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High morning readings

My reading was 8.4 last night. I had a new cartridge, checked it was fully working, injected in a safe area and I took 26 to nits this time. And my reading this morning was 17! I'm starting to think my body hates levemir. :/ The novorapid seems to work fine so the levemir should too.

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Did you manage a test around midnightish?

I use Lantus so I've no personal experience of Levemir. Perhaps, as others have suggested, a split dose with a larger portion covering the night time period would make sense. Make sure you have a full record of these results for your next visit to your diabetes health team.
 
He's injecting the Levemir just before bed, so splitting the dose would only make the night time highs worse.

I'm still thinking maybe the whole batch of Levemir has gone off.

@theedom83 when you use your QA insulin what insulin:carb ratio and what insulin correction ratio are you using, and does that work as expected?

Delayed digestion (gastroparesis) is another possibility. In that scenario, the Levemir is working normally but your evening meal's bolus blood sugar rise is coming in the middle of the night.

It's perplexing. I want to slap a CGM on you!

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You could try an additional 20 units of Levemir first thing in the morning, test every two hours without fail, carry hypo stuff at all times. If you don't go low then the Levemir is knackered.

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I'm saving all my levemir intake and sugar readings on a app on my phone so will have that to hand when I eventually see the diabetic team at the hospital rather than my doctor. I have taken 22 this evening, if that still doesn't improve then something is seriously wrong here. My breakfast and lunch sugars are always good so I don't think the dinner would be any different, but I live with diabetes, not a expert on it, so will have to wait and see I guess. It has also been 2 batches of levemir I have used. It's so frustrating.
 
I didn't take a midnight reading as I was shattered last night, but I will do so tonight and see how that goes. Again, I appreciate the help!
 
Here's another way to test it. I wouldn't ordinarily suggest this but it's such a mystery and very frustrating for you. You could try taking no Levemir tonight and doing the blood tests. If the results are pretty much the same as when you take the Levemir, then your Levemir is toast.

If it starts to shoot up even more rapidly then I guess take a correction and the rest (normal Levemir minus correction dose) as the Levemir. Either way you learn something. It's a weird one.

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Yeah I may try that tomorrow if all else fails because I just have no idea what's happening. My sugar was 11.9 after dinner. Because I'm taking less levemir I need more novorapid with my meals. So I'm working backwards on this as obviously the first dosage to get right is the long acting background insulin.
 
I took 22 units last night and this morning my reading was 8.9! So hopefully I'm heading in the right direction, it was the same insulin cartridge as the night before ( but I took 26 units that night) So its been 4 hours since I have eaten and it's currently 6.6 and I I have taken 22 units again so will hopefully have another half decent reading, I think my sugar raised this morning around 10/11 so I think I will need to split dose but for the next couple of days I just want to make sure that this night time injection is correct. I only found out levemir isn't a 24 hour insulin by looking online. I have never been told any different or about split dosing, which I think is disgusting. But anyway, hopefully my sugars will become better as it's only one good reading so far.
 
Hey great news!

Yeah it's a bit shocking the exaggerated claims that are made by manufacturers that end up being passed on to unwitting patients as being facts.

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Hey everyone, I have been testing different ways to get it right but still no luck. I tried 40 units the other night and I was having a hypo before 2 am, so I know the levemir works, but last night my reading was 7.3 before bed. So I took 30 units of levemir, woke up at 3 am and it was 6.4, then at 8 this morning it was 17.8!
 
HI, I had the same thing going to bed at about 5/7 and waking in the morning anywhere between 18-26. I was on Levemir. I was asked to test at 2am for a week and this showed a slight increase to about 10/15, this was done to try and rule out night time hypos. I was then changed to Lantus split does 11 at 8pm and 11 units at 8am, this has not changed anything and night time hypos have been ruled out. I have had continuous glucose monitor for 2 weeks and this showed spikes at nights and no explanation. I have been put forward for a pump as this is the only way the consultant thinks it can be managed. Ask about changing to Lantus and splitting the dose. Hope you get it sorted
 
Ok thanks that's really helpful! I will be phoning the diabetic nurse on Tuesday and will make a note of everything you just said. If I get any good results I will repost here. Thanks again and good luck with trying to get your readings sorted too!
 
Was just reading your post again, you say you are not having hypo's so you know it's not your liver releasing glucose, so would taking more long acting insulin help you? As yours seems to just increase over night? Rather than at one given point like mine has seemed to be doing recently.
 
You may struggle with this one because it's such a high peak. The pump would sort it of course. You might try degludec for a flat basal plus a night time Levemir for the overnight peak? Or even a medium acting mixed insulin for the overnight peak.

Another possibility is very delayed digestion.

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A CGM would tell you what is happening. I wonder if your hospital/surgery might have one you can use for a few days.
It's worth asking.
 
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