I don’t know what is going on with my body right now. My blood sugars are all over the map. I am eating healthier and losing weight, but at the same time losing control of my blood sugars. My 7 day average on my meter is 210, 14 day is 198 and my 30 day is 177. What the hell is this? I have had more readings over 400 in this past month then I have in my 6 years with diabetes. I am still trying to figure out what is doing it to me. Is it the exercise and feeling low while at practice and just drinking Gatorade? Is it over correcting lows? Is it bad sites? Maybe even bad insulin? Let me dig into each of these.
Football Practice
When I am at practice, I don’t really have time to test my sugar. I will now make time, but up until now there are several water breaks, but this is the time that I have to take down one drill and set up the next drill so by the time the kids are done with their water break, I am ready for them to start the next thing. I have them for 2 hours, only 2 nights a week. For those of you that know anything about pop-warner ball, you know that this is nowhere near enough time to teach kids who haven’t really ever played football before, so I have to manage the time the best I can. Obviously, my health needs to come first though. So, what is an easy resolution? Wear your god damn CGM Chris!
Everytime I wear it at football practice, it falls out. I can’t seem to find a perfect place for it where it won’t fall out. I have tried my stomach, and unfortunately until I lose some more weight (down 8 pounds since September 1) I will have some rolls on my stomach that don’t make it easy for the CGM to stay in place. I have tried it on my backside, which seems to be the best place to wear it, but it is so freakin hard to get the thing inserted by myself back there. Amanda doesn’t mind inserting an infusion set for me, but the CGM sensor is different because of how long the needle is, she just isn’t at that point yet to feel comfortable enough to do it. The final place that I wear it is on my leg which is the easiest place for me to insert it, but at football is the quickest place for it to fall off. Reason being is because I am constantly running and cutting, and also punting to the kids, so everytime I do that, it starts to fall off.
All my Dexcom friends out there…..do those sensors stay in better?
Over-corecting Lows
Now I know this is a dilemna for just about all diabetics. You see that 50 or 60 in your meter and you just chug a gallon of orange juice, eat a bag of skittles, follow it up with a case of sugar tabs, and then just unleash a pound of sugar into your body. An hour later and your blood sugar went from 50 to 350. WTF???!!??? Obviously, I am exaggerating here with how much we take, but you all know what I mean. I know how much I need in order to correct my low, but I get nervous and continue to eat until I feel better, which means that the initial sugar I ate has taken affect, and now very shortly all the other sugar will take affect as well. I am going to start making pre-filled baggies with just enough candy or sugar that I need to correct a low. And once the bag is finished then that is it, no need to take more. If I still feel crappy a little later, then I will take more just after that.
Bad Sites
This is definitely part of the problem, and is 100% my own fault. I don’t think that I have ever switched out a set in only 3 days purposely since I have been on the pump (5 years). I usually keep a site in for 5-7 days, sometimes even more when I am being extremely lazy. Of course I know it’s not good, but I still do it. It’s tough to break bad habits, but I have been trying to hard lately to stay on top of it. So when I get a high, and I try to correct it takes forever because the insulin is not getting through the skin, or it’s leaking, whatever the reason. I will change my set if I do get a reading over 400. That is the first thing that I do. Usually if it is over 350 I keep the same one and correct, If I do a test again in an hour and it is not below the 350, then I will switch it out right away and correct again.
These are all my ideas on what has maybe played into the higher sugars. One thing I didn’t talk about as a reason is the food that I have been eating, because I have been eating excellent…..most of the time. So it could be those very few times, the 5% of the time foods that could have an affect. So when most people are worrying why their electric bill was so high this month, but living this life of a diabetic requires me to not only worry about that, but also my blood sugars being high.
It’s so hard to know what the heck is causing it. That is frustrating.
I don’t wear a Dex, but I do wear a Navigator. There’s a tape out there called Flexifix by OpSite I think. Check on Amazon, etc. It’s great stuff. Not quite as porous (sp?) as IV3000 and Tegaderm. Sticks great for me. I put down some SkinTac or IV Prep, let it dry a bit, then cut strips of the Flexifix tape to go around the edges of the Nav sensor. Maybe that’s worth a try?
I’m sure you’ll figure it out. All the weight loss and stuff is good for you, too bad it might throw in a few extra variables to deal with. ‘Cause you know, we don’t have enough of them already, right? 🙂