• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Some high advice please

J

Jessd

Well-Known Member
Messages
261
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi
Over the last few weeks, I keep going high, anything upto 25 really! :(
Last night went to bed on a 7, was happy with that, tested in the night, was fine-8.3, got up at 7am this morning & was 17 aaargh!. Also seems when I have food & if i'm not that active after having it numbers go up really high, normally past 14, why is this, surely I can have something to eat & don't need to go & burn it off
Was horrified the other day, looked at my daily total they were 34.5, normally about 22!
Cannot get hold of my DSN, tried again last week, left another message, not got back to me. Really trying to get it right, think over the last few weeks i've had a couple of days where numbers haven't been past 8
 
Also I have clinic on Friday & i'm dreading it & worried what my HBAC1 is going to be
 
Jessd said:
Hi
Over the last few weeks, I keep going high, anything upto 25 really! :(
Last night went to bed on a 7, was happy with that, tested in the night, was fine-8.3, got up at 7am this morning & was 17 aaargh!. Also seems when I have food & if i'm not that active after having it numbers go up really high, normally past 14, why is this, surely I can have something to eat & don't need to go & burn it off
Was horrified the other day, looked at my daily total they were 34.5, normally about 22!
Cannot get hold of my DSN, tried again last week, left another message, not got back to me. Really trying to get it right, think over the last few weeks i've had a couple of days where numbers haven't been past 8
Click to expand...

The simple solution is to do a basal test and then you can see what is going on.
Then perhaps think about having a lazy days basal so you don't have so many highs. If that's not pratical then use a temp basal.
Also think about changing your carb ratio on lazy/unactive days. Stands to reason if you are not burning off the carbs then you need to change your ratio. Also have a good look at the amount of carbs you are eating and the type of carbs.
 
Happened again tonight, had had quite an active afternoon, at about 5pm, did a bm & it was 5.6, had egg on toast & yoghurt, gave correct dose, then took dogs out & not exactly sitting about- did a bm about an hour & a half after tea- 16.9
Thinking I need to get back into my running, that really seemed to keep my numbers right.
Sometimes I can be going non stop & other times not so busy, just feel like my body is not working properly, so frustrating
at the moment I am on 1unit for every 10 grams of carbohydrate, am on Apidra insulin
 
If you are sure that your basal rate of insulin is keeping your bg stable when you don't eat any food, then your insulin to carb ratio needs adjusting. People need different ratios at certain times of the day to cope with the food they want to eat. You might be ok to use a 1:10 ratio at some of your meal times but not all of them. Your bg meter will become your best friend when using a pump so keep testing and use the bg results to make the necessary adjustments.
 
Well clinic wasn't too bad yesterday. They did my HBAC1 there, hoping to get results back on Monday.
Plan is to do some basal rate testing at night, see what that brings up, may well change my insulin to carb ratio
 
Jessd said:
Well clinic wasn't too bad yesterday. They did my HBAC1 there, hoping to get results back on Monday.
Plan is to do some basal rate testing at night, see what that brings up, may well change my insulin to carb ratio
Click to expand...

There is no point in changing your carb ratio until you have your basal sorted. If your basal is wrong then everything else will be messed up.
So check and change one thing at a time or you will end up in one big mess.
 
Yes going to do basal rate testing 1st,then see how that goes & maybe have to look at carb ratio
My DSN has advised me to start my basal rate testing at about 10pm, then check in the night at 2 & 4 see whats happening
Had a bad day with numbers today, this morning got up early 5.30 as was training the dogs, did a bm 7.9 so that was good, had usual porridge for breakfast, gave correct insulin. As were doing a fair bit of walking, normally stick my TBR to about 70/80%. finished about 9.30 am, got back & had coffee, was 13.1, so gave 1.5 unit, then at 11 was hungry so we had venison burger in a wholemeal roll, fine know what that counts as, had another coffee, then at 1.10 did a bm- horrified its 27.3 :( gave 5 units, puts TBR up, didn't do alot, drunk plenty of water, got back later, at 4p, did a bm-18.4, then did a bit round the house etc, was coming down. About 6.30 tonight, could feel I was low, so had 2 lucozades, scrambled egg & 1 slice of bread & activia yoghurt ( I know what these count as)
 
Jessd said:
Yes going to do basal rate testing 1st,then see how that goes & maybe have to look at carb ratio
My DSN has advised me to start my basal rate testing at about 10pm, then check in the night at 2 & 4 see whats happening
Had a bad day with numbers today, this morning got up early 5.30 as was training the dogs, did a bm 7.9 so that was good, had usual porridge for breakfast, gave correct insulin. As were doing a fair bit of walking, normally stick my TBR to about 70/80%. finished about 9.30 am, got back & had coffee, was 13.1, so gave 1.5 unit, then at 11 was hungry so we had venison burger in a wholemeal roll, fine know what that counts as, had another coffee, then at 1.10 did a bm- horrified its 27.3 :( gave 5 units, puts TBR up, didn't do alot, drunk plenty of water, got back later, at 4p, did a bm-18.4, then did a bit round the house etc, was coming down. About 6.30 tonight, could feel I was low, so had 2 lucozades, scrambled egg & 1 slice of bread & activia yoghurt ( I know what these count as)
Click to expand...

