Any pregnant Type 1 diabetics?

[dieciocho]

Hi,
I'm looking for other pregnant Type 1 diabetics in London, just to have someone to keep in contact with and share advice/horror stories/support each other etc.
I don't actually know anyone at all with Type 1, despite having had it myself since 1989

Oh my God Diec! God knows what he'd think of my readings then - bloody hell!!! In fact my diabetes nurse can check mine on the CGM. They are nowhere NEAR as good as yours (I have lows every day and a handful of 12s a week!!!). She has nothing but praise and thinks I'm A-Grade diabetic! He sounds clearly deluded. Bless you leaving your meter too. That would have stressed me right out. Surely the decision to induce at 37 weeks (as I was) is dependent on the size of the baby regardless? Mine was brought forward due to baby's stomach size. What was your last HBA1C?

I feel rubbish today - had a mental hypo last, guessing I was about 1.x but was too out of it to test. Ate the icing off a cupcake which didn't help, DH got home about an hour later (we think based on what I can remember) to find me passed out on the floor in DS's room

2 glucogel later and 30 minutes later and I came round, all freezing cold and sweaty, and was still only 3.8 at that point. Ended up eating some more, testing a few more times and just going to bed. Still have a hypo hangover, plus a bump on my head, elbow & knee. GAH. Obviously I woke up this morning at 16.x, just to help things along...

At least I know why it happened - at dinner last night I was part way through eating and DS had a mammoth projectile vomiting incident, all over me and him. I sorted him out, went and changed, dh cleaned the kitchen up, and with one thing and another, we all forgot to have pudding. That I'd already bolused for

Oh Rue!!!!!!!!! Blimming heck. That sounds awful. Exactly the type of thing you do when rushing around after DCs though. I regularly think 'eek! Have I double up? Have I taken it?'. Was DS okay?

Oh Rue poor you!! Yes was your ds ok?? At least you know why it happened and you're ok

Adding insult to injury, DS is completely fine - apparently he just didn't fancy pasta for tea we were a bit worried as he banged his head in the afternoon, but he managed to keep a biscuit down ok!

He's 2, and he thinks that I fell asleep on his bed - which to be fair, has happened before when I've gone in to resettle him after his bedtime.

Aww so he was in bed when you hypod. I always worry this will happen to me and DS will run to the nearest cupboard and start drinking/bleach or playing with knives.

How are you feeling now? Were you totally out of it?

Completely out of it, I can remember up until about 8.30 last night, then all of a sudden it was 9.30 and DH was home. Worrying, especially because DH is away fr I'm tomorrow night till Sunday - he's half joking, but reckons I should text him every hr to prove I'm still conscious think I'll need extra test strips to go through!

Wow, Rue, thank goodness you're ok now.
Yep, I'd be testing every 30 mins over the weekend.
Good luck.

Rue if I'm on my own and having a bad hypo I ring DH/mum and say ring me back in 15 min. If I don't answer you know to come around ASAP.

Has it happened before to you or not?

With my CGM I can see just how very, very quickly your levels can plummet and it scares me so much. Today I had just 3.5u with a bowl of porridge. It crept up to 12 and then just before the 1.5 hour mark it absolutely started to dive - from 12 to 5 in less than 10 mins and it wasn't showing signs of stopping.

Luckily I was keeping a close watch and I had wine gums at hand but what if I wasn't being so very careful? What happens then? You just wouldn't think that little insulin could do that. Does anyone else have these rapid, rapid drops or is this something I really need to follow up with my team? I was driving at the time and I just find the scenario beyond stressful.

2am was 9.2 my own fault because I had a milkshake before bed to try stop the horrendous heartburn, misjudged it! However woken up with 3.4. Have reduced breakfast from 4u/10g to 2u/10g and if that doesn't send my hyper I'm going to phone my nurse as this isn't what's meant to happen!

puds that does sound quite scary I always think it's a gradual thing but that was really quick!

No Puds, a drop of 7 mmol in less than 10 mins has never happened to me, it might take 30 mins on a very bad/busy/active day...

I woke at 9.2 this morning (bad girl) because I'd had a 2.3 at bedtime after a stressful evening class. I have to keep reminding myself that now my "real" food ratio has increased to 10g=2u in the evening, my hypo food ratio has increased too.
I've treated this week's hypos (just two of them Mr Erratic-Consultant-man!!!) like pre-pregnancy ones - with around 20g of "sugar". Oops.

diec what's your morning ratio?

