Insulin not working to bring sugar levels down!?

[bobshow]

Hi everyone!
I am a 30 year-old male and have been diabetic for 16 years. I am currently using novorapid and lantus injections to manage my blood sugar. Generally speaking my blood sugar control has been pretty good over the years but just lately I have had some problems where, when I have done a blood test my levels have been very high (15+ in some cases.) I have made an adjustment innjection to bring the levels down but after an hour my levels are still high, sometimes even higher than they were before. It is as though the insulin is not having an effect at all! Has anybody else experienced anything similar?

I sometimes work abroad and the first time this happened to me was when I was spending a few weeks in South Korea - at first I put it down to something in the food however it has since happened to me back in the UK too. Any help would be greatly appreciated as it's obviously a little unsettling to feel unable to bring my sugar levels back under control!

Cheers

 

[phoenix]

Two quick thoughts
a) are you varying your injection sites ? Sometimes if you use a site frequently over many years that area can develop fatty deposits that make insulin absorption less predictable.
b)As you seem to be travelling a lot is some of your insulin being subjected to extremes of temperature? Have you tried changing to a new pen when this happens>

 

[Archie13]

Hi, I am a 47 year old Type 1 and have been for 33 years. I have always had really good control, apart from the odd blip here and there. I had exactly the same problem as you. It seemed that no matter how much Insulin I gave myself my blood sugars would not go down, I was averaging between 15 and 24, which worried me sick. Then I would drop to about 1.8, it seemed like the insulin wasn't working at all and then suddenly it did and lowered my blood sugars too much. In desperation I contacted my Diabetic Nurse and she gave me guidelines on what dosages to give myself depending on my blood sugar. She also told me not to test too often as I was so worried that I was testing about 12 times a day. Luckily now I am slowly getting back to normal, but it has taken about 5 weeks to get there.

 

[DTGTaylor]

This is an old topic under several different headings. I have been Type 1 diabetic for over 64 years and have given advice on this subject several times.

There are two situations where insulin does not bring down BG levels and both are "the body's immune system". In non-diabetic people the body's BG level is regulated by hormones from either the pancreas or the liver whereby the body increases the BG level by releasing hormones to protect it (the body) from a hypo or insulin to reduce BG levels.

Your problem is not shortage of insulin, it is too much... Next time, just try about 30 carbs, no insulin and patience; after a while, possibly 12 hours, you should find the BG level comes back to norm. It's best to do this overnight.

This works for me, the problem with hormones is that they don't go away quickly, the body has to know that it is not going to be overwhelmed by another huge dose of insulin. Trust me, even my DSN does now.

Good luck

 

[Ali G]

Here goes with my first post!

I have been type 1 for over 33 years so have seen lots of ways of changing things and am open to different things. Having had a lot of stress in the last few years and put some weight on, I recently suffered a nasty gastric bug. While off work I spent some time to read up on a few things.
A few news articles helped me towards a few changes and my weight and blood sugars are now heading in the right direction again.
The horse meat fiasco made me think about my diet and now most of my meals are reduced fat and meat free. This helps your GI effect and reduces fat intake from meat. I also read up on the number of side effects that certain sweeteners can give us and have cut out fizzy sweetened drinks. I now have carbonated mineral water with a small dash of natural fruit juice so I can count it in as part of a meal.
I think that making these changes has helped me personally - the meat reduction would help anybody as you take in less fat. The fizzy drinks lead to bloating and, if believed, aspartame etc can do a number of things to you so best off without it!
I am now not getting any blood sugar peaks, have lost about 11 pound in a month and am feeling better for it. I would imagine all of these points help my control as well as insulin absorption. Works for me so I'm gonna stick at it.

 

[bobshow]

Thank you very much for all of your comments guys - that's definitely very helpful and offered me lots to consider.

I do try and vary my sites though I do stick to just my legs and my abdomen. I tend to use my left leg in the morning, my abdomen at lunch and then my right leg at night. I do get the odd lump though from time to time so perhaps I need to vary more.

I'm also interested in the idea that it could be too much insulin - I will be sure to give this a try next time I find myself in this situation!

Cheers

 

[bethan90]

I agree - its happened to me many times and so I load up on the insulin and all of a sudden it hits me all at once with a hypo. Its hard because I hate being high but the best thing to do is give your usual correction dose and then wait it out. Go for a walk, sometimes that helps to bring it down. Also I think it depends on why you're high- if you've had a meal high in fat it takes longer for it to react (I think that's the right way round anyway). It it's due to stress or illness then that's down to the hormones as mentioned above so can take a while for the BS to sort itself out too.

