Insulin increase after illness

[Carolyn81]

Hi everyone,
I’m a fairly new type 1 (about 5 years) diabetic. I have always been on a low dose of levermir and a 1:1 ratio for novo rapid.
I don’t have great control but when I’m doing it right and following the rules I’m ok.
I had a nasty virus in January and since then my numbers are all over the place.

I’ve almost doubled my background insulin and having to correct at meals and just keep trending high.

Is this a known thing. Can viruses worsen your diabetes/insulin once you’ve recovered? It’s so strange.

 

[EllieM]

Hi @Carolyn81 and welcome to the forums. I think it's fairly well known that people's insulin needs can and do change. (Mine certainly have over the years).

And it's pretty common for insulin needs to go up (sometimes drastically) during illness.

Obviously this is something you should talk to your team about but there are so many things that change people's insulin needs that it doesn't totally surprise me that your needs have changed. Are you now completely recovered from the virus? Maybe your weight, fitness level or exercise regime has changed post virus?

Looks like something similar happened to this poster here?

Increased insulin need after illness

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year and a half ago, am 22 female living in Kenya. I recently got a bad tummy bug which turned into a gut infection about 3 weeks ago. I am completely better now and have not been on any other medications for at least 3 weeks. I have noticed I...

www.diabetes.co.uk

Once more welcome

 

[eventhorizon]

Hi.

Yep, any infection can raise sugar levels. Sometimes out of all proportion to the illness itself. Viruses can linger long after the feeling bad stage is over. However 3 months is a long time. Have you tried a different batch or some new insulin? Gained weight recently or any other life change ..... insert here......!

 

[Olddogandgrump]

Hi, it's perfectly normal for bg to soar during an illness - even if you are not eating. The body releases stores of glucose to fuel itself in the fight against it, so the bg will not be related to your carb intake or activity.

But three months is a long time. It might be worth checking that you are actually free of the virus and if you are, maybe this is the new normal and you need to, with the assistance of your health care team, rebalance your basal and carb/short action ratio.

After all, it's not unknown for diabetes to be triggered by an illness - so it's possible that it could worsen as it were if you are ill, particularly if you had been making a small amount of insulin yourself, which is a possibility if you were on low doses, and that's now reduced or stopped.