Gestational Diabetes.. I give up...

[Chalrhow]

It seems the more insulin i take the higher my blood sugar gets !!! I was diagnosed as having Gestational Diabetes... My results came back as borderline... My blood sugars have never been any higher than 7.4... I am now on 16 units of Insulatard at night time only... My blood sugar this morning was 6.9 !! Before i went to bed it was 6.1 ??? I am getting so frustrated... Before i started insulin my morning blood sugar was always around 5.6 - 6.0... But now instead of getting lower its getting higher !! Any time i mention this to the diabetic team they just suggest increasing my insulin 2 more units !!! Is it possible the insulin is doing more harm than good ?? Im so fed up with this

 

[chathamlady]

Are you having a snack before bed i find if i dont my fasting sugar is higher

 

[Chalrhow]

No i wasn't... Someone suggested cheese, so i am going to try that tonight

 

[mhk425]

You actually want to have a snack with carbs (15-30g) as well as protein before bed, ESPECIALLY since you're now on insulin. (I'm shocked that your doctor/dietitian wouldn't have told you this.) If you don't have the carbs, your sugar gets low overnight and, in order to compensate, your liver actually dumps glucose into your body and raises your blood sugar. That's why your level was higher in the morning than before bed. GD is SO frustrating, but you can do it!

 

[Skatingfan]

The exact same thing happened to me. My post meal blood sugars were fine, but fasting sugar was a little high (usually around 6.0), then when I used the insulin most of my blood sugars, even post meal, went up. So as an experiment, I went off the insulin for a few days and my blood sugar dropped. I did this three times, going back and forth between the insulin and no insulin, and it did that each time!

I finally got so frustrated and stressed that I told my diabetes specialists that I was going to monitor my blood sugar and watch my diet, but having a break from seeing them. I was having a snack with carb and protein before bedtime each night, so it wasn't that! Is it possible that there are some people out there that insulin had the opposite effect on?

 

[Chalrhow]

The exact same thing happened to me. My post meal blood sugars were fine, but fasting sugar was a little high (usually around 6.0), then when I used the insulin most of my blood sugars, even post meal, went up. So as an experiment, I went off the insulin for a few days and my blood sugar dropped. I did this three times, going back and forth between the insulin and no insulin, and it did that each time!

I finally got so frustrated and stressed that I told my diabetes specialists that I was going to monitor my blood sugar and watch my diet, but having a break from seeing them. I was having a snack with carb and protein before bedtime each night, so it wasn't that! Is it possible that there are some people out there that insulin had the opposite effect on?

Im so glad im not the only 1 this has happened to... I have thought about stopping the insulin to see what effect it has on my blood sugars, especially now that the diabetic team want to introduce a 2nd insulin, nova rapid for after breakfast and evening meals, ive to wait and see how my blood sugars are between now and friday, i am now on 18 units of Insulatard at night time, i honestly cant see my blood sugars getting any lower on insulin and i really don't want to start on 2 different insulins... No idea what to do

 

[Kyten1978]

This is just a possibility I have found in my research. Your body may be doing a glucose dump in the middle of the night because the insulin makes your blood sugar too low. This is called the Somogyi effect. There is also something called the Dawn Phenomenon that when it gets to morning your body produces more hormones to get you up and going. The problem with that is as a gestational diabetic our bodies do not respond correctly so higher glucose reading.

https://www.dlife.com/diabetes/blood_sugar_management/garnero_0106

This is a small article about this two things. Hopefully it helps. As I said these are just possibilities you can look into. I am not a medical professional.

 

[Skatingfan]

That's really interesting. When I tried to talk to the doc about the Dawn Phenomenon he just waved it off. This is so frustrating as I obviously don't want to do anything to harm my baby, but between wanting me to miss a whole day of work every week to go to the appointments, then pushing more and more insulin on me, I'm just at the point where treating this is causing huge amounts of stress!

 

[Chalrhow]

Thanks i just had a read at the article and i will be waking up at 2 - 3am to check blood sugar the next few mornings.

Skatingfan... I am feeling the exact same way... stressed and frustrated being told to increase my insulin and it not having any positive effect !!