Insulin resistance during illness

[sophc]

Hi all


I am looking for some help / advice as I’m still relatively new to pumping. I feel a bit off colour , sore throat , achey, and my blood sugars will just not come down.

I feel ok in my self , just a bit off. I’m running a temp basal of 150% all day , I have no ketones but my sugars won’t budge. I’m doing multiple corrections and sometimes doubling what the Bolus wizard is recommending. This is the first time I’ve been poorly since going on the pump so it’s unknown territory. Any advice / experiences of what helps would be great.
Thank you all

 

[shirlz51]

Hi all


I am looking for some help / advice as I’m still relatively new to pumping. I feel a bit off colour , sore throat , achey, and my blood sugars will just not come down.

I feel ok in my self , just a bit off. I’m running a temp basal of 150% all day , I have no ketones but my sugars won’t budge. I’m doing multiple corrections and sometimes doubling what the Bolus wizard is recommending. This is the first time I’ve been poorly since going on the pump so it’s unknown territory. Any advice / experiences of what helps would be great.
Thank you all [/

Hi all


I am looking for some help / advice as I’m still relatively new to pumping. I feel a bit off colour , sore throat , achey, and my blood sugars will just not come down.

I feel ok in my self , just a bit off. I’m running a temp basal of 150% all day , I have no ketones but my sugars won’t budge. I’m doing multiple corrections and sometimes doubling what the Bolus wizard is recommending. This is the first time I’ve been poorly since going on the pump so it’s unknown territory. Any advice / experiences of what helps would be great.
Thank you all

Are you actually doing less, because you feel ill.Just a thought, it's something i forget to take into account sometimes.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi,

I'm not a pumper..

What I can do is tag in @Mel dCP @helensaramay @Juicyj @kitedoc who are & may well have some ideas..

Hope this helps.

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @sophc Sorry to hear your feeling unwell

Having a basal pattern set up on your pump for illness is important to take the effort out of doing correction boluses, however I cannot advise on what to increase this to, you will need to call your DSN and go through the set up with them, however keep up with the bolus corrections in the meantime. Keep testing every 2 hours, drink lots of fluids, check for ketones every 2-4 hours, if your unsure if your pump insulin is working then switch to injections to deliver your bolus shots.

Be careful doing corrections before bed, otherwise set your alarm to check around 2am.

Hopefully it will pass soon, sorry it's a pain when your ill as you have to do so much more to manage it, let us know how you get on.

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @sophc, from my experience on an insulin pump, not as professional advice or opinion:
You are doing all the things that are on my sick day plan except I also increase my before-meals boluses by the same % as for the basal. Hopefully that brings the post-meal BSLs down and spares the corrections.
What I then do is take stock:
1) Talk with my DSN or doctor about what is happening whilst I keep testing BSLs and for ketones
2) Temperatures > 38.5 ---> doctor in case antibiotics are needed and recalling that urine infections may not be obvious, particularly with high BSLs causing increased urination. (Any sore teeth, stomach pain,(blood in the bowel motion), nail or skin infections, skin rash may be where or what the trouble is)
3) How much insulin in corrections ? I, and this is only me, divide the total insulin in corrections between my basal and bolus doses according to how much of each I usually take: so if my bolus to basal doses are usually about 50:50 I do that: so I calculate how much that raises the basal % wise and divide the increase in bolus by three, but tend to increase the before breakfast dose more than the others.
4) If BSLs start dropping, I ease back boluses first than basal, but that is just my way.
Best Wishes !!

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @sophc, How are things ??

 

[sophc]

Hi @sophc, How are things ??

Hi @kitedoc things seem to have improved, I’ve come down with a cold which seems to be the culprit of the high sugars. I tried some of your suggestions and it seems to have massively taken the edge off. I’m currently running around 8/9 mmol which is still a little high but much better than it was! Thank you for the advice it really improved the situation greatly within a few hours of trying out your methods

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @kitedoc things seem to have improved, I’ve come down with a cold which seems to be the culprit of the high sugars. I tried some of your suggestions and it seems to have massively taken the edge off. I’m currently running around 8/9 mmol which is still a little high but much better than it was! Thank you for the advice it really improved the situation greatly within a few hours of trying out your methods

That is great to hear @sophc, The next step beyond, which I often hesitate to suggest, is an intra-muscular injection of insulin - something which your DSM would need to talk you through and which is a bit more ouchy that inserting cannulas and usual needles for insulin. Besides which you need a separate syringe and a longer needle to accomplish that type of injection. It has gotten me out of a tight stop several times - but give it some thought and sees what the DSN suggests when you next review your sick day plan with her.
Meantime I hope your cold settles quickly but allows you plenty of time off household duties !!