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Blood sugars high at the moment

K

Kate42

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,

Hope everybody is keeping well and enjoying VE Day.

I've never posted on here before but i really need some advice. I'm so nervous at the moment.

Last Wednesday i started having tummy pain late in the afternoon had a few bouts of diarrhoea. Went for a walk came back home and felt awful. About 23:30pm i vomited my blood sugar at tea time was 8.8 took 3 units of novorapid for 15g carb i'm on a ratio of 1 unit for every 5 grams. After i vomited i thought i better check my ketones and they had risen to 2.4 i was so shocked and scared so my Mum rang 111 service for some advice they sent a couple paramedics to come check on me my stats were ok they told me to try and eat something and take some insulin. I did that vomited again and nearly fainted. Checked ketones they had come down to 1.1. Woke up again about 7:30am vomited again my ketones had risen to 2.8 took more insulin felt awful. Went to sleep for a couple of hours when i woke up at 10am checked ketones 3.4 phoned 999 they said get to hospital as soon as. When i got to A & E ketones had come down to 1.1 they gave me some iv fluids and anti sickness meds. They said it was just a tummy bug. I came home my ketones had come down to 0.3 which was such a relief. I phoned my DSN on Friday she said i did the right thing and said if i needed to take additional insulin like every two hours i could because my readings were going up as high as 22. This week i've been a little better but there still going quite high. But the problem i'm having is that i'm waking up high at the moment about 12 - 14 mmol. I'm noticing from my libre graphs that from 8am it starts rising i usually get up at 8:30am tresiba 10 units then i do my novorapid but i find it's doing nothing. I start off at like 14 take 7 units for 16g carbs by 11am i can be up as high as 17 so i take an additional unit but find it so slow. If i would do that usually my reading would drop but at the moment the novorapid is taking so long to work and is just working at snail pace. Just wondering if this could be down to still recovering from a virus? I just can't seem to get my blood sugar under 10 right now.

I'm so worried thinking i'm going to be stuck like this forever and i keep thinking the worst of everything.

Thanks for taking the time to read this just looking for any guidance and advice would be greatly appreciated please i'm just stuck and feel so helpless.
 
Hi. Can I ask whether you have any excess weight and hence have insulin resistance? When this happens any insulin you take make have little effect. I can only guess but worth asking. If you do have stomach bug that will typically cause raised BS.
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

I currently weigh about 54kg no excess weight i keep getting told to put some on.
I'm feeling much better no sickness or diarrhoea but just still trying to get my blood sugars back in range does it take longer for us diabetics to recover from bugs and does it take time for our blood sugars to return to normal after being unwell?

First time since being diagnosed with type 1 that i've been unwell apart from the odd cold. Been such a big learning curve for me but just struggling.
 
Hi @Kate42, so sorry to hear you’re unwell. I’m glad that you’ve already been given intravenous fluids and anti-sickness meds; it sounds like a horrid tummy bug to have. I don’t think a non-D can ever know just how poorly high blood sugars can make us feel, let alone when there’s a nasty tummy bug to contend with as well.
There are some sick day rules on this site but you might also want to look at these from Northumbria NHS, there’s advice for Type Ones about increasing your insulin.

https://www.northumbria.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/images/PIN451[1].pdf

It’s certainly worrying when we can’t get our blood sugars to come down and if it were me I’d get in touch with 111 again if it persists for another day or two and/or my ketone levels rise again.

I hope you feel well again soon. Hugs.
 
Oh, I should have said that I’d wait for 20+ minutes that it takes for Novorapid, otherwise known as Novoslow, to take effect and, if also necessary, I’d wait until my blood sugars were 6 or less before I ate anything. I found out quite early on that if I eat when I’m above 6 then my blood sugars often go high. The Libre’s a great tool for managing this, though it does sometimes mean that I have to sit around when others start noshing, or restrain myself when there’s something I’m longing to get my teeth into.
 
Poor you! Sounds awful! Could you check your blood sugar one hour after a meal and then give yourself more insulin to bring it down? Just be extra vigilant over the next few hours to make sure that you don't have a hypo?
 
Ilike dogs said:
Poor you! Sounds awful! Could you check your blood sugar one hour after a meal and then give yourself more insulin to bring it down? Just be extra vigilant over the next few hours to make sure that you don't have a hypo?
Click to expand...

Please don’t take more insulin after 1 hour - novorapid can stay in your system for up for 4 hours, taking a correction dose so early after your first dose could cause a hypo, please speak to your diabetic nurse and get some support with adjustments, the sick day rules as per Fairy’s link above is a good guide to follow.

Hope your feeling better soon x
 
So sorry to hear this I hope it passes quickly. It is difficult to see but remember it will pass!

Perhaps also ask your DSN about advice in adjusting your basal insulin? I'm on a different basal but my DSN has told me in the past it can make more of a difference to raise that compared to just raising rapid acting.

Also of course I'm sure you know to double check high libre readings against a capillary finger prick test just incase.

Hope you feel better soon!
 
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