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High blood sugar for no reason?

T

ThomasPaine

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,

I've had Type 1 for about four years now. I was recently switched from a morning/night Insulutard + mealtime Novorapid regimen to morning/night Levemir + mealtime Novorapid. After a few days of adjusting my dosages etc, I seem to have stablised quite nicely at 11 nighttime units and 9 morning units (10am/10pm) on the Levemir and am really enjoying not having to worry about the same sort of hypo-inducing peaks I experienced on Insulutard. My morning/fasting readings have consistently been around the 6/7 mmol mark and my pre-dinner levels tend to be 8/9 at the highest, which is lovely, and, more importantly, a lot more stable than they used to be (if a little higher on average, which when we're talking 8 or so I don't feel is worth worrying about).

Anyway, today I had a sandwich (the same kind I've had a number of times before and had no trouble with) and had 9 units of Novorapid with it, as usual. I also added a small packet of crisps and added an extra 2 units for that. So 11 units alltogether. Usually I'd just have the sandwich but what's a tiny pack of crisps with 13g of carbs going to do? I had my lunch pretty late though - usually I'd eat at around 2pm but I had it closer to 5pm today. I don't know if that would make a huge difference. I tested again before my nighttime dose of Levemir, and my blood sugar had shot all the way up to 17 mmols! I have absolutely no clue what to make of this. The sandwich itself was a baguette and I realise they're not a standard size so I could potentially have been a unit or two out for that, but this still seems excessive - a reading of 10 or so I'd have thought 'fair enough, obviously underdosed slightly', but 17? My blood sugar has only ever been that high after drinking a lot a beer in the past, and even then only on two or three occasions. At least then I knew what was causing it.

I'm not even that worried that it's gone this high, because I know it's averages that matter and that the occasional spike isn't going to kill me, I just so frustrated because I can't put my finger on anything that would have caused this. I've done nothing significantly different to usual. Any advice please let me know, because I am so confused and angry and frustrated right now.

Cheers.
 
Thomas, don't stress over one bad reading buddy. If this happens again, look deeper but there are so many variables that can give you occasional unexplained readings they're not worth worrying over. If you are generally good, well done.
Mo
 
Hi Mo,

Thanks. I know I'm probably daft to stress too much, but 17mmols just seems ridiculous. Like I said I wouldn't have been too worried if it had been anything up to 12 or so, but 17 without any explanation does play on my mind.
 
Sometimes if my daughter eats later than expected her bloods go high as she does not have enough insulin in her body to bring the sugar levels down
I.e there is not enough insulin to get the sugar into her cells and the glucose stays in her blood ,she starts to notice as starts using the toilet and has a huge thirst ,other times if she eats late she hypos .


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I'm not sure I understand. I take Levemir twice a day so I have a relatively flat level of background all the time, which I've adjusted slightly (11 rather than 9 at night) to take into account being more idle overnight. I'm pretty stable at around the 6/7 mark when fasting. The Novorapid I take with meals is all I use to deal with food, which lasts for 4/5 hours and generally deals with the spike that food creates. The only trouble I've had before is when having very fatty foods like pizza/curry, as that slows your digestion and means the Novorapid wears off before everything is processed/raises the fat content of your blood causing you to become temporarily insulin resistant (I noticed that this effect can continue for a day or two afterwards depending on how fatty the food is. Last time I ever try to eat a whole deep pan meat feast pizza!). In any case the Novorapid I took with the food should have dealt with it, regardless of the time, which is what is confusing me. I'm not sure what you mean about there not being enough insulin in the body - there is enough because I've put it there and measured the amount exactly.
 
What about the night time injection?when we cut Chloe's down from 6 to 5 within a few days her bloods were always high.changed it back and few days later were fine,we swapped it as she was always hypoing at 8 if she did not eat as soon as she woke


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Nope, not particularly stressed and the weather's not changed. Does your daughter use a basal/bolus system as well or is she on mixed? I always found my morning levels were around 10-12 so I upped the dose for the evening to 11 which seems to have sorted it. I'm wondering whether I could do with putting my morning dose up by a unit or so too just to see. I'm more or less sure I have my background staying pretty level most of the day, so I don't think that was the problem. I'll see what happens tomorrow, it could have just been a fluke or I could have absentmindedly given myself 9 for the evening injection the day before. I hate how frustrating this condition is - I'd kill for a bit of consistency. You think you have everything spot on and suddenly the rules change.
 
She's on basal and bolus .i no how frustrating it must get ,we're constantly striving for near as perfect bloods then there's always something to throw us off again ,when its hot she goes high so we have to change food ratios .hopefully we are getting the omnipod in October which injects every 3 mins and works more like a real pancreas were really looking forward to this as I want to keep her safe from any future complications caused by high bloods . Chloe gets really mad if there over 10 as we carb count,control shot and carb count so it awfull when you get a bad reading when you try so hard to maintain a good one.hope tomorrow is better for you


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Do you correct dose when your high ? We have just been given a new meter which tells us how much to inject to get Chloe back to 7 and under it really has helped a lot


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Thanks. I know what you mean. I find it hard enough, but it must be horrible for a kid. When I was diagnosed they made out that it was going to be a simple 'this many carbs = this amount of insulin' type thing but of course now I realise you have to take into account every little thing. Yeah, I'm similar - I hate it if it goes over 10 and tend to aim for the 6-8 mark but I know I'm really hard on myself. Having the occasional high spike won't matter as long as she keeps her averages good, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm mostly just annoyed because I can't tell what exactly caused the spike this time, and it was a really high one. I do give corrective doses - usually I work it out as 1 unit of Novorapid for every 2-3 points above 7 I am, but it's not exact. I gave myself 4 units to bring myself down from 17 at 10pm, and I've just had a low now so obviously it was a bit too much. That may be to do with the fact I just had my Levemir at the same time, but I'm not sure. I'd be very careful with corrective shots for a kid, as they tend to be much more sensitive to insulin - might be worth asking your doctor because I have no idea how you have to adjust things for children.

