Fluctuating blood sugars all week

[Riri]

Hia - since Monday my sugars have been really high - mostly towards late afternoon and then remaining high until after breakfast. Since yesterday lunch time it's changed - great until 3am this morning and then high ever since. I have been on temp basals of between 140 and 170% during this time for different spells during the day and night. I am it touch with my DSN but she's a bit confused as there's no real pattern and she doesnt think its a set/cannula issue as some parts of the day my BS is fine at between 5.6 and 7. She says it might be a virus I have but I feel fine. Has anyone on a pump had unexplained spells like this for a week or more and then returned to normal? Frustrated with the constant curve balls diabetes is chucking at me at the moment :thumbdown:

 

[Riri]

Well - looks like I'm alone on this one.
High numbers continued through to last night with DSN now convinced I've been fighting a virus of some kind. Good news is that BSs seem to have stabilised since last night without a drop of additional basal required since then!
Diabetes - what a strange and unpredictable thing you are at times :eh:

 

[wiflib]

Riri, I'm T2, not taking insulin.
I noticed a slight rise in my sugars all last week and freaked out. I really thought my lovely pancreas has finally decided to give up. I can't tell you how worried I was. Nothing had changed diet or drug wise; I eat less than 30g carbs a day and am in constant ketosis (it's put paid to any potential snogging, I can tell you!).

Despite not being ill at all in the last three years, I noticed a bit of a sore throat/chesty thing going on. It didn't turn into much but it ******** up my sugars for a week. I'm back in the 4's now and incredibly relieved.

Just goes to show how the slightest thing can upset our delicate systems. Glad to hear you are back to normal.

wiflib

 

[Riri]

Thanks for the post wiflib and glad you're on the mend too. I agree, it's such a relief to come back to relative normality :lol:
My family and colleagues are great but they obviously have no real understanding (why should they) of the upset/worry high blood sugars cause on a day to day basis. My new pump is good but when bloods are running as high as mine were for 7 days runnng there's the added worry of ketones developing qute rapidly which can get nasty !!
My husband sees the effect and he really is my backbone but I can see that even he is at his wits end now after this last week - I am a major worrier at the best of times so he gets the brunt of my distress :thumbdown:

 

[wiflib]

Isn't it lovely for the person you love to care so much. You are a lucky gal indeed.

I live on my own (by design) which is just as well as when I saw the first raised level the air went blue!
Did you get that awful thumping of the heart that goes with it? Mine was jumping out of my chest.

wiflib

 

[Riri]

Yes - sheet terror.... I almost want to run to the hills :crazy:

 

[jopar]

How often are you'll using the TBR?

Normally if you've got a virus or infecting brewing which is causing your blood glucose to go up, the virus/infection symptoms normally start to appear after a couple of days so you'll know where you'll do, and can use a TBR until you sorted the virus/infection..

If you'll using TBR's in and out, this will have a knock effect on your control, as soon as you return to normal you BG's can start to rise, and if you'll not sure why your BG is higher it will be impossible for your DSN to see what's going on..

Not sure how long you've been pumping, but you will notice over a period of time you are likely to have to tweak your basal every now and again to keep bg on track, and also you can have different basal needs dependant on the season, lower or high for winter cold months and summer warm months..

Also for females you have the menstrual cycle to consider which can mean a different basal regime while getting near to and/or during menstruating..

If your basal still running higher you'll need to do some fasting tests without any TBR's set so that you can see patterns and if you need to retweak your basal for control

 

[Riri]

Thanks Jopar. Been pumping since mid November 2011 so not all that long. I have barely had to use the TBR before last week and the most confusing thing is when I started having to increase TBR last Monday i didn't come down with anything nasty - although as I said it was up to 180% at times.
Whatever the cause of the last 7 days of high BSs my basal rate since Sunday night is now back to my usual rate and my BSs are all under 8 which is fine for me. I'm hoping for at least a few months of stability now - that would be really really nice. :clap: