just wondering if anyone else has had this type of scenario. i find that if i am stuck in either a BG roller coaster going high then low and on and on, or been high for a long time and insulin resistant, or low and unable to bring your BG up, i get , 1st off, very very frustrated. then 2nd, when i realize that my efforts are ineffectual, i get angry and then depressed. i feel mad and then despondent and i feel like the only thing i can do is say F-it and eat a chocolate cake and ice cream, or cry my eyes out. i am just plain old tired of being responsible for being D and having to deal with it. i want to throw in the rag.
i know that insulin is a hormone; so it would make sense to me that the hormonal fluctuations must have some sort of effect on my moods, but howmuch an effect can they actually have?
@daisymae, I often feel so frustrated with these crazy BG days and would love to just say to heck with it and take a little break. Of course, my son depends on me and so I just sort of grit my teeth and suck it up. It really sucks how relentless this disease is.
But I am not the one suffering from the BGs, so I can say for sure that simply the plain old frustration of banging your head against a wall with numbers that won’t behave or budge is enough to induce this feeling for me at least.
I do notice that when my son has very erratic BGs, he is often either wilder or more tired. But the effect is surprisingly small and subtle. Maybe as he gets older the effect will be more noticeable. Or maybe because he’s both high and low most days this just has become his new normal
not to give out TMI, but i wonder if any of this has to do with either estrogen or progesterone or testosterone? i dont think i went through this quite as much when i was younger (or maybe i didnt notice it that much because i didnt care as much)
i do know that, as a woman, when i would go through my cycles, my BGs became quite erratic and my moods would change. menopause was a nightmare. thank god thats a thing of the past.
i really felt that my mood changes were completely normal until my husband pointed them out, and now i am much aware of them. it was better being dumb ( lol )
Haha, this! In the past couple of weeks, I had to wear a trial CGM and relax on my diet so my doctor could see what’s going on with my blood sugar levels (long story; I am primarily diet controlled at this point). I was a horrible person to be around, and I could tell I was super cranky and had a very short fuse, but when my husband finally pointed it out, I knew it meant it must be really awful! Yesterday I saw the results from the CGM…roller coaster days. It doesn’t help that I’m struggling with postpartum anxiety anyway, but adding the stress and fluctuations of blood sugar struggles, and…yeah.
I’m still waiting for them to email me the report so I can see the actual numbers myself - she just showed me the graph overlay from the entire week, and every meal had a decent spike. I’m still early LADA, so I don’t think it was going over 200 - just up to that, and dropping back down quickly sometimes (without insulin). I seem to be pretty sensitive to fluctuations in my blood sugar levels. Interestingly, I was having a dip every morning shortly before I wake up. No wonder I wake up starving - I thought it was just from breastfeeding through the night!
which cgm did you wear? i am on my second round with the FreeStyle Libre Pro; i wear it for 2 weeks and then my endo downloads it. it is very comfortable and it is water proof so i can swim with it on.
also, are you on a pump, or are you still doing MDI? do you have Gestational D ? or does your endo think that you have a chance of being D-free after your postpartum goes away?
PS: if you are on a pump, you can do a temporary basal rate for your overnight hours to keep your BGs in your target range; its very helpful, and it is especially helpful to wake up in the morning with good BGs b/c it starts your day on the right track. also, with a pump, you can make slight changes on your insulin needs throughout the day for the 24 hour period. (but maybe you know this already )
It was a Medtronic…can’t remember the exact model name. We’re also in process of appealing insurance’s decision to deny coverage on a Dexcom for me.
I’m still on MDI - my insulin needs went away temporarily right after baby was born (was bolusing a 1:5 I:C ratio while pregnant), and slowly my BG has been creeping back up. My doctor has prescribed Afrezza, which is yet another insurance battle…
ETA: I was diagnosed a few months before I got pregnant, so it wasn’t gestational; stuck with this for life!
Oh, @daisymae , I’m sorry. I have those days too…where I just want off the ride. I can imagine for those like @TiaG and @Chris this is even more difficult…maybe like watching helplessly (okay, not entirely helplessly), but watching as your child rides an awful rollercoaster…maybe where a segment of the track is missing or at least vulnerable to collapse. These days are hard. Really hard, and, yes, really depressing.
As to the hormonal question, I have documented a similar concept here. If you want to write about it off-thread, we can PM. I anticipate this is not the same trend for everyone, but this is a look at my TDD over 3 months. As you can see, the three lines follow similar patterns. With similar insulin needs throughout each part of the cycle. I’m wondering whether this might be playing a part in the variance you are experiencing.
Here’s what I said in that thread:
When I compared the roller coaster standard deviation (SD) days between last month and this month, they occur at remarkably similar times. Days 4-7 of my cycle.
thank you so much for your kind words of support. however, i am post-menapausal. i was just using that as an example that i thought ,perhaps, other women would understand. basically, b/c it feels the same from an emotional point of view. also, i figured that insulin is a hormone, and perhaps my needs for it as they change can have the same kind of effects on me (wanting to cry or scream or just give up and feel depressed)
just out of curiosity, why didnt you continue using the pump? i use a Medtronic pump and have never wanted to go back to MDI ever since. ( and its been almost 17 years)
I was on a Dexcom for about a year and a half; it made me miserable, so i stopped using it. but i had different insurance then that paid for it. i am on Medicare, too, so i know how frustrated you must be feeling having to try and appeal their policy for you.
Ugh. My bad, @daisymae! So sorry I missed that. I guess that what comes from trying to skim and reply while refereeing kids in the background. Sorry that I didn’t read more carefully. Hoping things even out for you soon.
I’ve actually never been on a pump. I was diagnosed very early (A1c was 5.8), so I didn’t even need insulin until my pregnancy. Now, though, we think pregnancy pushed me further along with this disease…but I’m hoping to be able to do the Afrezza, as right now I’m experiencing some mild lows on Novolog at ~3 hr post meal. It’d be nice to have something that doesn’t last quite as long.
I’m sorry to read about all the insurance hassle for you, @Pianoplayer7008. It is so difficult. I’m already dreading the 4th insurance company in as many years coming soon.
It was uncanny to read about your postpartum insulin requirements. So similar to my own (diagnosed gestationally and had a similar i:c ratio through pregnancy). It was so confusing to me and took me a while to confirm that i did, in fact, have diabetes. While my fastings were never my most difficult problem during the pregnancy, my boluses were. As soon as my baby was delivered, it was the reverse for a short season. Virtually no mealtime requirements but more basal. Did you have anything similar? I remember my initial fasting 1 day after was 135.
As an aside, perhaps you’ve already seen that several of us are opting to purchase insulin from Canada these days to save money.
i was too lean for the sensors. i didnt have enough body fat to attach them; and even when i was able to find a spot for insertion, it would only last for about 3 days. sometimes, i had to try and re-do the sensor sessions b/c the 1st tries were not successful; i would hit a capalary, nerve, muscle, etc. then i had problems with the receiver, getting lost signals, missed info, etc. but i did learn a lot from it while i was on it, and that was helpful information; but in the end, it was not worth the hassle. i would rather prick my finger 25 times a day than go through what i endured while using the dexcom.
but thats just me. everything i hear and know about the sensors is wonderful and satisfied customers abound.
Actually, I’m having the opposite problem! With carb restricting, I didn’t need mealtime insulin, but if I ate like a “normal” person, I would spike (now I’m spiking even with restrictions). My fastings, however, are still in the 70-80s most days, with a few 90s. I attribute it to breastfeeding my baby through the night, though I have no idea if that’s accurate. I’m waiting for my docs office to email my CGM report so I can look at the times I usually nurse baby to see what happens - I’m pretty curious.
Ahhh, ok. I was a little worried about that, but…then I had a baby and my thyroid is pretty whacked (I have Hashimoto’s, too), so I’m gaining back some of the baby weight I’d just lost. Though it was somewhat amusing for the Medtronic rep to say we’d put the trial CGM on my stomach, take one look at all the stretch marks, etc, then say, “Actually, I think we should do your lower back.”
)
Though it was somewhat amusing for the Medtronic rep to say we’d put the trial CGM on my stomach, take one look at all the stretch marks, etc, then say, “Actually, I think we should do your lower back.” 