Double Arrows and a Lotta LOWs

I put in a new CGM sensor yesterday morning at 8am. Zombie Rose had lasted 17 days and then, without warning, died a final death on the bathroom counter. So I put a new one in and, at 10:00am, Rose was buzzing away telling me to enter two blood sugars to calibrate.

I did and went back to work at my desk.

I have heard rumours, or perhaps rumblings. that the first day on a new sensor is not particularly accurate. That it takes a day or so for the sensor to 'marinate' as it were before the numbers are a little more reliable.

I've only ever experienced wildly inaccurate readings on the first sensor day once. They were all over the place - telling me I was climbing or dropping when I wasn't. Telling me I was 5-6 numbers off from where I was. I Things did settle after a while but, as it turns out, it's actually more annoying to be told wrong blood sugar numbers than to not actually know your blood sugar numbers.

Yesterday was one of the craziest crazy rabbit blood sugar days I've had in a while.

I calibrated the new sensor at a time when my blood sugar should have been fairly steady. I think it was pretty steady at 10am but, at about 11am, the wheels fell off the cart. Between 11am and 7pm (when I'm actually writing this blog) I had double down arrows 3 times. I dropped below 3.1 twice. I skyrocketed to 13 and then dropped back down to 2.7.

I kept double checking my numbers on my glucometer and, despite all of the ups and downs, Rose was pretty accurate. Particularly on her first day.

I kept thinking it was just her but no, I really was riding some pretty wild waves.

So much so that, for the first time in living memory, I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes after doing groceries to let my blood sugar climb above 5 so I could drive the five minutes it takes to get home. My blood sugar hit 5 and I started the car. Within five minutes I had double up arrows telling me I was 7 and then 9 and then 11. Twenty minutes later I had double down arrows that didn't stop until I hit 3.0 again.

During that particular wave I had no insulin in my system other than my basal rate. It is not the first day of my period which is the typical cause of such wild fluctuations. I did not eat anything out of the ordinary. I was not stressed or getting sick. I had not done any unusual physical activity.

I've gone back to swimming regularly but does it make sense for my body to react to that increase in activity by having lows after I've been swimming 5 times?

Rose at 7:30 last night. Double arrows again. You can see in the middle where I dropped so low she kept alarming "low" without actually give me a number. That's when I sat in my car munching on glucose tabs and hoping my frozen fruit wouldn't melt before I got home. Then you can see where  I spiked up to 10 within fifteen minutes only to drop back down to 3.1. 

It's frustrating. I've eaten three healthy meals today as well as about 500 calories of pure sugar. Fabulous.

I dropped my basal rates at bit to see if that helps. Yesterday might have been just a fluke but I sure as hell don't want to do that again any time soon. I'm sure Rose doesn't either. It can't be fun to have to vibrate so much or to set off the 'you are below 3.1' siren in public places. I'm sure it embarrasses her as much as it does me.

Right Rose?