# Feeling Down



## Emzi (Jan 9, 2013)

I know this is an awful title to have in such a lovely section and dont get me wrong i am over the moon about my pregnancy and cannot wait to have my 12 week scan in 4 weeks but i just feel so down at the moment. I am very stressed because i really want to try and sell my house before baby arrives (i know this might not happen) i also have college and 2 jobs. My partner has just been let go so we are desperate to get him another job before july and on top of that my IBS is playing up hugely I look 8 months pregnant not 8 weeks, but cant take my normal tablets and i know my IBS is triggered by stress so its at its worse and the cherry on top is im trying so so so hard to do everything diabetic wise that i can but i just cant seem to get good blood results after ive eaten. i have swapped all my foods and got rid of rubbish and tried alternatives but 2-3 hrs after its still around 11-13 and its making me so unhappy coz im worried something will go wrong, i just dont know where to turn at the moment and i thought best place is on here.
Sorry again for bringing my gloom to a lovely thread


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## LeeLee (Jan 9, 2013)

I wish I had a magic wand to make it all better.  Any one of the stresses you are under would get to most people, but you have early pregnancy hormones thrown into the mix - no wonder you're feeling low.  All you can do is take one day at a time, throw all your energy into fixing the things that you can, and try not worry about the things that you can't.  Easy to say, I know.


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## Twitchy (Jan 9, 2013)

Oh hun don't apologise!! Diabetic pregnancy sucks in my book!!! It's a big responsibility & hard work! 

Right...first things first - if your levels are still high hours after eating maybe it's time to tweak up your background dose? Your requirements will go through the roof by the end of pregnancy so maybe that trend is ready having an effect. If you're not confident tweaking your doses call your dsn for advice but it's normal to need more & more insulinas time goes by in pregnancy, so don't let the increases get you down - things will settle back post birth. 

Re the house move...my advice would be postpone it if you can for a year or more...you've got your hands full! Sounds like you've both got a heck of a lot on your plate at the mo. 

Just take it one day at a time...I know it's blooming hard work, but trust me, it will be worth it.  (((((((hugs!)))))))


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## Emzi (Jan 9, 2013)

Twitchy said:


> Re the house move...my advice would be postpone it if you can for a year or more...you've got your hands full! Sounds like you've both got a heck of a lot on your plate at the mo.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> ...


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## Twitchy (Jan 9, 2013)

Bless you, not easy.  Have you a phone number for your dsn? Maybe you could try a carb free lunch & see if your levels keep creeping up, which would imply background needs a tweak? What time of night are you hypoing, & do you know because you're waking up hypo or are you wakinv up at the normal time with a high level & concluding it's a bounce back from hypos? Might be worth sone 3am checks to figure out what's going on...I know, pain in the wotsit...but more info to base dose tweaks on...


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## Twitchy (Jan 9, 2013)

Sorry, loads of questions lol!


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## AlisonF (Jan 10, 2013)

Emzi, I'm 23 weeks with my first and I really sympathise with you, it is incredibly tough and you have such a lot on your plate. 

I found it tough for the first 12 weeks managing spikes and insulin resistance but things did get better - I calmed down and didn't get as stressed about everything which helped a lot and so far the second trimester has been much smoother. Let's not talk about the third trimester just yet 

Keep going, you're doing a great job. And when all else fails, I'm just thankful it's only 9 months, if I was an elephant I'd be at this for well over a year 

In case it's helpful, here are some of the things I did to manage my blood sugars more tightly in the first trimester http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/2012/11/what-diabetic-men-can-learn-from-pregnant-diabetic-women/ and also some of the things I did in an attempt to stay sane http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/2012/11/trying-to-stay-sane/


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## Emzi (Jan 10, 2013)

Twitchy said:


> Bless you, not easy.  Have you a phone number for your dsn? Maybe you could try a carb free lunch & see if your levels keep creeping up, which would imply background needs a tweak? What time of night are you hypoing, & do you know because you're waking up hypo or are you wakinv up at the normal time with a high level & concluding it's a bounce back from hypos? Might be worth sone 3am checks to figure out what's going on...I know, pain in the wotsit...but more info to base dose tweaks on...



