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Waking up over 20!!

C

c-wetton

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Hi,

The past two mornings, I've woken up with a blood sugar reading of over 20! This is not normal for me. I've been a type one diabetic for 13 years (I'm 24 now) and use levemir over night. If anything, I sometimes have a problem with waking up low.

I cannot see why this has happened. Last night I did a pre-bed blood test and was 4.4 so had half a slice of toast and did my usual night time insulin dose, (reduced slightly, from 12 to 10 due to the low sugar reading). Obviously there's always an element of guess work with type one diabetes but this is really out of the ordinary. I'm wondering whether I've put my handbag too close to a radiator or something and damaged the insulin in the pen. Tonight I plan to use a fresh pen and also set an alarm for 3am so I can see where I'm at a that time.

Any other thoughts or suggestions welcome!
 
Another possibility is that you hypo'd in your sleep and this is the rebound? Probably not likely as you had half a slice of toast, but possible. How many hours before bed was your last fast acting bolus? My daughter finds that Novorapid can have a long tail (up to 6 hours) that can cause her to hypo at night.
Sue
 
Sue, thats the exact reason why I am now using Apidra, not Novorapid, because of the tail (and the initial slow response).

Paul
 
Hi All,

Thanks for getting back to me. This is the first time I've used this. I've read other people's posts lots of times but only registared today.

re: hypo in the night, yes I think that sounds like a possible but then again, two nights in a row seems odd. I think the suggestion of sickening for something seems a good explanation but I feel absolutely fine at the moment.

Will try a new pen tonight, plus set an alarm for a middle of the night blood test.

Will let you know, thanks again,
Cressida.
 
c-wetton said:
Hi,

The past two mornings, I've woken up with a blood sugar reading of over 20! This is not normal for me. I've been a type one diabetic for 13 years (I'm 24 now) and use levemir over night. If anything, I sometimes have a problem with waking up low.

I cannot see why this has happened. Last night I did a pre-bed blood test and was 4.4 so had half a slice of toast and did my usual night time insulin dose, (reduced slightly, from 12 to 10 due to the low sugar reading). Obviously there's always an element of guess work with type one diabetes but this is really out of the ordinary. I'm wondering whether I've put my handbag too close to a radiator or something and damaged the insulin in the pen. Tonight I plan to use a fresh pen and also set an alarm for 3am so I can see where I'm at a that time.

Any other thoughts or suggestions welcome!
Click to expand...

Hello :)

Try not to worry too much. Its fairly common I think for this type of thing to happen with basal insulins. I too have had similar experience to yourself.

Sometimes just altering the basal dose by 2 units can produce dramatic changes in bg levels so its hard to find a happy medium. Its all a bit of a guessing game and trial and error.

May be tonight as long your bg is on 4 before bed, use the same amount of levemir (12 units) and eat a whole slice of bread instead of half a slice. You might find that you will be ok with this. Or, just decrease the levemir by 1 unit and eat the half slice.
 
Hmmm, I suspect you pen of "misfiring"...although it s odd! You haven't eaten anything different, which might have more carbs than you have injected short acting for??

Tis a mystery!
 
You don't really have to reduce the Levemir because of a hypo dude. It doesn't act fast enough to impact your sugars in any meaningful way within the first hour or so. Remember it's a background "insulin" that keeps everything ticking over. I'd bump the dose up a bit, and just make sure you eat enough long acting carbs at bed time (like said toast, only a wholemeal, maybe a warm milk, etc).
 
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