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Control not good

J

Jessd

Well-Known Member
Messages
261
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Numbers have not been.good all week, mainly high. Rising in the.morning 14 & onwards, have changed basal rate from 7am - 10am up 1, normally waking bm is 6-9 will have breakfast then hour or so later will be rising high & am having to correct. Have been checking numbers in the night & all seems ok. Last night went to bed & bm was 6.3 woke this am on a 17.9,gave 3 units,did a bm 40 mins later,17.5 so changed my canula(rapid d link) did a bm about another half hour later & it was 21.2 checked on another bm kit & was 20.2 so metre ok, have drunk lots of water,am just so frustrated,anyone got any advice please?!!!
 
Hi

Two things........ start testing yr bg levels every 2hrs in the night and then you'll be able to spot when they change. Things dont stay the same all the time with a pump so bg testing is always going to be a must for a while until you feel that things are stable again. Depending on when the bg level starts to change, alter the hourly basal rate the hour before the higher or lower bg.

Regarding yr bg levels going up after your breakfast.... look at the carb ratio you are using and adjust it so that more insulin is delivered and then see what effect that has on yr bg.

The other thing is to test your fasting level out by doing a basal test without eating any carb for about 6hrs. Alter your basal rates out hour by hour so that your fasting level is not low and is not high either. Lots of bg testing to do and lots of drinking of black coffee.

Sometimes bg levels rise up when infusion sets play up or sometimes when there is a gap of air at the top of cartridge. Best thing to do is disconnect the tube from the set and to try and do a prime of about 5u to see if insulin flows through the tube. If there are bubbles in the tube, they should prime out. If that doesn't work and you get the occlusion alarm then put the pump into Stop mode and unscrew the cartridge. If you can see air in the cartridge at the top, that will be the reason why insulin is not getting through and you will need to refill another cartridge with a fresh tube.........

Also, always resort to using an insulin pen or syringe when bg levels go extremely high. You can tell the Combo remote that you are using a pen by entering the amount of units and clicking on the bolus menu at the bottom (blue Standard etc) and then a sub menu will pop up.

Hope this helps
 
Hi
Still high!! Yesterday afternoon it finally came down, before tea (6pm) was 6.3 thought ideal, had cold ham, some salad & a yoghurt, gave correct units for this, an hour later I was 8, then at about 8pm was 13.2, corrected this, then 9.30 ish was 14 :( , changed canula, tested at midnight, 11, at 2am- 10, got up at 6am & was 14, still did not go down, changed canula, checked pump was priming, all fine, actually opened a new box of canulas, rising up now to 15.3 hour later, eventually comes down to 8 at 8.15am, was fine then numbers didn't go any higher than 7 til 12 today, had 80gram of grapes, gave bolus for these, didn't think anymnore of it, got home for lunch & 16.6 aaargh!!checked numbers on other kit, about the same, changed canula now back to a Tenderlink in my side numbers did not move, about 2.40 today got back home again & changed my site to right leg using canula, watch this space, feeling absolutely terrible, my eyes feel weird
 
This might be where you are locating your sites and insulin not being absorbed like it did. Are you using 6mm or 8mm Rapid D's? Sometimes changing to a longer needle can help. Ive had to do this for some areas.

You are going to have to try and find an area on your body that is going to be ok and hasn't been used before. In the meantime, any real high bg levels, correct with a pen rather than ask the pump to correct.
 
Hi Jess,
have you tried a different vial of insulin?
Only other option is to reset your basals :( and see if this works.
Have you been in contact with your DSN, if not a call may be worth while as a fresh set of eyes and ears may throw some light on the matter.
What happens if you do all your bolus's with a syringe?
 
Hope you don't mind me asking but do you find your hormones affect you at different times? (I'm assuming you're female!). I get crazy readings mid cycle, just after I ovulate until I get my period. I run my basals 30% higher and it pretty much sorts it out.

Even if that's not the case for you, could you use a temp basal rate for 12 hours or so and see if that helps?
 
Yes female. Numbers are coming down, just done one now & it's 16.3 so the right way!! was meant to be cooking lasagne tonight for other half & myself, don't think i'll be having any.
Re hormones, Don't really find it a problem, have the implant, so no idea where I am cycle wise!
Yes i've changed the insulin
Left a message with DSN, rang Diabetic centre too as no reply from DSN, someone meant to be getting back to me
Just feeling rubbish & worried what this is doing to my body, really don't want this, my Dad has seen how upset & wound up i'm getting, especially today, he reckons I should come off the pump.
Also seems the more active I am, the higher my numbers go, spoke with my DSN about this & she reckons its a case of my body not getting enough insulin & then body breaking down stuff(can't remember what she said) & producing sugar
 
Well really hope someone gets back to you asap - yes it's awful running so high and feeling so rubbish. Obviously I'm not a doctor, but sounds to me as though you do just need more insulin. So I'm not qualified to give you advice but if it was me, I would just try a temp basal rate for 6 hours and see if things level out. Really hope you get things sorted :wink:
 
Spoken with my DSN, I have gone onto my back up pump, seems to be working :) had a bit of tea & drinking plenty, checking bloods hourly & going to check them through the night. DSN said if all well, ring Roche in the morning & say lost confidence in the pump & see if they will send me a replacement one out.
DSN also said that it may be pump not bolusing right, I did check that & seemed ok. Just really glad i've come back down ok.
Thank you for all advice, keep you posted :)
 
Jessd said:
Spoken with my DSN, I have gone onto my back up pump, seems to be working :) had a bit of tea & drinking plenty, checking bloods hourly & going to check them through the night. DSN said if all well, ring Roche in the morning & say lost confidence in the pump & see if they will send me a replacement one out.
DSN also said that it may be pump not bolusing right, I did check that & seemed ok. Just really glad i've come back down ok.
Thank you for all advice, keep you posted :)
Click to expand...

