Hungover From a Day of Rollercoaster BGLs

I feel well and truly hungover after a day of dealing with rollercoaster blood sugar levels.

It started with the slice of thick cut raisin toast I had for breakfast. Probably not the most sensible choice of breakfast, but I felt like it. My blood sugar was a lovely 6.8. I’ve been working diligently at producing straight lines overnight and into the morning, and I felt ready for a challenge. So I pre bolused my insulin, drank my coffee, dressed, prepared my toast and ate it.

My FreeStyle Libre showed a perfect 6.9 and steady when I arrived at work, and I was able to put my fears of the toast spiking me to the back of my mind as I started work.

About an hour later I checked again, only to find a 13.1 and an upward trend arrow on my Libre. Nowhere near the 20s territory that raisin toast could potentially send my blood sugars, but still a surprise considering the increased intensity of my physical activity at work yesterday morning. I’ve been producing some spectacularly stable lines through the mornings, so seeing that 13 was rather irritating.

I watched that 13 slowly go down to 12.2 and then settle at 11.0. I should have just left it. I still had close to 2 units of active insulin on board. I was working intensely and I knew the insulin would be extremely sensitive. But the frustration of that 11 got the better of me, and I gave a correction bolus of half a unit, as suggested by my pump.

No more than ten minutes later, before the insulin bolus would have even had time to kick in, my levels were already showing signs of descending. I felt so frustrated. I knew that I should have just left all and good.

As I watched the downward trend arrows on my Libre, I decided to have my morning tea of coffee and a small banana. As I watched my levels enter hypo territory, I added another 15 skittles into the mix and went back out to work.

I refused to check my levels for another hour to avoid any more impulsive actions, until I saw that I had rebounded to 13.3 with an upward trend arrow. I had very little insulin left on board from breakfast, so I entered my reading into my pump and gave half of the suggested correction dose.

I thought I had been extremely cautious, yet within half an hour I was plummeting once again. Not wanting to over-treat this one, I cautiously ate 12 skittles. I ended up needing another 8. My levels bounced back into range, before eventually falling back to hypo territory again by lunchtime.

I felt doubly exhausted from a morning of intense work, combined with rollercoaster glucose levels. By this point it was lunchtime, and all I really craved was sugar. A jam donut and a chunky Kit Kat joined my toasted sandwich for lunch. It was a crazy, crazy ridiculous carb count, but I knew that I would be able to get away with not spiking too high while I was working.

If I had just accepted that raisin toast will naturally send me higher than oats, I might not have had the rollercoaster day that I’ve just had.

Although surprisingly, my glucose levels didn’t go any higher than 14.3mmol all day. Silver linings, right?