Diabetes and ESRD

[Clara]

My blood sugars seem to just drop every night lately.  I understand that as the kidneys stop filtering out the insulin, that low blood sugar results, but jeez how do I keep going waking up in the early AM in the low 40's.  This makes it even harder to get my butt out of bed in the morning.  I just can't seem to get any rest.  Anybody out there with similar problems.  I am working to adjust my insulin pump settings to help, but would welcome any added tips.

Thanks.
God Bless
Christi

[frankswife]

Christi, Frank is also trying to get his pump under control. He's not having AM lows, but he is definitely needing much less insulin now. Overall he's using around 7 less units a day since he began dialysis. Have you consulted your doc about lowering your overnight settings on the pump? Or have you tried eating a snack right before bed? That's when Frank tends to get into trouble, when he's sleeping and cant check his sugar. And of course he refuses to wear his continous glucose monitor. He went into a diabetic coma on January 4 and was hospitalized 5 days. This was the worst and scariest episode yet. So I definitely know where you're coming from.

[Clara]

I having been seeing the Endo every 6 weeks.  She tends to keep increasing my insulin and I put my foot down.  My A1C was lower and I am tired of the lows.  I was having two lows a day where it would take an hour for me to get my sugar back up and be able to function.  She finally decreased my overnigh rate this last time.  The next morning I still had a low.  I have been snacking before bed if I have an early dinner, but I work late hours and tend to eat right before bed.  My eating has drastically changed.  I am mostly eating veggies as nothing seems to sound good to me.  The Endo insists I take in a little protein with every meal.  I like nuts, so I am using them to try and adhere to her suggestion.  I have decided to look at my pump settings and explain to the Endo that I am tired of eating to cover the insulin.  That is not what the pump is designed to do.l  I just haven't been able to verbally explain myself but am getting there.  I have been lucky and still wake up when I drop at night.  I have woken up in the 40's.  I ended up losing an hour and melting down enough that my husband woke up and gave me a large strawberry soda.  I usually am able to do it myself but I guess the muffing I ate slowed down the sugary drink.  It is such a balancing act and it hard to do when you are worn out.

Thanks for you input.  I just am going to keep putting my foot down and will lower my pump settings if I have to.

  Have a great night.

[Speedy1wrc]

I am seeing similar results. For me the scary part is low episodes come on very quickly now and may times without warning. Overnight scares me as I don't know what to expect any more. My readings have become more inconsistent over time. It used to be that I could feel it coming on, check my Bg and act accordingly. Now I may not feel it coming on and once went out completely. It is not uncommon for me to feel the onset of going low and I best run for the kitchen for carbs asap. It is a necessity that I carry massive amounts of carbs with me too.

[jjneyjr]

I take oral diabetic agents and if I forget to eat BAM. I have an episode about every day or night. Mine come on fast and hard because they are masked by my BP meds. BP meds 3 times a day. I was using glucose tablets but discontinued due to the magnesium stearate that is one of the ingredients. Thanks to a recent post here by someone who posted that bargs root beer has no potassium I put a few in the fridge for just an emergency and for a treat. Between that and my jelly beans I am covered for my lows.

Here is a link to the ADA who wrote a paper about it.

http://www.diabetes.org/news-research/research/access-diabetes-research/dialysis-reduces-insulin.html


Best,

[Speedy1wrc]

We don't have too many places around here that carry Barq's. I do know that A&W is low in phosphorus which is also a good thing. I have more of a prolem with phosphorus than potassium.

The other trouble with the tablets is that they don't have that many carb's in them. Most brand's are in the area of 4g which is minimal. That isn't nearly enough to get you out of a major crash. I always try to carry a pouch of Gatorade Prime . They are between $0.80-$1.00 each. They also have around 30g of carb's which is more than enough to halt pretty much any nose dive. They do have electrolytes, so check if they will work for you.