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High sugars that won't come down!

DiaBethic95

DiaBethic95

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Location
Saltash, Cornwall
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, my names Beth I'm type 1.
Still in the honeymoon period I believe.
For about a week now I can't seem to get my sugars down, they haven't been lower than 10!
I've put my lantus up to 28units a day (it was 22 units before all these high sugars).
But it hasn't really made a difference ! I'm scared to put it up more incase I go hypo during the night.
I've also had to do a ton more Novarapid with meals! I was originally doing 6 units with each meal, but at the moment I'm having to do around 18/20 units !!!! Which isn't right surely ? I've also had to do about 8 units in between meals to try and keep me down!! But none of it's working! I'm still above 10 every time I test!

I'm not ill at all and I feel well!
Apart from feeling the affects of high sugars!
So I'm really confused and don't know what else to do.
Could it be possible that I'm out of the honeymoon period and I need to do lots more insulin now?
Every time I tell my gp they just tell me to do a couple more units but it seems I would have to do way more than a "couple more units" to get me back to 'normal' sugars?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!
Beth


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As @robert72 said .

Insulin can "go off " in hot weather, so the first things to do is change the pen or cartridge, and check your insulin pens to see if they are working OK . I remember having ferocious highs a few years back over the Xmas period , and it turned out my Lantus pen was faulty so everything went to bits with no basal insulin ! Trying to get a replacement pen was a nightmare when everywhere was closed, and it taught me to have a back up, and a back up for my back up :D:D Now, it's the first thing I check when having unexpected highs, and I always keep my pens in a Frio when out and about too.

You may have some insulin needs changing if the honeymoon period is coming to a close, but this sounds a bit dramatic to be just that .... do you have a diabetic team you could speak to instead of your GP ?
Signy
 
Some other suspects are:
  • Are you taking any new meds (especially steroids)?
  • Could all your pens be duds and/or is the fridge cold enough?
  • Have you been eating anything very sugary or changed anything in you normal diet?
  • Are you stressed?
  • Have you been less active than normal?
 
Nope not taking any new meds.
I will order a new load of pens tonight and pick them up tomorrow to rule that out.
If anything I have been eating less and nothing sugary at all!
Other than that nothing in my daily life has changed!!
Nothing seems to be making a difference :(
It's exhausting!



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
And another... could you have an infection that is not immediately obvious? Bad tooth for example.
 
Yes I rotate frequently.
Hmm it's always a possibility that I have an infection or something that I'm not aware of yet, I suppose it's just a game of waiting to see what happens.
If it continues I will have to make an appointment with my gp to get checked over :/


Beth, Type 1 diabetic.
Or as my family call me 'Diabethic'
 
I would suggest a change of insulin is in order, ask if you can change over to Apidra & levemir to see if this help resolve your high insulin usage, it's been known that some types of insulins simply don't work in some people, so always worth changing to see if this is the case with you.
 
Hey, did you find that the change of insulin worked if you changed over? I am on levemir and novo rapid and have the same problem. It will be great for a week or so and then everything will just reverse and I will be in the 20's. Any thing you've tried that worked would help me loads. Thanks
 
More insulin does not always work either as the evidence is that for BGL above 11 mmol/L corrections work erratically. Try keeping you insulin normal and go for 30 min walks between meals to see if that helps. David


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Thanks for replying! I am a dog walker so I spend most of my day walking which I would expect to bring my sugars down. So do you mean that taking corrective doses of insulin won't always work if your sugars are over 11? Because that's interesting I find that I can inject and inject and nothing will happen for hours and so I take more and still nothing happens until the end of the day where I will have a huge hypo. Does that make sense under what you said or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
 
CharlotteH said:
Thanks for replying! I am a dog walker so I spend most of my day walking which I would expect to bring my sugars down. So do you mean that taking corrective doses of insulin won't always work if your sugars are over 11? Because that's interesting I find that I can inject and inject and nothing will happen for hours and so I take more and still nothing happens until the end of the day where I will have a huge hypo. Does that make sense under what you said or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
Click to expand...
It's true you will need more correction dose to get high blood sugars down. There should be a formula in sick day rules if you have any. Also wondering if you have trouble with absorption from injection site if you come crashing down later than expected... unless you have been rage-bolusing ;)
 
Ahh, no I've never had any sick day rules, haha I must say sometimes I can be guilty of that. But only on the occasions where it's so high and it just won't move.
I change my injection sites a lot because I suffered quite badly With a bloated stomach and looked around six months pregnant I assumed it was that the insulin was getting stuck... Self diagnosis so probably nonsense.

Thanks both of you so much for replying. It's making me feel a lot better knowing that People can help and share what's helped them :)
 
Hi Beth i have been a t1 for over 50 years but you are never to old to learn new stuff, just a few thoughts, that have come to mind, recently i was having a similar problem but found out my blood pressure tablets were interfering with my sugars i was taking over double my usual amount of insulin this only got worse after the GP tried to increase the B/P meds the 2nd time, another issue i discovered was that the needles i was using were to long they were 8mml now using 4/5ml and have moved the injection site further around the sides of my stomach and this has also made a huge difference. Further over the years i have discovered the 2 main ways i i have to deal with consistent high BGs at first i try to chance them down, this only works for short periods as you then can start a bouncing effect, if this does not settle it i then use my long acting 1 or 2 units higher than normal but no more and then back down my short acting and try to manage a consistent amount each meal and unless i have an infection it does gradually come back, but stress and pain are 2 issues than can hold your bgs up high without realizing it, hope this may help best of luck and try and keep well, Regards Toby.
 
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