High blood sugar out of control and not coming down

Tommy850

Member
Messages
7
Hi evereyone, looking for some answers an advice.
Type 1, basal bolus insulin (Lantus 30 units and Novorapid 1 to 6g ratio). Approx 6, 8, 8 to10 rapid doses at meals, Diagnosed 12 months ago.
High blood pressure controlled on 3 different tablets. Balanced diet and not short of exercise.
I am having problems nearly a week now with bg levels in the 20s but occasional get into teens, now feeling rather unwell, no chance of driving or using tools so sent home last 2 days and not working today, been high since a hypo on saturday after bike ride. Feelin fatigued, nausea (esecially tuesday to point of vomiting), very weak, headache and general feeling of body not connected to my head, frequent urination, thirsty, dry mouth, yesterday at work i must have blacked out as was trimming a component with an air tool, blinked and was like i suddenly came back to reality, looked down and had kept cutting part where wasnt meant to without realising i was doing it, stood up and nearly fell over. Went to A&E they did blood test which was clear and no ketones present, spoke to diabetic nurse who said to up my lantus and increase correction dose and sent me home, but neither have worked, had extra meal worth of rapid before bed without food, which only got it to mid teens overnight (would have caused hypo in normal circumstances), had low sugar cereal this morning with nearly double insulin dose to try n get it to normal but instead has risen to mid 20s again over 3hrs ln basically a 1 to 4g dose, tried differnt batch of fresh pens, changed sites to ones never used and nothing working and now eyesight getting blurry, gp surgery not answering, waithing for callback from diabetes centre and dont know where to go from here, somethings not right and not getting the support i need, hspital brushed it off as lack of insulin which made no sense as was fine on dosages till now and no ketones, seems like im not using 60% of it hence enough to keep ketones down.
Any help much appreciated, sorry for the long read
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
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Insulin
Hi and welcome. You say you have a balanced diet? What sort of diet do you have? There may be a clue when you mentioned low-sugar cereal. If you are having high BS issues you need to keep the carbs down even as a T1. Cereals are usually up to 100% carbs. As diabetics we can't have the normal view of a balanced diet which in Western World terms means loads of carbs. I find if I eat out and have a higher level of carbs than normal I need to increase my insulin by more than a linear amount and vice versa.
 
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Tommy850

Member
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7
hi sorry yes should have said carb not sugar, i go towards wholewheat, but whats strange is that i havent really changed diet and was fine before bit now havimg it go up with nearly double insulin doses in some cases, most meals are low to moderate carb bit high in lean proteins.
 

Tommy850

Member
Messages
7
just dont get how for a 48 gram of carb meal with 12 units of rapid and it goes up by 6 to 8 mmol and only drops back to half way of 4 to 5 hrs where as 8 units ised to see an increase of 2or 3 after 2 hrs and drop to the same if not less than before the meal, although before i would also have the same meal, same time same dose and same daily routine and some days it would go up a bit and stay there other days it would plummit to hypo making it very unpredictable
 

Tommy850

Member
Messages
7
Hi, cheers for that, yes checked ketones about an hour ago and 0.3, finally got through to gp so awaiting call back from both them and diabetes centre for phone appts
 

EllieM

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If you've only been diagnosed a year it is possible you are now leaving your honeymoon period and just need more insulin generally. Otherwise it's hard to find anything to add to @In Response 's post. Just watch those ketones, because with those levels you can achieve DKA pretty fast if you're not careful.

Good luck
 
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EllieM

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Otherwise it's hard to find anything to add to @In Response 's post

Just remembered that there is now an NHS T1 diabetic hotline which might be useful

NHS helpline for adults who use insulin: call 0345 123 2399 (Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm)
 
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Tommy850

Member
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7
Thanks for the responses, seem the cause may have been found by a different gp, turns out hyperglycemia is a side affect of two of my blood pressure tablets one of which he classed as dangerous for diabetic and was also a water tablet. He has removed that one and switch the other for a 3 week trial, told to rest up for a few days and avoid the heat, heavy exercise and work to avoid further dehydration as seems my body isnt in a good way from it and im stuck in an umbreakable cycle from bp tablet causing high bg then body naturally resisting insulin as its too high causimg dehydration alongside a dehydrating tablet makimg me unwell and further increasing bg and repeat
 

sleepster

Well-Known Member
Messages
749
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I'm glad you found out what was causing it, hope you're feeling better soon.