Covid and sugars

[laurelindave]

Hi there. I have been type 1 for almost 50 years and pretty well controlled. I had my covid booster a week ago and have been ill virtually since - namely short of breath, phlegm constantly bringing up and feeling sick and achey. These are symptoms i was expecting so i tested again tonight as couldnt sleep and it showed negative result but i just wondered if anyone with type 1 has experienced the same as me . My sugars normally run around 7 - 8 but while i have been ill since the booster they have been extremely high and i have hardly eaten anything and yet have had readings for last 3 days of 16, 18 and tonight 27 which is amazingly high. I have a novorapid pen which i did 12 units of and just testing my blood now its down to 15 so still high for me. I just wondered if anyone else has come across anything similar at all. Any respondence would be appreciated, Many thanks - Dave

 

[SB2015]

Hi there. I have been type 1 for almost 50 years and pretty well controlled. I had my covid booster a week ago and have been ill virtually since - namely short of breath, phlegm constantly bringing up and feeling sick and achey. These are symptoms i was expecting so i tested again tonight as couldnt sleep and it showed negative result but i just wondered if anyone with type 1 has experienced the same as me . My sugars normally run around 7 - 8 but while i have been ill since the booster they have been extremely high and i have hardly eaten anything and yet have had readings for last 3 days of 16, 18 and tonight 27 which is amazingly high. I have a novorapid pen which i did 12 units of and just testing my blood now its down to 15 so still high for me. I just wondered if anyone else has come across anything similar at all. Any respondence would be appreciated, Many thanks - Dave

After any jabs/Illness I find that I need more insulin. I need more basal as well as more bolus.
have you made adjustments to both of your insulins? If your levels are in the teens that will also make you feel rough. Then just to make things worse, if I am high the corrections don’t work as they normally do so I need more of those.

I found after my last jabs for flu and covid my levels settled after a couple of days. If you are still feeling rough it may be that you have then caught a cold/cough which again will send your levels up.
It sounds like you need to keep a check on the levels as you are, keep making adjustments until they come back down again. I hope they settle soon.

 

[mat_public]

I am just getting over covid this week. My bg normally averages about 9 and I take roughly 20 units of novorapid per day. But during the worst of the infection bg was a averging about 15, even hitting 17 without really eating anything. I was having to take nearly twice the usual amount of Novo to try and get it even below 11. Problem is the constant high BG makes you feel rough so on top of the cov symptoms it makes for even more sickly feelings.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you are feeling so rough. It sounds like you may have come down with Covid just as you got your vaccine. I had it 3 weeks ago and I needed to increase my basal insulin quite a bit as well as my bolus insulin. For me the elevated levels started 2 days before I got symptoms and and I needed 19.5 units of bolus insulin in 7 stacked corrections to keep it in range that evening. Then I started increasing my basal to help cope with it. I needed the higher doses for about a week and then I was able to start reducing them again.
I hope you are testing for ketones when your levels are as high as that.
Can I ask, do you have Libre sensors or other Continuous Glucose Monitor? The reason I ask is that the wording of your post about "testing again" suggests that you might still be just relying on finger pricking. All Type 1s are entitled to sensors on prescription now and they can be a real game changer for managing your diabetes.

Hope you are feeling better soon and BG levels get back to normal.