Hi, i seem to be hypoing inbetween 3am-5am and ive also woke up 3 lows at 6.30am. my body seems to be waking me up still so Im not making myself wake up


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## Emzi (Jan 10, 2013)

AlisonF said:


> Emzi, I'm 23 weeks with my first and I really sympathise with you, it is incredibly tough and you have such a lot on your plate.
> 
> I found it tough for the first 12 weeks managing spikes and insulin resistance but things did get better - I calmed down and didn't get as stressed about everything which helped a lot and so far the second trimester has been much smoother. Let's not talk about the third trimester just yet
> 
> ...



Thank you so much for your reasurring words it means alot. Also thanks for the blog pages ill have a good read of them later


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## Monkey (Jan 10, 2013)

The non diabetes stuff, I know only you can decide what to do about. 

The diabetes stuff, I can try and tell you what's helped here, across two pregnancies.

The first thing I  try with high post meal levels is upping my basal, or changing the timing slightly. Also, injecting pre-meal made a huge difference here. Pre-pregnancy I could inject post breakfast easily but now (almost 38w) I have to inject at least 30mins pre-meal to get anywhere close to target. I have built up to that over the last few months tho, so maybe try starting a much smaller gap first and seeing how it goes. Is your carb counting spot on? I had to do some revisiting in the early days to be really careful too.

I'd also be interested to see what your one hour post meal readings are, if the 2-3hours are at 11-13. For me, that would really mean needing a ratio increase. Would you usually make tweaks like that yourself? If not, I'd be speaking to your DSN before next Weds, as a week is a pretty long time in pregnancy terms! (and, you'll feel so much better in yourself if you're not running high, both physically and mentally.)

Weirdly, the only way I can avoid overnight hypos is to have a higher evening dose of lantus that I suspect is needed, and snack before bed. Not something I'd be wanting to do if not pregnant, but the rules go out of the window in my book!

Have you got a specialist nurse for your IBS? I've got ulcerative colitis (IBS so a bit different) and my nurse was really happy to chat with me about drugs that might be able to help and were pregnancy safe.

Hope that's a bit helpful. It does get more manageable - well, at the very least you feel more in control, from experience.


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## Lizzzie (Jan 10, 2013)

Hi Emzi don't beat yourself up. The first bit of diabetic pregnancy REALLY sucks and do anything you can to make life easier for yourself.

Im sorry im a bit blurry: Do I conclude from reading the above that you are waking up hypo in the night? If so, it sounds as though the night might well need to go down again. In any case, write all your readings down if you aren't already, pick up the phone and use your DSN (and if you don't have one, get one). Honestly in the age of NHS cuts they wouldn't have DSNs if it wasn't really important for them to be there, especially in pregnancy. They are usually very good at being available to pregnant women on the phone. There is a reason for this: it's very common for diabetic pregnant women to suddenly feel lost, alone and need some help and getting that help to you is really important. It's what they're there for and they'll be pleased to help.

The first thing mine said to me was to inject half an hour or so before eating: this helped a lot with the highs 2 hours after food and I didn't change my doses or diet at all.


Hopre you manage to feel back on top of things soon and remember: your hormones seem to be programmed so that you feel frantic at this point.  They magnify problems and make you feel down.
I'm not saying that things are perfect: in fact it sounds as if you've mountains and mountains to deal with. Just that those mountains probably aren't as big as your pregnancy hormones want you to believe they are.

Have faith: it WILL feel better in a few weeks.


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## chattygirl197811 (Jan 14, 2013)

Hi there

You certainly do have  a lot on your plate and I really feel for you. Diabetic pregancy alone is really hard and stressful. I am still struggling with high post meal BG and horrble random hypos despite all my efforts so I can symathise with you but not really advise I'm afraid. I think its worth having a chat with your care team or DNS to see what can be done. I wonder if it might help tp try some sort of yoga or relaxation to try and calm your mind? I only say this because I tend to get quite worried about things which makes my ibs worse and the only thing thats helped recently is some basic breathing and yoga I do in the lounge for a few mins on my own each day.
I really hope things improve for you soon, xx


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