I’ve always based my decision to check my glucose levels overnight on how confident I am that they will remain stable. There have been good stretches where I have enjoyed several weeks of stable numbers through the night. And some wonderfully uninterrupted nights of sleep. Then there have also been some terrible stretches, where I have had absolutely no confidence in my glucose levels whatsoever. Which pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks for me.
I’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut these past couple of weeks. It probably started with a few days of less than perfect food choices. It would have been followed by a couple of days of less than ideal, and even harder to control, numbers. It has resulted in a lack of energy, and some unhealthy habits on my part. Like some late nights, and some extremely long weekend sleep ins. And the longer I’ve let this go on, the harder it has been for me to pick myself up and begin to climb out of this rut.
There is one thing I have done differently during this rut, however. I have taken ownership for the consequences of my unhealthy behaviour these past couple of weeks. That consequence is getting up at 1am every night to test my glucose levels. I’ve dialled up my Lantus dose to cover the added stress, fat and carbs consumed. But I’ve never really felt certain whether my glucose levels will settle, or spike again after I go to bed (mostly the latter).
There’s no worse feeling than waking up to something like 15. Or even worse, 20. It puts a huge damper on the quality of my day, and the people I interact with. I hate thinking about the fact that my glucose levels have been sitting at those crazy high levels for the better part of 8 hours. I am ridden with guilt when I think about how irresponsible I’ve been, and of all the damage that I’ve done to my body.
During this rut, I’ve managed to catch a lot of those highs at 1am and bring them back down within range by morning. I’m quite proud of that. Having control over those night time numbers has slowly restored some of my diabetes motivation. Gradually I’m getting back into my healthier habits, and my insulin requirements seem to be getting back to normal once again.
By the time I went to bed on Sunday night, I finally felt confident that my glucose levels would not rise through the night. What I did not anticipate, however, was going hypo at 1.30am. But I will still take it as a win. I just need to drop my Lantus dose a tad more, and I should be good to go once again.
Hopefully ready for the start of another good stretch.
I go months without night tests. They are the bane of my existence. I’m lucky in that my basals are sitting in line at the moment but I know the overnight horrors will return. I wake up feeling sick every morning no matter what due to my dawn phenomenon (insulin corrects the numbers but my inner bio chemistry has still flipped its shit and that takes its toll). It can be hard to bother overnight when needed because of that. I find overnight tests must be as few as I can make them because if I am up during the night my diabetes will suffer during the day due to me being tired and having broken sleep, a known consequence. It isn’t that I’m doing anything wrong. It is just the old brain. *shrug* You mentioned long lies and lantus. Nothing wrong with a long lie now and then! I certainly wouldn’t class that as a bad habit but if it means you’re missing your lantus dose you could always change when you take your lantus to allow more flexibility?
Thanks Sam. I certainly know the feeling of waking up high too well, but i can’t imagine what dawn phenomenon and being unable to control it would be like. As for the long lies in, it starts with one and it quickly turns into a bad habit with me!
I sometimes feel grateful that I didn’t get T1d until as late and slow onset as I did. I mean, it’s hard enough at the age you were diagnose figuring all of the “who am I” questions without being a pancreas to boot. What I’m trying to say is you’re doing a good job. Just because you could have made better diet choices, darn it, you shouldn’t have to worry about that at this time in your life. But you do and I’m happy for you that you are finding your way back to the balance you need D-wise as you navigate your young adult years. Here’s a pat on the back.
Thanks Carmygee 🙂