so I can't sleep now either. I have never had a cold with diabetes before so this is all new and how an earth do you all cope with so many **** levers?:D Oh that wasn't a swear word much as it was in gone with the wind. Thanks for letting me let of some steam guys.

[genie86333]

Hi, Mazea.

I'm not on insulin so I can't help with the insulin levels much, but I just wanted to say "breathe........." Relax for your sake and the baby's. :)

I *do* know that, for me at least, I seem to get over colds much more quickly now than I did before I was diagnosed (probably because my sugars were so out of control & now I'm taking better care of myself) so I hope that will be the case for you too! I know it's miserable being sick...while pregnant...and if you're in the northern hemisphere during the heat of summer! (3 kids, all fall babies - my son was born on your baby's due date, in fact - but despite the miseries of pregnancy/colds/heat/gestational diabetes etc, babies were all fine!)

For now, pamper yourself, sit in the bathroom with the shower running on hot to steam the room up to help with the breathing...one thing that also always helped me when I've got a cold is hot home-made lemonade, if you can drink it without raising your blood sugar - Cut up lemons, squeeze juice into pan & drop rind & all into water, bring to a boil & remove from heat. Sweeten with a bit of honey (if you can tolerate it, otherwise splenda/nutrasweet work too) and drink hot. The lemons are great for the vitamin C, the heat helps break up the chest congestion & honey (if used) coats the throat if it's irritated. Tastes pretty good too.

[mazea]

thanks genie, my cold is starting to get better. Great advice about lemon and honey mix. I might have to try that.

My problem with my basal constantly changing for the last week has almost finished. My insulin requirement rose from 1 unit of Levemir a day last week to 16units of Levemir a day in the period of a week(7 days). So every day my blood sugar went up roughly every 12 hours. 16 times. :( . I had a hypo of 2.6 this morning before lunch so I know I have topped out on my Levemir now and don't need to increase it anymore. Just to wait for the next month when my insulin need will drop again :( I'm getting really tired.

I have a basal insulin problem where the basal insulin doesn't match my basal requirements very well. My blood sugar drops 6 mmol for no reason at 11-12ocklock ever day when I am taking an even dose of Levemir morning and nigh. I try to avoid it by having a low dose of Levemir insulin in the morning and a higher dose in the evening with some extra novorapid at 7.30. I have tried 1 dose of Levemir a day and when I did I had high readings at night of 10mmol in the morning. Any suggestions on how to manage my basal insulin problem most welcome. Lantus isn't an option for me as I develop inflammatory neuropathy with it.

So this past week has really psychologically tiring and I am emotionally exhausted from checking my blood sugar levels 14 times a day and having highs and lows. I think I am going to have to see a councellor to try to deal with this horrible cycle of instability.

[mazea]

I'm having trouble breathing too. I am breathless all the time. I'm not sure why and I don't think it is normal as it has happened without the flu at times. I am going to see a doctor about the breathlessness tommorrow.