It’s May in Arizona, technically spring, but this week? We’re in full monsoon vacation mode. Chilly winds, steady rain, and a temperature drop into the 50s. The desert looks confused… and so am I (but not for the usual reasons).
Every time it gets cold like this, something familiar usually follows: I have to adjust my basal insulin down or I end up riding the hypo express all day.
For anyone new to diabetes, basal insulin is the steady, background drip your body needs around the clock. Since I’m on a pump, it delivers small amounts all day long. For folks using injections, it’s that one big long-lasting dose that covers your body’s basic insulin needs. I was taught by my favorite endo to adjust in 10 percent increments (so for me, that usually means going from 27 units down to 24 or 22 when cold weather hits).
Why? Because if I don’t, I crash. Repeatedly. Every year, around the same time.
But here’s where it gets strange. This spring brought weeks of warm, sunny weather, and my blood sugar was running high. So, I adjusted my settings for summer (dialed up the basal). Then out of nowhere, a cold storm rolls in… and guess what? My blood sugar stayed steady.
Not one low. No emergency juice boxes. No surprise crashes. Just calm waters.
And now I’m sitting here wondering: If it’s not the weather, then what is it?
For years, I assumed it had to be temperature. Cold makes insulin absorb faster, heat slows it down. Even endocrinologists I’ve seen agreed with that theory (kind of). But none of them could explain why the shifts were so extreme, or why they happened so reliably at the same time every year.
This week’s weather threw a wrench in all of that. I kept my “summer” settings (despite the cold), and everything remained stable. So I started digging into a new possibility, one I’ve never really said out loud.
What if it’s not physical… but emotional?
When I was diagnosed, I ended up in the hospital with severe ketones. I don’t remember the exact time of year, but I do know that for almost 14 years, I had low blood sugar seizures around the same season (every single year). It was frustrating, terrifying, and bizarre—like my body was holding on to something it couldn’t explain.
What if my system reacts to that memory each year? Like some kind of internal clock (wound by trauma) that keeps firing off a warning even when nothing external has changed.
It might sound far-fetched, but after this week, it honestly feels more likely than weather alone.
So here’s where I turn it over to you—fellow T1Ds, caregivers, or anyone who’s ever lived with a body that does weird stuff without asking.
Have you ever had to adjust your basal for reasons that don’t add up?
Do you notice strange patterns at certain times of the year?
Is there something your body knows… that you forgot?
If you’ve got stories, theories, or even wild guesses, I’d love to hear them. Drop a comment or swing by the Crew’s Quarters on the site. Because if diabetes is going to keep being this weird, we might as well figure it out together.
We’re all captains on our own voyage (but that doesn’t mean we have to sail through the fog alone).
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