Blood sugars won't stay down

Pattie74
Pattie74 Posts: 85 Member
Hi Everyone,
I'm so glad this group is here and I'm hoping some of you have some insight. Last week I was hospitalized with the flu. I was so very dehydrated and all my numbers were off. A couple days after I came home, I noticed my sugars were going up and up. I'm on humolog before meals and lantus at bedtime. My fasting sugars are in the high 200's and sometimes over 300. When I eat, it's like my humolog isn't even working! I've had Type 1 for 26 years now and have never seen anything like this! This morning I'm going in for urinalysis to make sure there's no UTI, but I'm certainly not having any symptoms. I mean I feel like crap from high sugars, but that's all. Oh, and it's not like I've changed my eating habits. Just wondering if any of you have had such an issue. Thanks!

Replies

  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    I have a few thoughts:
    1. Have you tested for ketones?
    2. If you are like me and a lot of other type 1's, your correction factor is not static. By that I mean if you give 1 additional unit for every 25 mg/dl BG that you are over target, that isn't enough. You may need to add an additional 5%-10% for highs. Example: If your correction factor is 1:25 (insulin:BG), target is 100 and BG is 300, then you would calculate 8 additional units of humalog. Except for me, that won't be enough. I'll add another 5%-10%. Of course, with a syringe, it isn't as easy to measure precisely, so I would try to measure 8.5, or halfway between 8 and 9 if the syringe does not have 1/2 unit markings.
    3. Have you done any basal testing lately? Some diabetics have this idea that basal testing is only for pumpers, but I would wholeheartedly disagree. The way the data is used may be different, but that doesn't make it any less important. If you haven't done basal testing, you don't want to do it if you are running high for obvious reasons, so don't do that just yet.
    4. Have you had unusually high levels of stress or any other factors that would raise your blood sugars? You are sure you are over the flu, right?
    5. Are you developing insulin resistance or could it be getting worse? I have the opposite issue. I have both type 1 and type 2. Like a lot of others with type 2, my resistance has decreased as I've lost weight. At one time, I was taking 150-200 units daily. Now my average is less than 70 units daily. I realize that type 1 will never go away (unless someone finds a cure... it should be 10 years from now, or that's what they have been saying for 50 years now), but type 2 is a different disease (a metabolic disease vs. type 1, an autoimmune disease) and losing weight helps most type 2's.
  • okulyd
    okulyd Posts: 147 Member
    This happened to me, for a whole week feeling like crap and couldn't get BG down no matter how much insulin I took... Was totally random and unexpected and nothing I did seemed to bring it down. After taking double dose for a week it finally came back to normal on its own. Try a new bottle of insulin and/or get a new one from the pharmacy. Its possible something happened to your insulin during shipping. Many drugs will cause your BG to rise as well. Were you given any medicine to help with your flu? Even if you don't feel stressed your body is probably stressed from being sick and from dealing with the high bg. You can't do anything about this but you might want to take 25% more until the body recovers form the stress.
  • vickicutshall
    vickicutshall Posts: 25 Member
    Be sure the Lantus and Humalog you're using are okay. When it's a strange change, and not explainable by illness or excess fat or high protein in the diet, it could also be a bum bottle of insulin. It's rare, but worth considering moving to a fresh bottle.
  • Pattie74
    Pattie74 Posts: 85 Member
    Did switch to new ones. I found out I have a UTI. I'm hoping that's what's causing the problem. On antibiotics for a few days and hopefully will return to normal soon. If not, it's go to be a resistance issue.
  • ppatick
    ppatick Posts: 13 Member
    I have had the same issue this month, after opening a new vial of Apidra. I need to refigure my ratios every time I open a new vial, so frustrating! This is a more baffling week as sometimes the injections work to lower the high BG, and other times not. Could it be the injection site I am using in my stomach? I took 6 units after lunch today and 3 hours later my BG was 400. It was like I didn't take any insulin at all. I am not sick at the moment, so I don't have Pattie's problem. Anyone with insight, please respond?
  • okulyd
    okulyd Posts: 147 Member
    Ppatick, are you newly diagnosed? If not it could easily be your injection site. Try somewhere new. Any new activities? Foods? I find that regardless of the carb count on the package certain foods require more insulin than others. For example an apple has 19g carb and half a unit covers it just fine. If I eat 20g carbs of triscuits I need double the insulin to cover (1 full unit). Both have lots of fiber but for some reason processed foods shoot me through the roof every time.