Rue sounds awful, but glad you and DS are ok now....

Am still grappling with morning readings. Woke up in the night thirsty - 11.x. Gave a couple of units... Woke at 11.x. sigh Didn't feel hypo at any point and no 'hypo hangover' (love that phrase, rue, that's exactly what it feels like!) so am pretty sure I'm rising, not falling and then spiking.

Am going to get the CGM going tonight. I used three sensors when I got it, really figured out what was going on, was pretty happy with what I saw and so decided not to use it constantly. However, I think this calls for some investigative work! Had almost completely forgotten it was there, but am relieved I can get hooked up again and figure out what the hell is happening.

Bona you have a really good attitude toward your CGM. I've become dependant on mine due to the sheer unpredictability of my readings. BUT since overhauling my diet things are slowly becoming more predictable .

My 'bad' morning readings are always due to long acting. Have you tried popping it up by one?

So ladies. I've slightly relaxed my targets to 7.8 in two hours - which is generally what I followed last pregnancy. It means I'm not facing those huge drops just to reach target in one and a half hours, having to treat a hypo and then going too high - which obviously flies in the face of hitting target in the first place! What do you guys reckon? Sensible move? Or not...

puds - have put my long acting up by 4 units over the last week. I genuinely think it is a hormone surge / growth spurt. I'll report back

I think your target makes sense. In many ways (and I am sure I have read a study about this, particularly in relation to Type 2s) that ups and downs are actually the worst thing. Spikes after meals, drops, spikes again when you over treat MUST be worse in the long run than keeping nice and steady. I think you are being realistic and fair to yourself and your baby.

I was fuming yesterday when a 4th year medical student looked at my BG diary and said it looked 'quite good' but there obviously some worrying highs (the page he was looking at had nothing higher than a 12.x and most of the readings were totally in range). Seriously, if these people knew the anguish we go through they'd be a lot more sensitive I think!

They have NO idea. None. If only they knew what it was like. X

I've had similar rapid drops, when I was pregnant with DS. They're weird, and don't generally respond typically either - most memorable was one in the reception bit of the antenatal clinic where I'd just had an appt with the DSN, consultant etc. Now bearing in mind it's a specialist diabetic clinic, it's vaguely amusing that nobody knew what to do with me or in fact how to treat a hypo that wasn't responding "normally" - they gave me 80g carbs in the end, to get my sugars back up and from that point, tended to believe me when I complained of non-responsive hypos!

I'd love a CGM but can't afford it, and I can't see me getting one off the nhs any time soon. I think the alarm function would be the most useful thing ever.

Spotty, my breakfast ratio is 10g = 4 or 5u

What I'm struggling with at the moment is post-breakfast - on the mornings that I have a proper breakfast, after a Novorapid dose of 20 - 25u, I'm around 8-10 an hour later. If I correct with 1 or 2u, I inevitably plummet to 3ish by elevenses time.
What to do?

Have you tried giving your Novorapid twenty minutes before you eat? I was dong that with my breakfast and found it helped. Have halved insulin ratio in three days though

Still waiting for nurse to call me back....

Yes, I've tried that about a month ago for a couple of weeks and saw no real difference Spotty.
I think Novorapid must work quite quickly in my body - it acts and runs out all within the space of about 2 hours!

Spotty, do you think it's nearly time?

I hope not I'm not ready!!

Hmm I'm not sure what to suggest, that's as far as my knowledge goes.... unless you try delaying your actual breakfast by an hour, which is obviously inconvenient and probably not possible if you're working etc

diec as you know I always struggle in the morning. I think injecting the same amount of insulin but 30 minutes or even 45 minutes earlier might help because then you're on the way down by the time you eat.

If not, stick to eggs or bacon or cheese (or a cheesy bacon omelette) for brekkie to avoid carbs spikes?

spotty have you heard back from the nurse yet? Hope they can make some sense of it for you. If you don't hear anything, I'd go in for monitoring, just in case - delivery suite should be able to advise, if your maternal assessment unit isn't around. Hope it's all ok though.

I'm in on the monitor then up to labour ward for assessment most likely overnight then seeing consultant tomorrow. I haven't seen dd since this morning

Good luck then, hope alls ok - will your dd be ok? It's always one of my worries, last time we had a friend come over till my mum could get here but she's since quite inconveniently moved to France so no idea what well do with DD & DS this time round.