Spring pants

Spring is around the corner. I can tell. I can feel it.

Literally.

This year’s winter was very cold, and I knew it would be the case already before it had started. In October, my body – or the bear within me – started to prepare for winter and accumulate fat. I could hear it scream from inside: “prepare for the worse!” And so it did. I gained 4 kilograms in October within two weeks without any logical cause. They stuck with me. My hope to lose them before I would sit under the Christmas tree while unwrapping the presents, wasn’t really realistic. Nor was it the case. Damn it.

In February and March, as the temperatures got very low, I started to be really insulin resistant and my daily insulin consumption rose by 15-20%. My legendary glycemic control from autumn was gone and I no longer was the “best pupil in the class”… I felt like a beginner… And the elevated amount of insulin, the best friend for fat storage, made me gain another 2 kilograms.

This situation of course does not make me happy for various reasons. Higher weight means that I need more insulin. My wish is to go the other way round, not just because of the additives inside and all its side-effects (read: I am still so grateful for it, as I would not survive few days without it. So, all bad is forgotten), but because the more insulin is on board, the less easy the glycemic control becomes, the more fat is stored (vicious circle) and … my pants got tight! I did not plan to apply for the Miss Universe contest (not this year at least), but hey, my pants are tight!

Barely a week ago, sudden lows started to kick in. And these were no light lows, some of them lasted for up to an hour and I had to consume up to 30g of carbs and some put me out of order for the rest of the day. At one point even 40g and I did not skyrocket into high sugar afterwards, as I would expect after such a sugar load! It is more than I have for my lunch, carb-wise. And this was after precisely weighted carbs and no carb guessing, so I am not blaming myself for giving myself too much insulin without a reason. Suddenly, the body became more sensitive to insulin. Time to change. Again. Every perfectly adjusted pump settings are followed by a sudden change of everything and new adjustments are needed.

Spring is around the corner. I can tell. I can feel it. 

I adjusted my basal rates and now it is time to adjust the carb factor (Insulin:Carb ratio – number of grams of carbohydrate that one unit of insulin will cover). Whenever the body switches to a different regime, complex adjustments are needed. Basal rates, as well as carb factor and maybe even correction factor (how much 1 unit of insulin causes the sugar level to drop) in the Bolus Wizzard calculator.

Today’s dinner explains it nicely. The sensitivity appears to be too high (in other words, the carb F factor is set too low – the bolus will be higher), hence I ended up low within an hour after dinner (pls refer to photo below). There was already a slight downward trend right at the time of eating, so there could still be an influence from the basal rates (or some of the other 42 factors that could be in play). Someone, please hand me the Magic ball! Nevertheless, these adjustments are never for one day. Repeated trends provide the clues.  Unless, they don’t… I normally spread out the adjustments throughout several days, adjusting various periods of the day separately (e.g. the morning period – three days in a row. Once the morning is fixed, I continue to adjust the mid-day period, which can be all affected by the morning and might not need any adjustments in the end, provided the morning is fixed. And so on.

What remains a game changer is the start of the day. Therefore, when I start my adjustments, I tend to adjust the night at first. Followed by the daily segments, as mentioned above. If I start a day with a higher sugar level, insulin resistivity is already at game for hours and it takes literally hours to bring the glucose down and a lot of insulin. Insulin is not that effective anymore and everything is different. I wouldn’t hope for a good day (glycemic level wise, of course! No reason not to enjoy it otherwise) on such days.

I fixed the settings for the dinner and I will see tomorrow and the upcoming days how things are going.

Now I have to put away the pants into the wardrobe. I need to enter the bed in a mindful state of mind and looking at them causes a bit of a frustration.

But hey, spring is here! Yeah! This opens a whole lot of other possibilities to loosen up and lose “them” up!

I might have lost the battle, but I will win the war! Watch out, pants! Spring is around the corner. I can tell. I can feel it.