I've never really liked the look of insulin pumps, but I know for some people they're a godsend so I hope it works for her.
 
There are loads of odd reasons. I get these odd reasons.

It could have been, for example, a dodgy injection site.


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Thomas,you have jinx us Chloe's blood was 20 today not been that since diagnose the metre told us to test fr keytones she was fine and we have no idea why it went so crazy today ! Just thought it was weird after our chat,anyhow pumps scared me with all the wires till we got to see the omnipod no wires and tiny .hope ur BGS have been better today


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Oh an the correction shot is worked out by the meter the nurse managed to get us one that works out how much correction to get her back to 7 or under but strangely today when she was 20 it advised us to give her nothing to correct !


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If its the same tester as mine, it might have done a correction dose earlier. It takes a couple of hours for any insulin to have an affect f high sugars like that (something I learnt the hard way after many many hypos due to over treating a high). What are the sugars like now?


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There finally at 9 well they were at half 7 for her bed time basal which is ok reading i like her going to sleep on,going to check again when I go up.really stressful day could not work out why it would not correct,glad I didn't now.
Thanks for advice


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Even been thinking maybe last nights basal injection did not work we test shot first so not sure but its all i can think of her bloods were only that high when she was in hospital just starting her insulin


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ThomasPaine said:
Hi,

I've had Type 1 for about four years now. I was recently switched from a morning/night Insulutard + mealtime Novorapid regimen to morning/night Levemir + mealtime Novorapid. After a few days of adjusting my dosages etc, I seem to have stablised quite nicely at 11 nighttime units and 9 morning units (10am/10pm) on the Levemir and am really enjoying not having to worry about the same sort of hypo-inducing peaks I experienced on Insulutard. My morning/fasting readings have consistently been around the 6/7 mmol mark and my pre-dinner levels tend to be 8/9 at the highest, which is lovely, and, more importantly, a lot more stable than they used to be (if a little higher on average, which when we're talking 8 or so I don't feel is worth worrying about).

Anyway, today I had a sandwich (the same kind I've had a number of times before and had no trouble with) and had 9 units of Novorapid with it, as usual. I also added a small packet of crisps and added an extra 2 units for that. So 11 units alltogether. Usually I'd just have the sandwich but what's a tiny pack of crisps with 13g of carbs going to do? I had my lunch pretty late though - usually I'd eat at around 2pm but I had it closer to 5pm today. I don't know if that would make a huge difference. I tested again before my nighttime dose of Levemir, and my blood sugar had shot all the way up to 17 mmols! I have absolutely no clue what to make of this. The sandwich itself was a baguette and I realise they're not a standard size so I could potentially have been a unit or two out for that, but this still seems excessive - a reading of 10 or so I'd have thought 'fair enough, obviously underdosed slightly', but 17? My blood sugar has only ever been that high after drinking a lot a beer in the past, and even then only on two or three occasions. At least then I knew what was causing it.

I'm not even that worried that it's gone this high, because I know it's averages that matter and that the occasional spike isn't going to kill me, I just so frustrated because I can't put my finger on anything that would have caused this. I've done nothing significantly different to usual. Any advice please let me know, because I am so confused and angry and frustrated right now.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Do you know what your level was before you ate?
Have you tried crisps at another time or on their own? I know I had some ages ago when I was officially a type 2 (before they realised I was a adult type 1) and they spiked me something terrible and I've never dared try any since being on the insulin! :thumbdown:
It may just have been one of those days though.....I think we all get them at times, just bizarre.
Regards
Angie
 
Hypo now ...she was. shaking and shouted she had checked bloods they were 10 turns out she had not washed hand washed it said 4 .no hypo warning came on meter but treating it as one as no they can be out a bit and she was shaking crazy and had the feeling in her mouth she gets .just shows how much things can change from one day to the next [CRYING CAT FACE]


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Hi Thomas!

I made a similar switch of insulins to you a year or so back. I used to have Insuman basal twice a day and Apidra with meals and I switched to Levemir twice a day and Apidra at meals. I made the switch because the Insuman had distinct peaks in its profile and would often clash with the Apidra causing me to hypo mid morning. The Levemir is a little flatter, but I still find it has peaks. It only seems to last about 16 hours for me, hence the morning and evening doses. Anyway, a thought that might help you:

If you're injecting Levemir twice a day, there will be times when you've effectively got a double-dose and times when you've got a single-dose if you see what I mean. If your lunch normally hits a double-dose time you might need less Novorapid. If it hits a single-dose time you might need more. The change in the time of your lunch might have meant that you were in a single-dose time when you are normally in a double-dose time? I found it helped to draw a chart of the 24 hours and mark off when I jabbed Levemir and how long it lasts so that I could see what periods of the day I had more and less active Levemir - I can then adjust my Apidra ratio accordingly.

Take care

Smidge
 
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