Diasend

It’s amazing how something as simple as a conversation has given me some much needed clarity in recent weeks.

For several weeks, I’ve been giving corrections to stubbornly high glucose levels in the afternoons after I’d finished work. Highs that have made afternoon tea difficult to manage. Highs that have made my dinner time insulin dose less effective and pre-bolusing a complete waste of my time. Highs that have often carried through to bedtime and even resulting in a disappointing waking number.

I didn’t think that there could possibly be anything wrong with my afternoon basal rate, because I knew that it was fine on non working days. I thought maybe I was disconnected in the shower for too long. I thought maybe I was eating too much at lunch. I thought maybe it was time to give up the toasted sandwiches slathered with butter, and cheese oozing out of the edges. Maybe buy those addictive donuts from Woolies less often?

When I recently sat down with my new diabetes educator and my Diasend logbook, she instantly pointed out a recurring pattern of red readings in the afternoons. I knew that afternoons had been a problem area. I can see the afternoon ascent in my Ambulatory Glucose Profile.

Yet in all these weeks, I had never really stopped and thought twice about it.

It took my educator’s small suggestion of increasing my basal rate in the afternoons for me to finally make sense of all of this. Could these afternoon highs possibly be an after-effect of my physical activity at work all day? Could my body be responding with extra glucose as I put my feet up in the afternoons and breathe a sigh of relief that the day is over? A quick google search confirmed that this indeed, could be a possibility.

The most incredible thing is the positive flow on effect that this small change has produced in the past two weeks. Since increasing my afternoon basal rate from 2-5pm on work days, I find that my BGLs stay in range through the afternoon. My dinner time insulin dose is far more effective, and I no longer receive frustrating highs after an accurately carb counted dinner. Overnights have also been looking much healthier, which will ultimately account for a large chunk of the hba1c result I am chasing.

As my educator reminded me, I can easily be doing this at home as well. I have the tech that is capable of uploading my data to the computer. I have Diasend, the software that compiles all of my data into one easy to read report.

Judging by my Diasend report that is now looking a little less red, I really need to be making the time to do this more often.