 

[Rachel91]

Hi this happened to me a few times and when i asked my nurse about it she said its because novorapid takes 4 hours to completly work in your system so if you take an injection at 12 it will stay the same or go higher between 12 and 2 and then it comes down between 2 and 4 this is why they also tell.you to make sure you eat and take imsulin at least 4 hours apart because if you took another injection after 3 hours youll still have insulin working in your body and may end up having a hypo hope this helps

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Luckystar96]

I had a similar thing a while back and was told I wasn't varying the injection sites enough. Apparently it can take 2 years for an overused site to fully recover. I avoided my tummy area for about 2 yrs and now find its absorbing insulin fine. I think we subconsciously choose the same spot to inject more than we realise as we know its not going to hurt?

 

[donnellysdogs]

To me you are expecting toouch for your levels to drop in an hour... Whether by mdi or pump our iinsulin correction levels are viewed to get us safely down to normal levels within 5 hours ......NOT 1!!!!!

Your peak acting time to monitor whether levels are shifting in right direction is 2-3 hours.....

Of course you may still go up an hour after a high reading even after correcting it... You may have ate within previous 2 hours, you may be coming down with a virus etc....

Personally I used to test again after 2 hours not 1. As that then lead me to think I had major prob if level not dropped etc....

On cgm now, so can see my levels constantly... But please dont expect to be substantially dropping in anhour... You should be lower within 2-3, and normal kevels within 5. If not then your correction bolus's may need attention.

 

[Joseph290]

Hi this is an old post i know but im 18 years old and been a diabetic for almost a year now, i havent been good with it as all young people like to eat sweet junk food. my BS has never really been an issue until now where my sugar levels are to high for my glucometre to even read (it just says HIGH) or they are close to 30. Ive been injecting my insulin into my stomach where i have noticed lumps come up asif the insulin has stored itself and hasnt been released into my body. I will try injecting my insulin into different parts of my body from now on like my leg or buttock.

If anyone has any other reasons why my sugar levels are staying high then please let me know.

thanks

 

[hughsey]

Hi this is an old post i know but im 18 years old and been a diabetic for almost a year now, i havent been good with it as all young people like to eat sweet junk food. my BS has never really been an issue until now where my sugar levels are to high for my glucometre to even read (it just says HIGH) or they are close to 30. Ive been injecting my insulin into my stomach where i have noticed lumps come up asif the insulin has stored itself and hasnt been released into my body. I will try injecting my insulin into different parts of my body from now on like my leg or buttock.

If anyone has any other reasons why my sugar levels are staying high then please let me know.

thanks

Hi, i know what your going through. Ive been diabetic for 21yrs and only the last several months ive had problems with my insulin. My sugars were always high after food, and taking insulin never brought it down with in the time it was meant too, so taking more insulin caused me problems hours later as it havent absorbed and was stored causing hypos. Try using a different size needle, i use 4mm. Always change your site in a clockwise motion. Arms legs buttocks. Never take too much insulin as it causes problems. Its tough, but stay with it.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I would suggest that yousy wish to inject into your upper arms as these are more effective than legs when your levels are high.

You've listed two reasons yourself.. junk food and lumps.

There are other reasons like your doses not being correct..

Are you cofrecting and measuring your bloods every 2 hours?


Most importantly have you checked for ketones. Your levels are dangerously high and I would be getting to A&E if I had your levels...

 

[LizLola]

I am on a pump, and i used to have a Deltec Cozmo one. Now i have Minimed. Something the Cozmo did, was if your blood sugar was above 15, it worked out and gave you a correction bolus PLUS 10% of the correction bolus, as apparently if your blood sugar is that high, this is what is needed.

I have to say I found the Cozmo a much more accurate pump than the Minimed.

 

[jgordon5]

This is an old topic under several different headings. I have been Type 1 diabetic for over 64 years and have given advice on this subject several times.

There are two situations where insulin does not bring down BG levels and both are "the body's immune system". In non-diabetic people the body's BG level is regulated by hormones from either the pancreas or the liver whereby the body increases the BG level by releasing hormones to protect it (the body) from a hypo or insulin to reduce BG levels.

Your problem is not shortage of insulin, it is too much... Next time, just try about 30 carbs, no insulin and patience; after a while, possibly 12 hours, you should find the BG level comes back to norm. It's best to do this overnight.

This works for me, the problem with hormones is that they don't go away quickly, the body has to know that it is not going to be overwhelmed by another huge dose of insulin. Trust me, even my DSN does now.

Good luck

Thank you, this has just been happening to me and I've been giving myself more and more insulin. I do have a tooth infection at the moment though which may have some bearing? Anyway I will do as you suggest. Fingers crossed. Thank you.

