Can't BG under 20 at the moment

[AJLang]

I occasionally have 24 hour blips which I post on here, but overall my consultant thinks that my control is amazing with a HBA1C of 6.2 and few hypos. Two weeks ago my BG levels started going erratic - first several nights of hypos then BG levels creeping up with intense corrections. Last night I went to bed a 7.5, scanned with Libre at midnight and it said I was 12.5 but I was too tired to get out of bed. Scanned at 2.30am - 18.9 - finger pricked and 20.1. Ketones .9.
Did an immediate full infusion set change, bolused 6 units with insulin pen and put TBR on 200%. An hour after insulin bolus BG is 20.9 and ketones is 1.1. Have done another 4 units via pump and another 200% on TBR for an hour - looks like it's going to be a long night!! So tempted to go back to bed but want BG down to at least 18 and ketones under 1 before I do that and then I will set an alarm for an hour later for it.
Just wanted to let off steam about it - scary how quickly levels can go wrong and so glad that my Libre highlighted me to the problem.

 

[freesia]

Morning. Not having a pump i don't really understand what you did but i hope your levels are better this morning

 

[Stitch147]

Hope your levels have settled down Amanda and you're not feeling too bad today. X

 

[stephknits]

Hope things have settled down this morning and you are feeling better

 

[AJLang]

Thank you everyone. I had the equivalent of 19 units of correction over 6 hours which is an incredibly large amount for me. it took seven hours to get down to 7.4 - I have no idea what’s causing the problem but I feel lousy.

 

[grovesy]

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Bloden]

What a pain @AJLang. Well done for getting your BG down - that’s certainly advanced self-management!

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Oh gosh that sounds rough. I’m glad levels are coming down again.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Two weeks ago my BG levels started going erratic - first several nights of hypos then BG levels creeping up with intense corrections. Last night I went to bed a 7.5, scanned with Libre at midnight and it said I was 12.5 but I was too tired to get out of bed. Scanned at 2.30am - 18.9 - finger pricked and 20.1. Ketones .9.
Did an immediate full infusion set change, bolused 6 units with insulin pen and put TBR on 200%

Have you changed your insulin to another vial or asked for a different batch from the pharmacy? I ask because you mention set change only.

 

[AJLang]

Thank you everyone. It’s starting to go up again.

 

[AJLang]

Have you changed your insulin to another vial or asked for a different batch from the pharmacy? I ask because you mention set change only.

Thank you for asking Sue and a good suggestion. I was taught by the hospital to use pen cartridges for set changes. So I used a pen cartridge from a different batch for the infusion set change. I also used a fresh pen cartridge for my insulin pen and eight units of the corrections were from my insulin pen - including the first six units that I had.

 

[silentsquirrel]

Hope you are feeling better soon, and levels are steadier.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Is there any correlation with your hormones for when these rises happen?

 

[AJLang]

Thank you Silentsquirrel.
A good question Thebearcametoo but my periods stopped over ten years ago So it doesn’t appear to be hormone related.

 

[Inka]

Thank you everyone. It’s starting to go up again.

So annoying when that happens! You did everything right, changing your set and using a pen to correct.

Could you be coming down with an illness? If not and you’re not stressed, etc, then have you been able to eat? I find that when I wake up high, if I correct and wait for my blood sugar to come down before eating, it kind of gets stuck high and I just have to do more corrections. So what I do now is correct first thing, then if it’s not coming down i correct again but also include a bolus and eat a small amount of carbs. I think my body starts madly pushing out glucose if I don’t eat. Although it seems wrong to eat with high blood sugar, I’ve found this is what works for me with highs on waking.

The other thing I thought of is a problem with your cannula body area - ie the area of your body where you insert the cannula eg your stomach. Over the years, I’ve found areas stop working properly leading to highs, especially in the morning. So I now rotate my body areas, moving to a new area every few months.

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Are you 100% sure you haven't got a faulty fridge and all the insulin it has been compromised?
Also look very carefully at your cannulas esp the tips after removal. I noticed quite a few of mine appear damaged as in very squashed. Tell tail sign for me is meal time bolus and the pump alarms and refuses to deliver the full bolus.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Even after periods stop you can get hormonal fluctuations so if this is happening often it’s worth tracking it and seeing if there is a pattern that may point to that.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you have been having a runaround with the DF @AJLang

Hope things settle for you soon, and the rising BGs come back into range. Hope it isn't the precursor to some kind of lurgy.

It can be quite scary if insulin just doesn't behave as it ought to!

 

[AJLang]

Thank you everyone. Levels are now back to normal - when I thought it was going high earlier it resolved itself at 8.5 and is now a nice 5.9 on my testing machine. Cannula looked fine when it came out but it could have been a potential bad site. It started going up around midnight/2am so definitely had enough food in my tummy. I will ponder on everything else you’ve kindly all said. My money at the moment is either on a bad site or possibly lurgy - I haven’t felt well at all for about ten days and levels have been up and down and much more erratic than normal for me - lows and highs - but last night’s levels and the amount of insulin needed did scare me. I will set alarms tonight so I can check for any potential problems. Libre comparisons from today and yesterday - Libre reads lower than finger prick for me.