20.0 mmol fun

[Marc]

Having the normal fun random high reading of 20.0 this morning Ketones 0.01 so not really any ketones but feel bad injected 22units to deal with this 12units to cover breakfast 6 CPs and 10 correction. Just that was 2 hours ago and I have only dropped to 18.8. Feeling c**p help.

Marc

 

[Northerner]

Hi Marc, very sorry to hear this Are you sure your insulin is OK - might it have got too warm or is there a possibility that your pen isn't working and didn't deliver the proper dose? Cracked cartridge? Your breakfast will have pushed your levels higher before the insulin really got to work, so it may comedown significantly now it is peaking - you've already covered your breakfast and a little bit more, so the situation may not be as bad as it looks right now - I'd give it another hour and test again.

 

[m1dnc]

You are not alone! Last night at bedtime mine was 20.4, with ketones at 0.3. Took correction dose and went to sleep. Two hours later the pump meter woke me up for a further reading - 15.something - further correction. Another two hours later 12.something. Back to sleep. At 07:30 this morning back to 7.2. Thank you Roche for the bolus advisor.

At least I can explain mine. Chinese meal and total carb miscalculation. When will I ever learn!

 

[heasandford]

You are not alone! Last night at bedtime mine was 20.4, with ketones at 0.3. Took correction dose and went to sleep. Two hours later the pump meter woke me up for a further reading - 15.something - further correction. Another two hours later 12.something. Back to sleep. At 07:30 this morning back to 7.2. Thank you Roche for the bolus advisor.

At least I can explain mine. Chinese meal and total carb miscalculation. When will I ever learn!

This is how long it takes to correct errors in my experience too. If you eat again it just carries on getting high and needing proportionately more insulin - correction doses vary depending how high it goes. It is so hard not to overcorrect then crash into the opposite scenario of hypo followed by hypo...

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Urgh! I hate those.

Second what others have said about food. When very high like that if at all possible I'll wait until the correction has done quite a bit of its work (which might be 2-3 hours) before adding more carbs. Above a certain BG level my corrections don't seem to work as efficiently and it's always a bit of a guessing game how much I'll need delending on what else if goung on.

Hope you come down smoothly.

Any clues as to what caused it? Are your sites OK?

 

[DeusXM]

Chinese meal and total carb miscalculation. When will I ever learn!

Yep, there's always more carbs in Chinese food. What a lot of people don't realise is that generally, it contains a lot of cornflour. Everyone goes on about sugary sauces etc. but the real danger is that the meats are usually coated in cornflour prior to frying. There's a very good reason for this (it's why the meat is always very moist in things like chow mein) but it's not commonly known nor immediately obvious from the taste or texture.

So if anyone didn't know this, now they've learned two top tips - first, how to bolus more effectively for Chinese food and second, the secret to cooking an awesome stir fry that'll astonish your friends!

 

[DeusXM]

One thing that you might find helpful for correction doses is doing an intramuscular injection.

When I run particularly high, I swap my needle for 12.7mm one and stab it in the muscle at the top of my arm - the place where you'd usually get the vaccination done. Because you're going straight into the muscle, the insulin gets absorbed more quickly (it'll probably hit peak efficiency at about 30 mins rather than 1 hour) and this can be the difference between fixing a high or chasing the glucose.

I've also been told that a good trick for dealing with highs is to do multiple small injections that add up to your total compensation dose. Say you calculate you need 10u to bring you back to normal, you could do 3u in each leg and then 4u in your stomach. A DSN told me that the larger each individual injection of insulin, the less effective it is.

Another extremely dangerous but effective trick is IV dosing of insulin - this is NOT for the faint of heart and as I said, extremely dangerous for those who don't have a lot of experience AND ready access to glucose. But it can work - last night I was running a high of 12.5 and managed to take that down to 6.5 in 40 minutes.

 

[Urbansoulpie]

I also have the same problem, when I get a high like that it takes a long time to sort out, lots of testing and corrections!
The problem is so much worse if its a spike from food too, they are a complete nightmare!!!

I hope you soon get sorted.

 

[Ellie Jones]

Urgh! I hate those.

Second what others have said about food. When very high like that if at all possible I'll wait until the correction has done quite a bit of its work (which might be 2-3 hours) before adding more carbs. Above a certain BG level my corrections don't seem to work as efficiently and it's always a bit of a guessing game how much I'll need delending on what else if goung on.

Hope you come down smoothly.

Any clues as to what caused it? Are your sites OK?

I'm the same, if levels are above a certain amount, I delay eating to correct, this ensures that I'm only delay with a high BG, and not any miscalculations from additional carbs...

The problem with higher blood glucose levels, is that you become more insulin resistance, so need more insulin to counteract, but because you are injecting a larger amount of insulin this can create uneven adsorption hence some of the unpredictability, sometimes if a large dose is required, its better to split the injection into two, and inject into different areas!

Another problem, when adding carbs, due to the insulin resistance the carbs can have more impact, needing an higher carb-insulin ration.. So any miscalculation, spiking can have a greater impact on the blood glucose, muddying the picture even further..