# Basal Rates and Hormones **URL:** \ **Category:** Hormones\ **Created:** [May 31, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133 "2018-05-31T12:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/182 "2018-08-10T13:04:13Z")
1. Thank you to all of the awesome women who are putting their experiences into this thread. I will start collecting them to put out a Wiki of sorts eventually. Keep it coming! Everything is useful!! 2. In other news, my own personal strategy for using temporary basal adjustments is starting to morph. Instead of using +20% all day long and +10% all night long when dealing with medium to high hormones, I’m now using them sporadically through the day for a “boost”. My breakfast numbers are very sticky when hormones get involved, so I might add in +20% extra basal for 7AM-11AM to get through the breakfast time and then see how lunch goes without it. Balancing the basal and bolus needs remains a constant tug of war. My biggest goal is to avoid the surprise tanks that happen MUCH quicker when I’m running extra basal when I apparently do not need it all of a sudden, usually coinciding with just moderate increases in activity level. Will keep you posted. ---
**Author:** ![Katers87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@Katers87](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Katers87)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/183 "2018-08-10T15:02:18Z")
Given all the variables that need tracking, wouldn’t it be nice if we could know that the insulin would work consistently? And if it didn’t, we could be sure it had nothing to do with the insulin itself but how our bodies were reacting to it? Thanks for the empathy 🙂 I’ll figure it all out. I ran high most of the night, but that’s just because I set myself up for that so I could get a night of much needed sleep. Maybe now that I’ve started the NuvaRing again everything will go back to normal/semi-predictable. ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/184 "2018-08-10T15:34:30Z")
I always wondered about inventing some sort of insulin litmus test strip or something…drop a unit of insulin on it to verify potency. That would be amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Katers87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@Katers87](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Katers87)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/185 "2018-08-10T16:00:20Z")
Ooooo yes! I would definitely buy that. ---
**Author:** ![Nickyghaleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nickyghaleb](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Nickyghaleb)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/186 "2018-08-10T22:13:21Z")
> [@Michelejean](#): > > 6 miscarriages I am so sorry to hear that. That sounds ridiculously hard. ☹ > [@Michelejean](#): > > and one lovely 17 year old daughter ♥♥♥ > [@Michelejean](#): > > But my endo and I have developed a theory that yes, hormones right before my period starts cause my insulin needs to rise. She’s a diabetic too, has a kid 3 years older than me, and also goes thru these times in her cycle where there is a different basal rate need. I’m now hearing this all over the place. As soon as I figure out that it’s true for me, all my hormones will change, no doubt. 😃 > [@Michelejean](#): > > We call it our “sick day” basal rate (my husband would concur, although he’s recommending other meds during this time) Husbands are really helpful. (🙄) But what I think they should be focusing on is their OWN periods of psychosis because they’re far more prevalent than the _maybe_ couple of days here or there where we’re experiencing anything. > [@Michelejean](#): > > So my regular basal rate is 17.95, my sick day is 21.275. I will tell you this small ratio difference can put me in a low bg in about 2 seconds if I do not switch back on day one of my AF visit. I don’t think that’s a small difference at all. I can see a big difference with a change in .5 total basal units a day. That’s a pretty significant change. > [@Michelejean](#): > > Not sure if this helps, but it’s real. Don’t let any dr./endo tell you it’s not It’s very helpful, and I appreciate you showing up to share. I believe it’s real. Now. There has never been an endo to tell me it wasn’t… I never asked. It never, not once, crossed my mind there could be a connection, which I now recognize is pretty stinkin silly. Because it makes sense that 4 grams of carbs could cause all heck to break loose but not a period. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/187 "2018-08-11T11:52:55Z")
My ovulation resistance examples for this month: > [@Basal Discussion Deep Dive for Everyone](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-discussion-deep-dive-for-everyone/4536/55): > > Insulin resistance due to hormones (most likely) is at it again: near ovulation (day 14). Top graph is last night’s overnight timeframe. Bottom graph is the last 24 hours (yesterday and overnight). I had to use +20% to get through breakfast yesterday, but got through the rest of the day with +0% and pretty decent balancing with peaks and dips care of boluses the rest of the day. I would have liked the average BG to be lower, but in dealing with hormone induced insulin resistance this is a prett… ---
