Friday, December 9, 2011

Seasonal affective insulin consumption

I have more updates on the "mysteries of my heart" series, but I thought I'd take the blog discussion back to it's sugary roots for a post or two. 

I have been adjusting my basal rate to get the most stable glucose levels I can. But this time of year things always get a bit more interesting with basal levels. The change of seasons from warm weather to cold weather somehow affect my insulin needs. It's strange, but it's a documented thing.  For me it has been about 5-10% difference. I might notice 1-2 units/day up or down when the weather becomes consistently hot or cold.
Right now I'm on 19 units basal. I reduced it from 22 after my stealth (sinus?) infection got under control. Outside of that exception, normally I'd be adding some basal to the winter season to keep things steady. Warm temperatures usually have me backing it off a bit, after I find myself going hypo during a normally stable time of the day.

I'm curious how many of my diabetic readers notice seasonal changes in how much insulin they use.

Did I mention that I love the information that I can slurp out of my infusion device (pump)... I'm pretty sure I did.

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