Hi Jess,
I went through all of this as well inclusing a replacement pump. Everything worked fine for a while then it was back to square one again :( It did get to the stage where I was going to take a break from pumping as had lost all confidence in the pump.
Had a long chat with the rep who suggested I tried a different type and length of cannula. This has worked very well for me and am now back to my normal numbers and have been for many months now. So do keep this thought in the back of your mind incase of further problems.
Hope all works well for you though.
 
Numbers were ok last night, went to bed on 8.8 set alarm for the night, must have slept through it,felt shattered. Up this am at 6, numbers were 5.1 had my usual breakfast,took dogs for a walk, came in tested-12.1, so gave 1 unit & put TBR upto 140%, half hour later checked again & 17.7,aaargh
 
you poor thing. not on a pump so can't help...but have you got a pen & insulin vials for pen? can't you supplement yr pump insulin with a pen & see if that brings you down? they you might see if its just something happening to you at the mo or pump/location not working well? wish you lots of luck - i am desperate to get me hands on a pump but see that it's not all plain sailing!
 
Hi

I was on a pump METRONICS but only lasted 3 weeks on it because my sugar levels run so high at one point i felt so ill my husband said my face went a funny colour, i had never felt so bad, i done a bm and it was off the scale HIGH done a correction with my insulin pen of 10 units and then re tested an hour later and bm was 36.4, i noticed that the cannola was getting twisted and thought that might have caused the highs, because never had i been that high when i was on my pen injections. I was told by a DN that i should have had regular after care but all i got was a 3 hour talk by 2 staff from MEDTRONICS and a mobile number to ring if i needed advice (which when i rang just got voicemail) hence after 3 weeks i contacted my diabetic consultant and told him i want to go back on my insulin pen i feel like i can control my levels alot better. I know everyone is different i just had a really bad experience with my pump and i am not very confident when my new consultant talks to me about having a another try with a pump and promises to give me all the aftercare needed. I have no awareness of hypos and my levels can drop like a brick i have more lows than highs and whatever i do i can't get it sorted the diabetic nurse called it brittle diabetes, so when i kept getting these highs on the pump.

Tracey167
 
It is slowly coming down-13.8, just so frustrating,feels like when I eat, numbers just rise! My Dad & other half think I need to put on half a stone, don't think that's the case, my sites have always been a bit of a.problem,my DSN says it's because I'm slim, she's never said I need to put on weight
 
Hi

If this high bg problem is not due to the pump it sounds like its due to where you are locating your infusion sets. Unfortunately, most people I think will find that after 3 or 4 years of using the samish area all the time, that insulin no longer gets absorbed wonderfully well using a pump and they have to find another area on their body. Putting on some weight does help though as it gives you more scope lol. I'm of normal weight for my height and have found that if I need to use the lefthand side of my tummy, I also need to use a TBR of about 150% all day until I go to bed and then I go back to 100% and just get up in the night and do corrections so not all that ideal. My righthand side is fine though (at the minute) and am ok using just 100%. Have tried my legs but dont think there is enough meat on them anymore and my arms have got slimmer as I've got older so I will end up using my backside and try not to sleep on my back too much when in bed.

As you have got some Rapid Ds can you not have a go at putting one in at the top part of your backside. You should be ok putting them in but will need help from other half in getting them out again........... plenty of Lift Plus spray and peeling them back gently towards the centre so that they come out ok.
 
Jessd said:
It is slowly coming down-13.8, just so frustrating,feels like when I eat, numbers just rise! My Dad & other half think I need to put on half a stone, don't think that's the case, my sites have always been a bit of a.problem,my DSN says it's because I'm slim, she's never said I need to put on weight
Click to expand...

Hi Jess,
I had exactly the same problem basal fine as soon as I bolused for a meal up went the blood sugars.
It did't matter where the cannula was placed IE even if it was new territory as in never been used before same result.

All it was, was the wrong cannula for me If you are using a 6mm try an 8mm instead and see what happens. Trust me I'm not a Doctor :lol:

Just to see if this is the problem, do all your bolus calculations on the pump, then disconect the pump for the bolus then use your pen/syringe and use that. This way you have the IOB etc so can still use pump for calculations.
Then if this is the cause of the problem ask to have some samples of different cannulas/lengths to try.
 
Hi
Yesterday seemed a bit better on the back up pump, had tea, was all ok, bit low before bed-3.8 had 1 Lucozade tablet, set alrm for the night, slept through it, going to have to put it louder & other side of room, so I get up for it. Unfortunately this am, 5.30am woke up, not feeling great! BM was 17.8, changed canula (rapid d), half hour later was 18.8, wanted somethinbg to eat, so had Weetabix, bolused for this, later on BM was 24 :( , so FRUSTRATING! an hourish later was coming down, 16.3, then by 9am was down to 5.3, couldn't believe it! was relieved, it seems as though my body just needs more insulin, this was all on the back up pump, thinking the high this am was off the slight low before bed, though does seem quite high. Spoken with Roche again, a pump rep is meant to be getting hold of me, my DSN has said stay on the back up pump. Have actually had 3 cups of tea this am, normally I only drink water, just feeling wiped out!
Just did another BM, time is now 10.15 am & it was 6.2 really hoping I can stay around this level
 
Hi
Going to see pump rep on Friday at Diabtetic centre, hoping to see my DSN too. Still on the back up pump, control not great, so now not sure whether my pump is faulty or not, as on back up pump still having highs. My DSN has said see what the pump rep reckons & we'll go from there
 
Have you done as I suggested to you in the first place and used a different length of cannula?

Obviously if you have the same problems with a replacement/backup pump then it's not the pump. :roll:
 
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