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BG levels and facet joint injections

G

g-man

Member
Messages
18
About 10 days ago, I had some facet joint injections done to help with an ongoing back problem. They did warn me that my levels might be elevated afterwards and they definitely are!

My control is all over the place. I increased my Levemir to 31 units (from 30) and found that even after 4 hrs my levels were still being lowered. At 30 units, this doesn't happen, however meals that would need around 10 units now need 15 and even then that's not enough to bring it back into line.

Currently, I'm finding that getting into single digits is pretty much impossible and in any case, I have an aversion to taking more than 15 units of Novorapid in one go.

Has anyone else been through the facet joint procedure and found how long it takes before things go back to normal? I have a call in with my doc tomorrow but I suspect he'll just say that everyone is different and give it time. I figured this would maybe last a couple of days but not this long.

My concern is that one day, my requirement for so many units will be negated and I'll end up with a pretty severe hypo.

Any thoughts welcome.
 
HI
I am going in tomorrow to have my Facet joints injected in the lower part of my back after several years of back problems, they have also found a small amount of Arthritis in the lower back. How did you find the procedure? Did they sedate you or was it done under a local. I will confirm with you other the weekend what my sugar levels are, but as we all say we are all different, but it is nice to hear some else has had a problem with their Facet joints.
Take care
tracey
 
The procedure was very easy. Basically they put an infusion device on the back of my hand and then gave me a sedative. Apparently some people are awake during this but not many I imagine.

I fell asleep within 30 seconds of getting it and woke about an hour later. No grogginess or illness afterwards which was a great relief but I was told to fast for minimum 6 hrs before, in reality I didnt eat after 9pm.

The pain relief has started to kick in, although it took me a few days afterwards to get fully mobile again.

Only issue is the high numbers all the time!

Hope all goes well for you and will be interested to hear how your numbers are.
 
I assume that they are injecting steriods into the facet..

Steriods do increase BG's but the impact will be greater in the daytime than the night time due to the body produces more in waking hours than sleeping ours..

Not sure how long it will take to settle back down again, it really depends how much they've used and how long it takes for it to burn out the system..
 
After a steroid injection in my hand last year, my levels were in the low 20s later that day and in the teens for about a week. They said this was only a small dose. I had an accident on the way home, didn't know how much of the increase was from steroid and how much from pain and stress of having a suspected broken neck :roll: (somewhat stressful!) so corrected cautiously, having no idea how long it would last. Reckon I may have needed as much as 30% extra to keep BGs on target at first, tailing off over about 10 days.

Just my experience though, everyone's different.
 
Well, a little progress.

Today I woke to a 5.9 Such a relief after constantly waking up to 12's and 13's.

I have been using a spreadsheet for the past week to map out dosages and levels, over the last few days I've seen it reducing very slowly, so yesterday saw a few 8's and 9's.

Next time I see the consultant I'll ask how much of a dose I got, but I know I got 12 injections in total which sounds like a lot of steroids to me!

I'm hoping this is the start of it coming down. This morning, I reduced my Novorapid from 15 to 10 for the same breakfast and in a couple of hours we'll see how that goes.

Fingers crossed.

G
 
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