Somethings Up...besides my bloodsugars

I've used my stomach for my infusion site for as long as I've had my pump. I remember trying my thigh and my backside a long time ago, but I always ended up pulling those sites out. Since I've read about so many people using sites other than the stomach, I decided to try again. Last Thursday, I stuck it in my left hip and yesterday, I stuck it in my right hip. Since Thursday, I've had high readings after breakfast - over 200! And I've been having some lows in the evenings that seem to require a lot of food to keep up.

For example, at 9:30 PM yesterday, my bloodsugar was 71. That's not really low, but it's low enough that I had to eat something before bed, especially since I'd been swimming in the lake all afternoon. I drank a can of Coke and ate 2 slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter. I didn't take any insulin with all of this. At 2:30 AM, by bloodsugar was 142 so I still didn't take any insulin. But when I got up this morning at 6:30, it was up to 212 so I took a unit of insulin. Just now, 2 hours after breakfast, it's 205 even though I ate the same type of breakfast and the took same bolus that I usually do. I could understand my bloodsugars being this wacky if I'd eased up on my running in the last week, but even my running has been the same amount as usual.

So I don't know what to think. Maybe having the site in my hip changes my bloodsugar patterns. Maybe I'm coming down with a cold or some kind of infection and just don't know it yet. Maybe I got too much sun yesterday even though I'm not sunburned (although this could explain today, it doesn't help with the end of last week and the weekend). Maybe I'm stressed about my career change - I only have 2 more weeks in this job before I take 2 weeks off and start my teaching career. Maybe it's the stress of knowing that I'm changing jobs and even though my insurance will still be the same, I'll be without it for a month (don't worry - I'm on my husband's policy so I won't be completely without insurance) and I haven't gotten my new insulin pump yet.

Whatever is going on, I hope I figure it out soon so I can stop having high bloodsugars mid- to late-morning and stop having to eat so much to keep them up in the evenings.

Running & Yoga

I started a yoga class at the Y on June 4. The class goes from 6:30 to 7:30, so instead of going home after work and not being able to convince myself to go back out for yoga class, I go to the Y right after work. I usually run a couple miles on the treadmill before class, at a fairly constant pace while listening to music on my mp3 player.

The first couple of weeks, I had major low bloodsugar issues during my run. The first time wasn't too awful since I had some Clif Bloks in my locker. The second time, my sugar was lower (down to 48) and I didn't have any Bloks or gels left in my locker. I panicked and ended up having a whole can of Coke and a whole 5th Avenue bar from the vending machines. I don't recommend eating junk like this before yoga class - I was pretty uncomfortable for most of the hour.

This week I decided to try a different approach because I planned a more intense running workout. I wanted to use a Cardio Coach workout instead of just listening to music on my mp3 player. I ate a cupcake with frosting before I left work, then took my insulin pump off while I ran on the treadmill. Success! When I checked my bloodsugar between running and yoga it was 80. I ate a couple of glucose tabs (because my bloodsugar tends to drop after exercise), put my pump back on, and turned my basal rate down to 50%. By the time I got home, my bloodsugar was 176 - a little high, but much better than the drastic lows I've been having on yoga night. When Jason checked my bloodsugar around 2 AM, it was a perfect 112.

My strategy may or may not work again next week, but at least I got it right this time!