Jess,
have a look at this for basal testing http://www.diatribe.us/issues/13/learning-curve

Are you also 100% sure you have the right cannula for you? I am wondering if no food eaten and basal fine (will find out after tests) If you have a problem with length and type of cannula.
 
Thanks will look in a minute.
I am using rapid d link canula- 6
 
Very intertesting, thanks
Don't think it'll be a good idea to do the basal rate testing tonight, see what numbers are about 10pm
 
Jess

It might also be better at the moment for you not to use the TBR on the pump until you get your basal rates a bit more correct. You can always eat some carb to cope with your bg failling due to exercise but obviously not too much as you will swing upwards too much.
 
yes, I have thought about that. The TBR is so handy though sometimes
Trying to get back into running-struggling to get motivated for it!
 
well tested in the night & I was 2.2, had 2 Lucozades & 2 Ryvita, went back to bed, got up at 6am, did a bm-23 :( not happy!! changed set & corrected, came down to 8.6 by 7.30am, had a slice of malt loaf, then a small pack of unsalted cashew nuts, 11am bm was 7.3,fairly busy morninh, got back at 1.30ish, bm was 3.4, had an omlette for lunch & then small pack of unsaled pistachio nuts, did a bit this afternoon, bm was 5.6 at 3.30pm, hoping to keep it where it should be. Chicken & salad for tea, so that should be ok, try basal rate testing again tonight.
 
Jessd said:
well tested in the night & I was 2.2, had 2 Lucozades & 2 Ryvita, went back to bed, got up at 6am, did a bm-23 :( not happy!! changed set & corrected, came down to 8.6 by 7.30am, had a slice of malt loaf, then a small pack of unsalted cashew nuts, 11am bm was 7.3,fairly busy morninh, got back at 1.30ish, bm was 3.4, had an omlette for lunch & then small pack of unsaled pistachio nuts, did a bit this afternoon, bm was 5.6 at 3.30pm, hoping to keep it where it should be. Chicken & salad for tea, so that should be ok, try basal rate testing again tonight.
Click to expand...

Not sure I dare ask :) but what do you mean by 2 lucozades? (How many carbs)
To treat a hypo whilst pumping you are only meant to use fast acting carbs as you have no long acting insulin to soak up at all. :)

You really need to avoid high protien food when basal testing ie nuts, eggs, cheese etc as they affect your blood sugars a lot longer than you realise.
 
Hi Jess

2 Ryvita would equal approx 14g carb plus you also had 2 Lucozade (I take it Lucozade tabs?) so they equal approx 10g carb. You overtreated the hypo which is common and because your basal rates are not correct that's why you woke up with very high bg. What would have been better I think would be for you to just eat the 2 tabs and not the Ryvita as well and just test your bg 2hrs later.

Quite a lot of people need less basal from midnight to about 3am and then need to increase the basal upwards a bit. Frequent bg testing will tell you what to do so basal test again and reduce the basals down a bit and use the results you get on your bg meter to work out when you need to reduce and then increase them. It is tedious and you will feel tired out at times but once you've got a block of basal rates sorted, you can then tackle the next block
 
I mean 2 Lucozade tablets, my nurse advises me to have 4 Lucozades to treat a hypo Carbohydrate per 100g is 87.9g, they come in a 47g pack, 14 tablets in a pack
 
A good idea, just when i'm low I often have ryvita, there just light if you know what I mean
 
Hi

I think the advice your DSN gave you for treating hypos (4 x lucozade tabs = 20g carb (glucose) might be needed for biphasic or basal/bolus regimes but probably not when using a pump.
 
Jessd said:
I mean 2 Lucozade tablets, my nurse advises me to have 4 Lucozades to treat a hypo Carbohydrate per 100g is 87.9g, they come in a 47g pack, 14 tablets in a pack
Click to expand...

To treat a hypo the normal these days is 15 carbs. (quick acting) then to retest 15 mins later repeat if blood sugar is not going up.
It's known as the 15 min rule :)
If you only half treat a hypo ie 2 glucose tablets and follow with slow carbs this will slow the quick carbs absoption, which could lead to trouble if dropping fast :(

Do you have the book pumping insulin by John Walsh, Jess? If not it will be the best investment you ever make.
 
Back
Top