 

[Jjcemery]

I have had diabetes for 16 years after getting it at 21. I am experience the same problem. I keep have inconsistent highs for no reason and taking extra Novorapid is very unpredictable. Some nights I go down by 6 and others I go up by 1 or 2. Last night after playing tennis my sugar was 16 several hours later so I took 3 units of Novorapid, and woke up today with 14.6??? I had no sugar low so I don't see how it was a rebound. A few weeks ago I hit 30 for the first time since I was diagnosed, also after tennis? I wasn't sure if my insulin wasn't working, but then in the middle of the night I was 1.9 the lowest I have ever been. How does this make any sense?

 

[artichoke1]

Hi everyone!
I am a 30 year-old male and have been diabetic for 16 years. I am currently using novorapid and lantus injections to manage my blood sugar. Generally speaking my blood sugar control has been pretty good over the years but just lately I have had some problems where, when I have done a blood test my levels have been very high (15+ in some cases.) I have made an adjustment innjection to bring the levels down but after an hour my levels are still high, sometimes even higher than they were before. It is as though the insulin is not having an effect at all! Has anybody else experienced anything similar?

I sometimes work abroad and the first time this happened to me was when I was spending a few weeks in South Korea - at first I put it down to something in the food however it has since happened to me back in the UK too. Any help would be greatly appreciated as it's obviously a little unsettling to feel unable to bring my sugar levels back under control!

Cheers

I've been reading all the posts on inexplicably high and anomalous blood sugar readings and it occurs to me that very little has actually happened in diabetes therapy over all these years. Because diabetics treat themselves (with advice from medics of course) it is ultimately the diabetic who bears the responsibility for diabetic control. I have been diabetic for 43 years now and am only too aware of the subliminal message given by DSN's etc that it really is my fault that my BS is high. The professionals I come into contact with are simply passing on instructions which have been given to them - and really they can do no more than expect that they 'work'.
Surely it's about time that a cure was found for Type 1 diabetes and then made available to all those who have the condition. Obviously people were grateful for insulin in the 50's but in the modern world we should be expecting a great deal better.

 

[EllieM]

Surely it's about time that a cure was found for Type 1 diabetes and then made available to all those who have the condition. Obviously people were grateful for insulin in the 50's but in the modern world we should be expecting a great deal better.

In the modern world we have cgms, pumps and some brave people even have worked out how to do a feedback loop between their cgm and their pump. Believe me, diabetic treatment has improved dramatically just over the last 20 years.
A cure? Well, I've been promised a cure in the next 10 to 20 years for the last 50, and I'm not really expecting one in my lifetime. But there are some extremely promising developments and there may well be a cure for today's young T1s.

 

[conniecar]

I've been reading all the posts on inexplicably high and anomalous blood sugar readings and it occurs to me that very little has actually happened in diabetes therapy over all these years. Because diabetics treat themselves (with advice from medics of course) it is ultimately the diabetic who bears the responsibility for diabetic control. I have been diabetic for 43 years now and am only too aware of the subliminal message given by DSN's etc that it really is my fault that my BS is high. The professionals I come into contact with are simply passing on instructions which have been given to them - and really they can do no more than expect that they 'work'.
Surely it's about time that a cure was found for Type 1 diabetes and then made available to all those who have the condition. Obviously people were grateful for insulin in the 50's but in the modern world we should be expecting a great deal better.

Oh you’re my twin! 43 years this year ( I’m 50 now ) and am sat here on my own ( husband is at work on nights as a nurse ) trying to cope. I’ve had antibiotics for a chest infection and am now ultra obsessed with the much feared ketones and watching my blood meter more than the telly, considering it’s a Saturday night. I’ve always moaned that diabetes is the only disease you’re left to cope with alone - unless you get it wrong then everyone wants a go. Well come and try it if you think you’re hard enough. I’ve been off work a week struggling with my insulin not working ( reading this it looks like I’m overdoing it by jabbing every time things go over 10 ) but I’m more concerned that when I go back to work, ignorant people ( we all know them ) will think I’ve had a naughty moment with a lemon drizzle cake when I’m not allowed. Far from it. I’ve probably not eaten enough. But who’s advised me? You lot - and for that I am eternally grateful. ️

 

[Mozza47]

Hi, I am a 47 year old Type 1 and have been for 33 years. I have always had really good control, apart from the odd blip here and there. I had exactly the same problem as you. It seemed that no matter how much Insulin I gave myself my blood sugars would not go down, I was averaging between 15 and 24, which worried me sick. Then I would drop to about 1.8, it seemed like the insulin wasn't working at all and then suddenly it did and lowered my blood sugars too much. In desperation I contacted my Diabetic Nurse and she gave me guidelines on what dosages to give myself depending on my blood sugar. She also told me not to test too often as I was so worried that I was testing about 12 times a day. Luckily now I am slowly getting back to normal, but it has taken about 5 weeks to get there.

Hi - what advice did the nurse give? I am suffering the same problem.