Mystifying blood sugars

[YorkshireAli]

I wonder whether anybody can explain a completely confusing set of blood sugars over the last twelve hours, please?

I'll try and be as concise as I can...

My insulin:carb ratio is 2 units:10g and my correction ratio is 1 unit brings me down 1.0

I had my supper at 5pm, 40g carbs. My BS was high (12.3) so I did 8 units for the carbs and 2 units to correct. 10 in total.

I was aiming to be at about 9-ish by bedtime, and indeed I was. At 10pm it was a lovely 8.7 and I did my usual 15 units of Levemir. So far so good. Normally this would keep me level during the night (according to my Libre) and I'd wake up at about 6 or 7, having had no great dramas in the meantime.

At 3am, my lovely dog needed to go out, so I thought I'd do a test while I waited for her, just out of interest, but my Libre showed 15.7. I did a finger-prick test on the Contour and it showed 16.2, so I was high. I debated whether to correct, but decided I was probably levelling out, so I'd leave it till the morning. However, an hour or so later, I was up again (thanks, dog) and did another test - this time I was 18.3. Clearly not levelling out at all! I gave in and did a nuclear option of 10 units to try and get back on top of it before I start tomorrow....errr, today....

Anyway, now I feel rubbish, and I don't know whether it's lack of sleep, syrupy blood or just plain insomnia. Bloody dawn chorus doesn't help, either.

What I'm really confused about though, is the timings and why my sugar level seemed to tank off uncontrollably after 10pm for at least the next six hours. And with no apparent visible effect from the Levemir. Surely my food must have disappeared by the time I did my Levemir, five hours later? I had nothing else to eat or drink after supper except a can of Diet Coke and some sparkling water. Can 40g of carbs really cause blood sugars to rise for nearly 12 hours?

I've been doally well lately with keeping my levels more level and this has completely thrown me. It doesn't make any sense to me at all, and if I can't understand why it's happened, then I'm concerned it'll happen again.

Any thoughts please....?

PS It's now 5.30am, an hour after that correction dose, and at last I'm heading down - but still at 15.0.

 

[catapillar]

Are you sure it was a Diet Coke? If there's a dribble still in the can, you could test it (as if it were blood) to be sure. I don't drink a lot of fizzy drinks, so I don't know how likely it is the cans could be wrong, probably really unlikely, but it's not impossible.

If it's not that, are you coming down with something? Doing something stressful in work today? Are you usually up in the middle of the night with the dog? Unusual sleep can do weird things to your blood sugar.

Of course, your blood sugar could just be doing something strange, with no discernible explanation, just for fun.

Hope you are back somewhere you want to be now & not feeling too rough.

 

[Juicyj]

@YorkshireAli Heya, are you sure your not coming down with anything ? As a one off I would check your insulin cartridge and change your quick acting and check your insulin sites too, also what did you eat last night ? if it happens again a couple of times then would suggest doing some basal testing to rule out any changes to your requirements.

There is always a reason it's just trying to figure out why

 

[YorkshireAli]

Thanks.

Yes, it definitely was Diet Coke - I tested it, as I'd wondered that myself. I've checked my pens as well and they seem to be fine.

I quite often have late nights, so that's not unusual, and I'm not particularly stressed. So it was either what I ate - I'd made a chicken pie with puff pastry top - or I'm going down with something hideous and catastrophically debilitating... Or maybe it's just one of those unknown curvers we get from time to time, just to keep us on our toes. Time will tell I guess.

Oh - I managed a couple of hours of sleep and have just woken up at 6.4, so at least I'm starting from the right point today.