As I mentioned in my previous post, I was quite tired today after two days of riding in the mountains. So, my pace was much slower than usual. Despite the slower pace, I was still having trouble keeping the blood sugars within normal range. Here are my blood sugars from today:

• 59 (3:23 AM) — I changed my site at about 8 PM last night. My bedtime blood sugar was 87 (9:32 PM). Probaby a bit low, so I estimated about 15 grams of carbohydrate (raisins) and went to bed.
• 100 (6:33 AM). Fasting.
• 88 (7:59 AM). Pre-ride blood sugar. Lower than I like to see it prior to a ride. Had a banana and half a bagel.
• 69 (8:41 AM). Hmmm. Still too low. Time for some apple juice.
• 74 (10:18 AM). Had a banana and a handful of raisins.
• 108 (11:32 AM). Lunchtime. Had a large slice of cold pizza (left over from eating out the night before). Bolused 2.0 units of insulin.
• 70 (1:22 PM). Had a banana and a bagel.
• 97 (2:50 PM). Post-ride

I had changed my infusion site the night before and I must have hit a sweet spot, so to speak. Insulin was being absorbed almost too well. For those of you unfamiliar with the use of insulin, another variable for a person with diabetes to monitor is how well the insulin is being absorbed into the body.

Generally, insulin will be absorbed much faster in the abdomen than in an arm or leg. I say “generally” because there are other things that affect the absorption rate. First, insulin injected into areas of the body with more fat underneath the skin will be absorbed more slowly. Second, scar tissue causes insulin to be absorbed more slowly. In fact, I’ve been told that scar tissue does not absorb insulin at all, so it’s a very bad choice for an infusion site or an injection. This is why pump wearers are strongly encouraged to rotate their infusion sites regularly and to change their sites at least every three days. Repeated use of the same injection or infusion site or leaving a site in longer than three days can cause scarring. I hate changing my infusion site, so there was a time (before I knew about the scar tissue problem) when I would “stretch” my site into a fourth day. Needless to day, I don’t do that anymore.

A final variable in insulin absorption rate is exercise. When blood flow increases to the legs during exercise like cycling, insulin is absorbed much quicker. I have to be very careful about infusion sites in my legs these days because of this but also because I find that sites in my legs tend to get irritated much more quickly. Probably because of the constant motion of pedaling.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 28th, 2006 at 6:24 pm and is filed under The Dream Tour, Diabetes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.