**Author:** ![Sonyalynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@Sonyalynne](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Sonyalynne)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/188 "2018-08-11T19:14:56Z")
Number of years with diabetes: 7 MDI or pumper: pump CGM? Yes Diabetic during reproductive phase of life? Yes Did you notice any insulin resistance or sensitivity due to hormonal changes? Yes - need substantially more insulin in the days before my period. How did it impact your bg control? Your diet? Hard to stay in range, makes eating low carb tough bc of carb cravings How did you manage it (or not manage it)? Extra boluses for phantom cArbs in automode Do you use hormonal birth control? No ---
**Author:** ![Nickyghaleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nickyghaleb](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Nickyghaleb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/189 "2018-08-11T21:25:38Z")
Thanks, Sonyalynne! ---
**Author:** ![Jen](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/jen/32/4777_2.png) [@Jen](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Jen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/190 "2018-08-13T14:13:46Z")
The day before yesterday I woke up to find that my blood sugar had dropped about 10 mmol/L overnight, while the previous night it had risen by about the same amount. So I was prepared when I began running low that afternoon and I bumped my basal rates down by 0.2 units an hour (about five units overall) thinking that was a bit conservative but I could bump it down more if I continued running low. Instead, I ran high the rest of the day. Until last night, when I woke up to my CGM alarming at 1:00 AM and ate 25 grams of carbohydrates (that is pretty much my standard treatment now for overnight lows because otherwise they just go on for hours). Went to sleep for another half hour only to wake up to my CGM alarming again. Those glucose tablets had risen me to about 5.5 mmol/L and then I’d just dropped right back down. Ate another six glucose tablets. Continued to be low for the next three hours. Finally suspended my pump for an hour and a half and went to sleep at 5:00 AM once I saw my blood sugar rising. That backfired in that I woke up at 6:30 AM at 10 mmol/L (180 mg/dl), but at least I got a couple hours of sleep. Now I’m exhausted and of course this has happened on a work day. I allowed myself an extra half hour of sleep and will splurge to get a cab to work instead of the bus. But I really hate having to do that. To top of it, my allergies are also horrible today because I kept my air purifier off all night. So woke up stuffed up with itchy, swollen eyes feeling as if I had a cold as well as exhausted from so little sleep. I’ve lowered my basal rates by 0.3 mmol/L (so that’s about 12 units in total) and hopefully that will do it. I find these constant huge adjustments so exhausting. I guess I should be happy that at least this time around my basal rates did stay somewhat steady at +35% to +50% for most of my cycle. ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/191 "2018-08-13T15:05:38Z")
That’s exhausting just reading about it! I hate ping pong nights even more than I hate ping pong days. ---
**Author:** ![Katers87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@Katers87](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Katers87)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/192 "2018-08-14T01:13:40Z")
The weekend actually went way better than expected. Everything seemed to settle down a bit Friday. I didn’t decrease my dose Friday morning because things were a bit better Thursday night. I’m still using 1 unit less than I was last month at the same time in my cycle though. I’m curious to see if I’ll need to up my dose 1 unit or 2 units later in this cycle. I still have a slight downward trend through the night, but it’s not enough to warrant another decrease in basal. I’d likely run into highs if I did that. The hike ended up including a lot of rock scrambling, making it more of a muscle workout. I had to give a couple boluses to counteract the glucose dumps. It was really nice that I didn’t have to worry about lows. I’m leaning more toward the NuvaRing as the problem, but since I haven’t been able to increase my dose yet, I’m not totally ruling out the Tresiba pen. It’s nice that things have evened out a bit over here 🙂 So happy to be dealing with the more usual problems. I don’t even know how people deal with 30% to 50% basal swings on a daily basis. It’s impressive though! ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/193 "2018-08-14T01:55:56Z")
Thanks for letting us know how it went! In researching Nuvaring, I remember reading a question of if it really releases a steady amount of hormones or if there were spikes in the amounts released. Not sure what to conclude about that but wanted to pass it along. ---
