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Friday, April 20, 2012

Who Knew Hormones Could Do That to My Blood Sugars?

I can't believe the last several days.

Here is a snap shot of my blood sugars in mg/dl:
Tuesday: 468 - 55
Wednesday:  478 - 45, 15% of my readings below 70
Thursday: 218 - 40, with 13 % of my readings below 70

The highs were easy; occluded infusion sets. The lows, well, I spent three nights with blood sugars I could not bring up over 80. I drank a total of 15-18 juice boxes, ate cereal, whole grain bread with Nutella and I even did a temporary basal rate last night of 45% so I could sleep. This drastic measure kept me normal and I never climbed above 150 mg/dl until morning. I was SO low and it was exhausting!

The alarms on the CGM; thank God for them, but they drove me bananas. I woke up to a screaming alarm that had been pressed underneath me and my covers with a 45 mg/dl BG, I drank two juice boxes and hoped that would be the end the alarms for the night. After all, I'm tired people!  I crashed back to a 45 mg/dl induced sleep, and BAM! Twenty minutes later, screaming alarm wakes me and I'm 55. Drink another juice and the cycle continues for three nights.

Boy Alert: I am going to discuss hormones, as they relate to blood sugars and, yes, my period!

Finally, I decided to call my doctor and he adjusted my basal rates, but could all this be because of dropping estrogen and progesterone levels? I got my period today and I'm wondering if I would have the same problem tonight. I'm not going to risk it, I changed the basal rate, but this is kinda concerning. I really, really had trouble handling this.

I have a history of BG's being high the week before my period. I also know of one other time I had this exact trouble with lows happening overnight that weren't fixed with a juice box or two, and it was the day before I got my period. But this time, we are talking three consecutive days of overnight lows before my period! Yikes.

I have always wanted a better understanding of how female hormone cycles impact blood sugar levels. I track my cycles and I track my blood sugars with the CGM, I need software to marry to two sets of data and show me some correlation. I want to know how to cope with this before it is a problem. I used to have a couple different basal patterns for the week before, but I switched pumps and never reprogrammed the rates.

I'm just going to call this a freak accident and hope I don't get disqualified from the trial because of this wacky stuff. It was weird and I hope its over!

Ladies, what are your experiences with blood sugar fluctuations throughout your cycle? Ever had anything like this happen?

4 comments:

Kelly said...

Funny, I was just gonna blog about MY hormones! I had a total Hysterectomy last August, and my blood sugars were "normal" until I started HRT, then HIGH, HIGH, HIGH!! If I go some days without the HRT patch I run much lower...

BEFORE my surgery I has what you explained, highs the week before the period and then lows starting with the period and for the next week. What REALLY sucks is now I can see my 11yr old (no period) follow her older sisters cycling! If sister is PMS then the 11yr old runs higher, and starting the period and week after she runs low. YIKES!!!!!!! The hormones can be seen even before periods start!!!

Wendy Morgan said...

Wow! That is crazy Kelly. I am glad to hear this though, because I don't think I have ever experienced anything quite as dramatic as the lows of the previous nights. Where nothing I ate made a difference. The juice and food kept me from dropping too low, but didn't bring me up enough to be normal.

Thanks for your comment!

Sally Marchini said...

That *is* crazy Kelly. Well done you for coping as you did, but totally understand wanting better management. In my experience, these hormone fluctations are different everytime which makes planning difficult.

I had a quick search online but couldn't see much research to back up any particular course of action. It's a good one to ask your endo about - I certainly will ask mine!

Katee said...

Ok so I know the post was forever ago but have to comment. I am 36 with a 34 year history of insulin use. I was ALWAYS high before periods until about 6 months ago. Now low without any hope of keeping sugars up around starting time. It could be anywhere from 4 days before to 4 days after. They last from 2-8 days!