what do you do when hyper?

[james82]

hey

been diabetic 15 years now, and thought i'd join you all :wave:

anyway, had a pretty bad last week, but what do you do if you wakeup or are checking your blood sugar levels and you are showing 25+/30+?

never really thought about it until last week really, do you just launch a large dose of insulin & wait? do you go to hospital? do you call 999? do you go to sleep? do you carry on as normal?

cheers for the advice

jt

 

[Daibell]

If it was me I would have plenty of water, stop eating for a good few hours, take some exercise and wait for the sugars to subside. If you are on insulin I think the readings show some thing needs to change?

 

[james82]

If it was me I would have plenty of water, stop eating for a good few hours, take some exercise and wait for the sugars to subside. If you are on insulin I think the readings show some thing needs to change?

I agree things need to change, probably switching to DAFNE's 1:2 ratio over 1:1 and see if that works. I remember about 5/6 years ago I was told that they do a potassium gas test or something to do with the brachial artery I think if you high, obviously I can't do that so my thinking was hospital trip but then I thought if I can drop it quickly with insulin, just do that.

 

[donnellysdogs]

You are not advised to exercise with levels over 12.0.

 

[james82]

You are not advised to exercise with levels over 12.0.

agreed

 

[ericthwaite]

You are not advised to exercise with levels over 12.0.

can you explain why??

 

[ericthwaite]

i would also look at what you had for diner the night before ! high bloods in morning obviously indicate your evening meal was too carb heavy - try having a very low carb evening meal and you'll find your morning sugars will be good

i hope this helps

 

[picklebean]

You are not advised to exercise with levels over 12.0.

can you explain why??

I don't know the details or specifics, but if you exercise when your sugars are that high, it increases the risk of keytones in the body and therefore the risk of DKA. I'm sure someone wiser than myself can tell you more about it.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I dont know why either... For no exercise over 12.0 .. Bit yhats what I was akways told. I know as much as the above poster....but thats all.. What exactly happens to our bodies With exercise over 12.0 I haven't got a clue.

My levels dont go into the 20's, (at least now...) because of good control with a pump. Previously, faulty sets caused me problems, but they got withdrawn. If I get a high above 12 now, I will change all my pump stuff and site and then bolus a correction, if my first correction did not work.

Really though, you should not be getting constant levels in the 20's and you should be contacting your dsn, to identify why you are getting levels this high.

This forum can help if we get details of meds, food and timings etc, but we can only give information from our own experiences, and to give any advice we would need to know more details.

To get a one off hyper down on injections, I would drink water, do a correction and monitor my levels for next 5 hours. You ned to be getting towards normal levels at the end of 5hours.. If you head down too quickly you stand the chance of going hypo.

Long term hypers I would seek help ftom professionals to establish the reasons why, and to get a plan to change either dosages, foods/drinks etc.

 

[duranie]

The reason for not exercising with levels above 14 (not 12) is the body is not getting any glucose at that level and therefore begins to believe its starving, so the liver dumps glucose as a support mechanism. Obviously as you don't have any insulin working this just makes your levels worse, more fat is burned for energy and this in turn creates ketones - and begins the process of ketoacidosis

 

[duranie]

And for waking highs, I Bolus a correction dose, eat carb free until levels return to normal, checking hourly both bg levels and for ketones.
I think your overnight basal dose needs to be corrected...

 

[Joycerobertson]

James, a few things to check, your injection sites if you are injecting into the same area all the time the insulin will not work as well, so change your spot and avoid any lumpy areas. Do you check your ketones when your blood sugar goes over 17? If your ketones are high you need to see the dr or if you are on DAFNE follow the sick day rules. It all depends on what insulin regime you are on, if ur on DAFNE and your sugars are high at a certain time all the time you need to up the ratio your on for the meal before and watch how much carbs your eating compared to insulin you are taking. If my sugar is high I normally take more insulin. Hope you get it sorted

 

[Shaggydog]

You are not advised to exercise with levels over 12.0.

can you explain why??

The reason that I was told "not to exercise" with a high BG level is because if you do hard exercise, such as spin cycling, sprinting, or lifting weights, then your body gets buzzed up on adrenaline with the added bonus of glucose being released into the system. However, if you take gentle excercise, such as a walking, then adrenaline will not be released and it will help bring your glucose level down. I have in the past had blood sugars up in the high teens, and walking has always helped to lower them.

If ever I am given advice such as this I always make a point of asking the reason. I have been told for years not to inject insulin to treat a hyper, but the reason given was that it would produce a hypo and then a seesaw would set in of high/low levels. I find that if I have a high glucose reading then I can inject a small amount of insulin - I look at one unit of insulin to drop my blood sugar by around 3 mmol/l - and I will inject enough to bring the levels down to the low teens. You obviously have to be aware of this injected dose when next working out dose for a meal, and it can be complicated with insulin doses overlapping.

I would only consider a hospital visit if my blood sugar had been consistently high for no obvious reason, when insulin does not bring it down, and it has been high for a day or so. Ketone testing sticks are a useful thing to have around the house, but they have a very short shelf life once opened.

 

[JontyW]

hey
been diabetic 15 years now, and thought i'd join you all :wave:
anyway, had a pretty bad last week, but what do you do if you wakeup or are checking your blood sugar levels and you are showing 25+/30+?
never really thought about it until last week really, do you just launch a large dose of insulin & wait? do you go to hospital? do you call 999? do you go to sleep? do you carry on as normal?

Hi James,

If you've been a Type 1 for 15 years you really SHOULD know what you are doing to control your diabetes .. but I suspect that you don't, or else you would not be asking such a basic question!!

To help us please give us some background information, such as ...

1) What is your usual HbA1c .. > 7.5% .. or > 10.0%? (this will give us some idea how well you are controlled)
2) Are you on a MDI basal/bolus insulin regime? What insulin are you on?
3) Do you carb count and adjust QA insulin based on your Insulin-Carb ratio for each meal?
4) Do you know what your CORRECTION FACTOR is (how much BG reduces per 1unit of QA insulin)? If you do then that is the obvious answer .. you inject the correct amount of QA (Humalog or Novarapid) and then test, test test to check what is happening. Wait at least 4 hours for the insulin to have the full affect.

Then perhaps we can offer some useful advice, but if you regularly get BG of 25+ / 30+, then it is obvious you are not in control and need urgent advice from your DSN.

Please answer my questions so that we can help you ..

Jonty