**Author:** ![Jen](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/jen/32/4777_2.png) [@Jen](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Jen)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/194 "2018-08-14T14:27:27Z")
After lowering my basal rates by 0.5 units an hour (almost 30%) over the previous 24 hours, last night I flatlined at 5.6 mmol/L (100 mg/dl) the entire night. Blissful night of uninterrupted sleep! Also a perfect illustration of how this hormone business is not a matter of incorrect basal rates, needing to do more basal testing, using too many basal rates, or anything else we are doing “incorrrectly”… It’s a matter of guessing how dramatically our basal rates increase or decrease at any given time. ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/195 "2018-08-14T14:42:35Z")
> [@Jen](#): > > Also a perfect illustration of how this hormone business is not a matter of incorrect basal rates, needing to do more basal testing, using too many basal rates, or anything else we are doing “incorrrectly”… It’s a matter of guessing how dramatically our basal rates increase or decrease at any given time. AMEN. And this is missing from all of the diabetes books out there. Basal testing during anytime other than neutral hormone times can be dangerous, in my personal experience. On a side tangent, I love how older studies concluded that our female blood sugar runs higher during PMS bc we are so carb crazy. Yes, my lady brain can’t resist lady impulses to eat carbs and I can’t do lady math to control my lady blood sugar. Great conclusion, guys. Just freakin’ lovely. It’s not that we’re insulin resistant! It’s that math is hard! [It should be noted that I have a lot of personal irons in the fire today so my filter is not terribly strong right now. I speak for myself and not other female FUDders.] 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Jen](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/jen/32/4777_2.png) [@Jen](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Jen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/196 "2018-08-15T14:56:08Z")
Another night spent low, plus two lows yesterday. Basal rates down another 10%. If I lower them by 10% more, then that will be a total of 50%, which is the same amount I raised them by. Fitbit predictions were dead on regarding my period start and end day. I’m betting it’ll be dead on predicting ovulation now, too. Pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/197 "2018-08-15T15:11:16Z")
@Jen, thank you for continuing to add to this body of work. It’s fantastic. I hope your lows weren’t too uncomfortable. I’m in my run-up to peak hormone days. I’ve been running +10% for the last 5 days. Part of that is over-basal strategy to help with getting more calories in each day. I’m curious to see how that plays into the next week or so. Will keep the thread posted. ---
**Author:** ![Nickyghaleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nickyghaleb](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Nickyghaleb)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/198 "2018-08-16T18:34:43Z")
> [@DeeM](#): > > poor hubby has seen me cry recently watching WALL-E… a cartoon That’s a frickin tear-jerker… don’t let the cartoon part fool you ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/199 "2018-08-17T20:18:48Z")
I’m approaching high hormone days, but definitely needed to turn off the +10% basal and feed my activity since my sump pump apparently died this week. Shop vac action, carpet removal, and using my son’s Spider-Man bucket to bail out the pit for 90 minutes to take pressure off of my waterproofing system until the new pump could be installed has made for a full day. Hope my adhesive holds on my devices after all that labor. ---
**Author:** ![Jen](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/jen/32/4777_2.png) [@Jen](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Jen)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/200 "2018-08-27T14:45:59Z")
The past two nights I’ve gone from flatlines to rising quite a bit (by about 4 mmol/L) during the latter part of the night. I’m pretty sure this is the first signs of hormones. Otherwise, control has been great. According to my fitbit, the night before last was two days before my “fertile window” (which I think starts with ovulation?). I’m going to put my basal rates up by 0.05 units an hour just to be on the safe side (this is about a 3% increase). ---
**Author:** ![T1Allison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@T1Allison](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/T1Allison)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133/201 "2018-08-27T17:04:59Z")
I ended up having to take off from work for all of last week to handle some school-induced health issues for my son. I was also in the tail end of my high hormone days. It’s amazing how running around like a crazy woman to doctor’s appointments, school tours, house tours, etc lead to me not needing any extra basal insulin. I was fighting lows (while sleep deprived) which was not what I expected for that amount of mental and physical strain. It seems that the more sedentary I am, the more my hormone fluctuations impact my insulin resistance. But, since I was living in such an unscripted way last week, it would have been hard to pick up on smaller nuances in my resistance, as well. I was completely out of my routine due to circumstances. [Previous page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133.md?page=9) [Next page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/basal-rates-and-hormones/4133.md?page=11)