April 26, 2022
I started the morning just above 100 mg/dl. With breakfast, my levels rose. Just before lunch time, I was faced with the reality that they had not dropped of their own accord. I could try to work the BG off, or use insulin.
Because the pre-lunch level was about 150 mg/dl, I decided to have an early lunch and bolus insulin to help offset the morning rise as well as the blood sugar that would come from lunch. I chose four units to bolus. You can see my BG levels immediately start to rise, and then the insulin kicks in and they gradually decline.
That took me to dinner in the 90’s, which was a great soft landing for the early afternoon. As I start preparing dinner, I nibble and snack, and my levels start rising again. Dinner itself is relatively low carb, so it doesn’t cause my levels to spike, but neither do they come down. By the end of the evening, I’m still above 140 mg/dl. I can see a gradual reduction beginning, but I’m higher than where I’d like to be before going to sleep. I’m faced with the choice to bolus or exercise. It’s the Sugar vs. Treadmill choice.
Instead of just exercising like normal, I decide to try an experiment and extend beyond the 30 minute period to 45 or 60 minutes, and even cause my BG levels to drop below the alarm level. After an hour, my levels drop to 55 mg/dl, but they bounce right back up as soon as I stop.
My query was whether they would rise softly back to a reasonable level, or would they spike up to over compensate. Rather than bolusing a long-acting dose as I normally do before going to sleep, I decided to bolus nothing and see what happens.
Last night, I was interested to see that they rose slowly to the 80’s, and then they flattened there. (It doesn’t always happen this way. That’s what is so dynamic about managing BG levels. Things are always different. Rather than assume things will be the same as always, I have to remember that they will always be different.)
In the middle of the night, the level dipped low and bounced up and down a bit, ending by morning just above 100 mg/dl. As far as soft landings, it was a pretty good night.
I’m Managing It at Sugar Vs. Treadmill.