Overnight

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.