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Anonymous Question Sugars were 19, took 20 units of insulin and now my sugars are 24! Help!

Anonymous Question

Well-Known Member
Hi I was wondering if you or any of members could help me I took my sugars and they were 19.0 so I took 20 unit's of my insulin but my sugars have shot up to 24 even tho I have not eaten or drunk in last hour is this normal.

Can anyone offer any advice?





 
Be careful 20 units of a rapid acting insulin is a lot ! Clean your hands try another meter of you have a spare, it can take up to 5 hours for that insulin to burn out so don't correct again.

What was the last meal you ate ?
Are you getting sick?

Start drinking water now, lots of water.

Start testing for keystones and be prepared to present yourself to a&e remind them it is a medical emergency.

Monitor your sugars closely.




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Check the site your injecting into is it lumpy ? This can effect how quickly it absorbs.

Is it possible you drank a non diet drink ?


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How long after the insulin did you test? If it was only one hour then it's very possible it's not started to bring your sugars down yet. I find that with high sugars it can sometimes take two or more hours tomstart shifting downwards.

***do NOT take more insuljn***

You'll need to wait to see what effect those 20 units have and they will have an effect over some hours.
 
I think it's best you don't correct your blood sugar until at least 5 hours have since your dose.
There is two very likely causes

1. Insulin is damaged- it's best you throw away this cartridge and try a fresh cartridge.

2. If the insulin is still isn't working then you clearly have an infection.
 
Hi I'm on high doses of insulin as my sugars are usually in 50/60 range this was low for me I don't have an infection and nurse checked where I am injecting and said its fine I have been referred to my diabetic nurse for review but still no action from insulin it's not doing anything to my sugars
 
that does sound pretty normal to me - if I'm in double figures it takes at least 90 minutes before a correction dose starts having any impact on my blood sugar & if I was rising when I injected it will carry on rising until it starts working - when you are high it just takes a while for it to start working.

Do you know what your usual correction factor is (how many units it takes to bring you down one)? What sort of insulin did you inject, was it fast acting bolus?

20 units does sound like a brave correction dose to me, so do make sure you are testing frequently, have a bit of patience to give up your correction time to work (it will take longer than you want it to, but once it does start working it might drop you like a stone), drink lots of water & test for ketones if you can.
 
If my levels go over 12 I have to double my correction bolus.. As OP on higher dosing then it may well be needed.. However I would be testing every hour..
 

@Kimberliegibson87 are you the anonymous OP (sorry if that totally goes against the anon posting)? What kind of insulin are you taking?
 
Kimberliegibson87 said:
Humalin
Click to expand...
Thanks - I was just wanting go check it wasn't a mixed insulin. Hopefully the humalog has brought you down a bit now and you didn't have to test all night long.

Have you done a DAFNE course? It might be worth looking into for more info on things like correcting and help you to work out how to get your blood sugar out of double figures.
 
No my dr was useless just signed up with a new gp but no it didn't go down kept going up so took another 10 before bed and it went down to 10 so left it at that x
 
Hi. Can I ask what your BMI/weight is? When a T2 has excess weight then injected insulin may not always have much effect as the body can already have too much but due to insulin resistance the body can't use it. If this is the case, then obviously targeting weight reduction will help reduce insulin resistance and some posters are on Victoza which can help in various ways. Let's hope you new GP is on the ball.
 
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