Quality of sleep and the pump

Gary_W · #1 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 01:58 AM

Hi everyone,

An unexpected benefit of pumping has been that the quality of sleep I get has improved a great deal. I am now of the opinion that I have not actually slept properly for years.

I guess it is due to the BG swings I've always had in the night, but even when night hypos have not been happening I've still always drifted in and out of sleep. When night hypos got bad towards the end of MDI, going to bed high ALWAYS resulted in me being up in the night at least once peeing as well (too much info but there we go).

Since having this thing clipped on me, I am absolutely dead to the world for 7 hours (children willing

). I can't quite get used to this yet but I am feeling so much less 'fuzzy' in the mornings. I always put my morning fog down to the post breakfast spike and the night hypos etc. But I'm now wondering how much of a part my broken sleep had on the whole 'quality of life' equation.

Am I alone in the 'better sleep' experience or is this a common one? It is not a problem I was trying to fix with the pump as it's not something I realised WAS a problem. I just thought I was a zombie in the mornings and that was that... I just seem to feel a lot more alive in the mornings than I'm used to and it's wonderful

It's also unexpected as I thought the pump would make sleep worse what with having tubing and a lumpy object pinned on you. How wrong could I be?

Gary

morrisma · #2 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 03:08 AM

Gary,
It's been so long since starting the pump that I forget if sleep quality was affected but I think that if the basal insulin is right for MDI'ers, and that can be a big if, they sleep well.

Jan B · #3 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 06:02 AM

Gary,

I'm with you 100%. Actually you reminded me that I SLEEP THESE DAYS!!

xMenace · #4 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 06:14 AM

Oh yes, mine has absolutely improved. Now when I have a bad high sugar night, I really notice the difference.

Subby · #5 (**permalink**) 05-10-2008, 07:02 AM

Same boat here. I've had sleep problems since before I got diabetes (15 years ago). Since better BG on the pump I can actually...

- get to sleep within 30 minutes (used to be up to 3 hours... so stiff and stressed via unstable bg effects)
- stay asleep, with my more even BG (used to drift in and out, no good quality sleep)
- wake up after 6 - 8 hours and not feel like I've been run over by a train. Actually getting up and going is now 3/10 rather than 7/10 in difficulty, if you know what I mean.

I went through sleep apnoea tests, tried all manner of habits, natural methods, etc, to improve things... but what I suspected pretty much all along, was right... it was mainly my unstable BG playing havoc with me.

All hail the pump!