Sudden huge jump in insulin requirement

[G2ADY]

Hi all,

So I've been out of the honeymoon period for perhaps a year or so, I'd settled on 25ml of Basal that I used to take in the evening but a couple of months ago I switched to taking in the morning to avoid night time lows. All good. I'd used a ratio of 1 unit of bolus to every 10g of carbs for some months but the past month this has crept up to 2 units to each 10g of carbs. This past couple of weeks however has seen my blood sugars spiralling out of control.

I'm now taking 3 units to every 10g of carbs and yet I can't get my sugars to sensible levels. I have always been between 5 and 8 mmol/l but this past couple of weeks I'm struggling to get below 12 and very often I'm around the 15 mark.

I'm wondering if it's a change in medication that has caused this. I've recently been put on statins and in addition I've been told to take fexofenadine daily to combat allergies. I've been on these for around 3 weeks and I'm now wondering if it's one of these medications that is causing the jump in insulin requirements? Is it possible that they are causing an insulin resistance? Does anyone else have any similar experiences?

 

[ann34+]

Hi all,

So I've been out of the honeymoon period for perhaps a year or so, I'd settled on 25ml of Basal that I used to take in the evening but a couple of months ago I switched to taking in the morning to avoid night time lows. All good. I'd used a ratio of 1 unit of bolus to every 10g of carbs for some months but the past month this has crept up to 2 units to each 10g of carbs. This past couple of weeks however has seen my blood sugars spiralling out of control.

I'm now taking 3 units to every 10g of carbs and yet I can't get my sugars to sensible levels. I have always been between 5 and 8 mmol/l but this past couple of weeks I'm struggling to get below 12 and very often I'm around the 15 mark.

I'm wondering if it's a change in medication that has caused this. I've recently been put on statins and in addition I've been told to take fexofenadine daily to combat allergies. I've been on these for around 3 weeks and I'm now wondering if it's one of these medications that is causing the jump in insulin requirements? Is it possible that they are causing an insulin resistance? Does anyone else have any similar experiences?

Hi, Gzady, i have not had experience of this drug - with severe rhinitis, and some other allergies i try to steer away from other meds after various experiences, but appreciate many others may not be able to do this, but i would go back to your doctor asap - see internet - Drugs.com -
Other Medical Problems
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes)—Use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine may cause an increase in blood glucose levels

 

[G2ADY]

Hi, i have not had experience of this drug - with severe rhinitis, and some other allergies i try to steer away from other meds after various experiences, but appreciate many others may not be able to do this, but i would go back to your doctor asap - see internet - Drugs.com -
Other Medical Problems
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes)—Use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine may cause an increase in blood glucose levels

Hi Ann,

Thanks for that, I did a quick search on Google earlier but couldn't find anything other than suggestion that 2 out of 1400 people tested reported an increase, that said, it didn't say that the 1400 were diabetic. I think what I'll do is stop the Fexofenadine immediately to see if I can regain some control and in the meantime make an appointment with the doctors as this normally takes a couple of weeks.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Hi, Gzady, i have not had experience of this drug - with severe rhinitis, and some other allergies i try to steer away from other meds after various experiences, but appreciate many others may not be able to do this, but i would go back to your doctor asap - see internet - Drugs.com -
Other Medical Problems
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes)—Use of fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine may cause an increase in blood glucose levels

Just curious, was that info taken from a page about a drug with fexofenadine+pseudoephedrine? If so, you might need to check the page for just fexofenadine.

 

[ann34+]

Just curious, was that info taken from a page about a drug with fexofenadine+pseudoephedrine? If so, you might need to check the page for just fexofenadine.

Hi, CatLadyNZ, you are correct - i noticed that that site was not clear which medication might be the problem, but it came up when i put just 'fexofenadine and type one diabetes' into the search, and as other sites had a list of reasons fexofenadine might not be suitable, i thought it sounded like the sort of medication i would discuss in more detail with my GP if my blood glucose was spiralling, just in case this was the cause - my own experience of virtually all medications is that they do affect Type one in some way or other - as an example, i try to use Ventolin as little as possible as this causes blood glucose changes for me, although medics say most Type ones are little affected.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Hi, CatLadyNZ, you are correct - i noticed that that site was not clear which medication might be the problem, but it came up when i put just 'fexofenadine and type one diabetes' into the search, and as other sites had a list of reasons fexofenadine might not be suitable, i thought it sounded like the sort of medication i would discuss in more detail with my GP if my blood glucose was spiralling, just in case this was the cause - my own experience of virtually all medications is that they do affect Type one in some way or other - as an example, i try to use Ventolin as little as possible as this causes blood glucose changes for me, although medics say most Type ones are little affected.

Yeah I'm not surprised to hear that you find that. Often drugs affect people more than the official data indicates they should.

 

[mrspuddleduck]

@G2ADY All antihistamines carry a warning for diabetics. Doesn't mean you can't use them but they do need to be used with care.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Antihistamines/Pages/Who-can-use-it.aspx

 

[G2ADY]

@G2ADY All antihistamines carry a warning for diabetics. Doesn't mean you can't use them but they do need to be used with care.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Antihistamines/Pages/Who-can-use-it.aspx

Ahh, thank you! It was actually a consultant at a private hospital that prescribed the Fexofenadine, he was aware that I was type 1 however.

 

[CarbsRok]

Perhaps also check to see if you are having enough basal (background) insulin.
PS think you have your insulin measurements a bit wrong you measure in units not mls

 

[donnellysdogs]

If you find a certain med is giving you side effects of raised bloods... Please report to the MHRA website. Its the only way that they can get true statistics... Thanx.
Hope you get levels back normal...

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Have a look at this link for what it's worth:

http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/fexofenadine+hydrochloride/high+blood+sugar

 

[chl0ejasmine]

I've been on antihistamines before I was diabetic and since (I have severe hives) and I've never had continuous high blood sugars as a result. However, perhaps your levels are higher because your body is combating the allergy? If you are waking up high then your basal is likely needing to be increased - I find if I wake up high I'm not gonna get it down for the rest of the dY

 

[birchy66]

I've been taking cetirizine hydrochloride for 11 months because of an allergy to cats and I've had no abnormal rises in BG so far.