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Getting hardcore trolled (by a cold).

Charles Robin

Well-Known Member
Messages
572
Location
Southwest England
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Tis the season to be sniffling. I always seem to get a cold in October, but this one seems to be out to get me. I woke up yesterday, to blood sugars of 9.2. I gave myself a couple of units of extra Lispro, and two hours later, my blood sugars are 8.8. So seeing my blood sugars were still high I gave myself another two units. Half an hour later I was 1.8. Facepalm. The next four hours saw my blood sugars struggling to get up above 3.5, only for them to shoot into 7.8-8.5 in the evening. I gave myself some extra insulin again, and enjoyed 5.7 at 1.30am, followed by 4.7 this morning. I think to myself 'woo, I'm winning!' I have my morning omelette and give myself my normal dose. I have just tested two hours on, to be back up at 9.6. Not cool Mr cold, not cool.
I'm not sure what I hope to achieve by posting this, just needed a good old fashioned vent
 
I am not personally familiar with Lispro, but I think with any insulin, whether its fast acting or a mixture of fast/slow you shouldn't be giving correction doses every 2 hours.......

a Google suggests Lisrpo is basically Humalog, which is fast acting I believe............similar to Novorapid, so at 2 hours the insulin you gave will be peaking and has still got some time to work.........

this is why you went hypo no doubt........

you seem to be upset with peaking blood sugars 2 hours into a insulin injection.............I realize you had an omelette which shouldn't give you much of a spike being carb free, but when there is carbs a peak 2 hours after this is normal.........

trying to keep the spikes down to an acceptable level, which should be 2-3mmol above your pre meal reading, can be achieved by altering the timing of your insulin before you actually eat.......

Humalog starts working in about 5-10 minutes, so your injection should be done 5-10 minuted before eating......this time can be extended if you feel the spike is too high.........you will find that different foods/combination of foods digest at different speeds, the timing is basically all about trying to match up the digestion time profile with the insulin profile.....
 
Usually I have an iron grip on my control, and would not have given myself the correction dose had I not been ill. However, it seemed my blood sugars were desperate to go up because of my cold. I think in hindsight, they rose further on Monday morning, then the extra insulin caught up and I was on the downwards trend when I had the 8.8 reading. I misinterpreted the situation, and added more insulin to the equation, leading to the crash. Lesson learned hopefully!
 
If illness is giving you higher readings across the board, an increase in basal insulin is probably best..........
 
novorapidboi26 said:
If illness is giving you higher readings across the board, an increase in basal insulin is probably best..........
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I hadn't thought of that actually, not a bad idea. I may try increasing my Lantus dose from 18 to 20 units tonight. Thanks for the idea, this has all the makings of a cunning plan.
 
the increase from illness could potentially be done to many things beyond my understanding but on a simple level it will be the liver that is spitting out more glucose than normal to assist your bodies fight against the virus etc............and its the basal dose that accounts for the livers contribution, so a natural choice really........

its also makes going back to your normal insulin doses easier, as the bolus dose and corrections can potentially have many insulin/carb ratios as well as correction factors attached to them..........could get quite confusing...........
 
Indeed, another fun thing to consider with diabetes! Thankfully I haven't spiked nearly as much as I used to, because I only eat low carb now, but it's still an irritation to be running higher than I like to. Time to go and make a frittata, and include plenty of garlic.
 
Colds, flu and any illness can mess with bg levels, hope your feeling better soon Charles.
 

If it makes you feel better Charles - I dream of achieving levels like this on a daily basis, and that's without a cold !!!

Hope you're feeling better, also try Vicks on your feet at night, keeps the sniffles at bay and gives you a better night's sleep
 
Thanks, everyone, all your input is really appreciated. I will definitely hunt down some Vicks, thanks for the tile Juicyj. Blood sugars stubbornly stayed around the 7 mark, I resisted the urge to add more insulin, and they have crept into the mid 6s. As previously suggested I will up my basal dose by a couple of units, and will probably add an extra 1.5 units of Lispro at breakfast tomorrow.
 
Well, I put the cunning plan into action. I upped my Lantus last night from 18 to 20 units. My blood sugars first thing were 5.9. I gave myself a couple of extra units of Lispro, and two hours on I am 7.7. Still not completely optimum, but better than yesterday
 
I am also suffering from man flu for the last couple of days (sore throat, blocked head, itchy ears, thick green mucus) - luckily not having BG issues though (luckily not T1) - no shift in those. However, I am wondering if it was wise to have had the flu jab whilst I am suffering.

Hope you get better soon. Remember to drink plenty of water and to soldier on.
 
Glad it's not affecting your blood sugars Andrew. I'm probably going to regret saying this but I think this cold is relatively short lived. I never got to feeling awful, and feel better today than I did yesterday. Blood sugars have been between 4 and 6.8 for the last couple of days so I think it has given up.
 
Andrew Colvin said:
However, I am wondering if it was wise to have had the flu jab whilst I am suffering.
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They normally ask you if your fit & well before they give the jab, if you say you have a cold or 'man flu' they will ask you to come back when your feeling better.
 
Doctor didnt ask - in and out lol - no flu symptoms just this cold - day 3 now so hopefully over and done with soon. Thanks Charles and glad you are over it.
 
I have had my flu jab but for some reason I have had this evil cold all weekend, resulting in my calling in sick this morning. Is it because of my diabetes I feel worse? Also I struggle to recover from such illnesses. Any advice?
 
william68 said:
I have had my flu jab but for some reason I have had this evil cold all weekend, resulting in my calling in sick this morning. Is it because of my diabetes I feel worse? Also I struggle to recover from such illnesses. Any advice?
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Are your blood sugars raised? Illness can often do this to diabetics, which can exacerbate symptoms sometimes.
 
No they aren't raised Charles, maybe I'm over reacting. My bg levels were high last week but since feeling ill they have been under 7 :-o
 
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