Before bed test revealed!
232
Blast that damned barista!
According to spreadsheet, I'd correct a 232 with 8 units of insulin, but that's only if I'm going to eat something beforehand, and it's also bedtime, so I subtract 2 units.
But I know that if I take 6 units I'm likely in for a nighttime low, unless my sugar's doing that weird nighttime jump that it did all last week, so I take the 6 anyway.
2 hours later, I'm lying awake in bed. I start to feel lightheaded.
This is the signal to get up and test.
44
Trudge to the kitchen, measure out 8 ounces of orange juice. About 20 carbs.
Try to get back to bed.
Feel too cold. Put on sweater
Start to shake and sweat.
Take off sweater.
Throw off comforter.
Still hot and shaky.
OK, that didn't do it.
Test again.
35.
Still dropping.
Back to the kitchen for a granola bar (yes, I keep lifesavers and jelly beans by my bed for emergencies, but if I can make it to the kitchen, I prefer the variety). Another 20 carbs.
Back to bed. Sweat some more. Shaking increases, but heartrate levels out.
Get up to write blog post about how much I love low sugar episodes.
Shake some more.
Shaking begins to subside.
Finally feeling a bit sleepy. Must be coming back up, cause lord knows I can't fucking sleep when my sugar goes low (a blessing, really).
So I guess this means I take 4 next time instead of 6.
This is what it is: trial and error, trial and error, until you get something that works well, except when it doesn't.
It's all estimates, never an exact science.
But at least it's not the year 1900.
Bed now.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Sugar Sugar
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2 comments so far. What are your thoughts?
As a former barista, nothing got my attention focused on getting the drink right as much as somebody saying--sugar-free, because I'm diabetic. Sucks to have to say that, maybe, but it changes one's frame of mind from 'oh-she-doesn't-care' to 'oh-it's-a-health-risk-thing'.
Just a thought.
if you already know this, sorry, but i just thought i'd mention it since no one taught me how to do it right until i'd been diabetic for 6 years already.
when you give a correction bolus, do you subtract any insulin that might be hanging around from previous shots? i still sometimes get low from chasing highs even after subtracting, but less so.
people's bodies deal with insulin differently (i use it faster when i've been exercising after the shot), but here's an average estimation of how much humalog or novolog is left, that you should subtract from your correction bolus:
1 hr - 70%
2 hr - 40%
3 hr - 10%
4 hr - none
good luck
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