Unexplained high blood sugar spike

[tony83]

My wife has had diabetes 2 for about 10 years, she has kept it under control 7-8 with medication and insulin injections. About a week ago it started to rise as follows
fasting 17 evening 32
fasting 10 evening 15
fasting 6 evening 16
I contacted our doctor who told me to increase her insulin lantus and her twive daily novorapid injections by 4 units, 54 and 34 but the next 3 days same spikes continued
fasting 11
fasting 6 pre evening meal 15 night 33
fasting 6
fasting 22 (to day)

I am extremely alarmed and I don't know what to do. I tried to persuade my wife to go to hospital but she says she feels very well and has no side effects. She has no signs of any hyperglycaemia. She point blank refuses to go to hospital or see a doctor. I haven't been able to Our usual doctor by phone because he is away and I might not be able to get hold of him for a few days. I have checked her blood sugar onto separate metres, one is brand-new and different test strips but they both read exactly the same high spikes. I have also tried to change for a new insulin pen from a different lot, but the results are the same.
I am naturally extremely worried since my wife had a mild stroke a few years ago which was due to a period of quite high blood sugar but certainly nothing like her present results.

 

[ianf0ster]

My wife has had diabetes 2 for about 10 years, she has kept it under control 7-8 with medication and insulin injections. About a week ago it started to rise as follows
fasting 17 evening 32
fasting 10 evening 15
fasting 6 evening 16
I contacted our doctor who told me to increase her insulin lantus and her twive daily novorapid injections by 4 units, 54 and 34 but the next 3 days same spikes continued
fasting 11
fasting 6 pre evening meal 15 night 33
fasting 6
fasting 22 (to day)

I am extremely alarmed and I don't know what to do. I tried to persuade my wife to go to hospital but she says she feels very well and has no side effects. She has no signs of any hyperglycaemia. She point blank refuses to go to hospital or see a doctor. I haven't been able to Our usual doctor by phone because he is away and I might not be able to get hold of him for a few days. I have checked her blood sugar onto separate metres, one is brand-new and different test strips but they both read exactly the same high spikes. I have also tried to change for a new insulin pen from a different lot, but the results are the same.
I am naturally extremely worried since my wife had a mild stroke a few years ago which was due to a period of quite high blood sugar but certainly nothing like her present results.

Hi tony83,
Helensaramay's advice is good if it is suspected that the insulin isn't working.
I would like to propose a more scary possibility:
What Insulin does when taken by a Type2 diabetic is to force excess Blood Glucose to be stored as fat, especially around the internal organs, making the Insulin Resistance of the Type 2 progressively worse. This is also the case for naturally produced insulin and for relatively thin Type 2's like me (TOFI = Thin Outside, Fat Inside).

So could this be due to the Insulin resistance getting much worse, or even the pancreas losing the ability to produce internal Insulin after being overwhelmed by fat deposits?

Are you and your wife happy to continue that way? - Or might you want to explore dietary changes (Low Carb) which will reduce the BG in the first place and thus reduce the need for as much Insulin and even start to reverse the build up of internal fat, the Insulin Resistance and any diabetic symptoms?

It is up to you and your wife.

Best wishes,
Ian

 

[Krystyna23040]

@tony83 I absolutely agree with @ianf0ster - I was a T2 on insulin for over 4 years and I do believe the insulin resistance got worse over that time.

Because it is likely that I had undiagnosed diabetes for maybe 20 years my pancreas is pretty well wrecked but by going LCHF I have come off insulin completely and am on no other meds.

Because of my dodgy pancreas I do have to limit net carbs to 20g a day. My hba1c was 125 when first diagnosed, was around 52 on insulin and on LCHF/keto it is 36. So for me it has really worked.

I did wonder if - because this rise is so sudden - whether your wife has a virus or infection which would play havoc with her blood sugars.

 

[ianf0ster]

@tony83 I absolutely agree with @ianf0ster - I was a T2 on insulin for over 4 years and I do believe the insulin resistance got worse over that time.

Because it is likely that I had undiagnosed diabetes for maybe 20 years my pancreas is pretty well wrecked but by going LCHF I have come off insulin completely and am on no other meds.

Because of my dodgy pancreas I do have to limit net carbs to 20g a day. My hba1c was 125 when first diagnosed, was around 52 on insulin and on LCHF/keto it is 36. So for me it has really worked.

I did wonder if - because this rise is so sudden - whether your wife has a virus or infection which would play havoc with her blood sugars.

Yes, there are many reasons why Blood Glucose may rise in the shorter term. They include:
Infection
Stress
Grief
Lack of sleep
Lack of exercise