My partner had a covid booster on Saturday. The vaccine was called Spikevax which seems very apt as his BG has gone mad since. Up above 30 and struggling to get it below 10 even following sick day rules including those for ketones which rose to 1.4. Now down to 1.2 but still too high. Has anyone else experienced this? He is usually well controlled and didn't have this problem with previous Covid jabs. Thanks!
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Covid booster spiking blood glucose
- Thread starter mbmep
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Whilst your partner may not have had such an extreme reaction to previous vaccinations, it is not uncommon for our bodies to react to "nasties" by dumping glucose.
It is also possible that the timing is a coincidence. Has he checked everything else such as changing insulin pens/cartridges or pump?
Incidentally, I had the Spikevax vaccine last time (and was on the clinical trial for it but, as that was a double-blind trial, I do not know if I had it then). I only experienced a small rise of BG. But when I had the Astra Zeneca jab, I had the opposite reaction - very low BG.
I am too young and healthy for the vaccine this time around.
It is also possible that the timing is a coincidence. Has he checked everything else such as changing insulin pens/cartridges or pump?
Incidentally, I had the Spikevax vaccine last time (and was on the clinical trial for it but, as that was a double-blind trial, I do not know if I had it then). I only experienced a small rise of BG. But when I had the Astra Zeneca jab, I had the opposite reaction - very low BG.
I am too young and healthy for the vaccine this time around.
He changed his pen this morning to see if that was the issue. He has a constellation of health issues - cancer, treated with immunotherapy which induced the T1 diabetes and adrenal insufficiency and he's 74 hence getting the booster. So it could be a coincidence!
rebrascora
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- Type 1
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I had a significant increase in insulin needs following my first Covid vaccine. I was still within the honeymoon period at the time and my non medical conclusion was that the vaccine triggered my immune system into a state of attack and as a result it also killed off a few more of my remaining beta cells. My insulin needs increase was permanent and for me just involved my basal insulin which effectively doubled and has remained pretty well constant since then, give or take 2-3 units for exercise etc.
Not sure if your husband's immune system would be capable of killing off more beta cells if he is on immunotherapy as not sure how that works.... whether it suppresses or enhances the immune system... But if he developed Type 1 as a result of them then I assume it stimulates the immune system and further triggering from the vaccine may prompt it to attack his remaining beta cells and kill them off, so like me this may be a permanent situation. Has he increased his basal insulin, of just bolus/meal time insulin?
I was really reluctant to keep increasing my basal and I resisted for a week or more, using corrections to keep a lid on things, which was very frustrating as needed lots of corrections, before I would increase it a couple of units and then firefight with the bolus insulin again for another week or more before increasing my basal again. After 2 months of slowly increasing my basal dose like this until it was nearly twice what it had been, it leveled out, although I did have one particularly active day in late spring when it was very hot, where I ended up hypo 7 times in the day! I think I dialed it back 2 units then and it stabilized from there. That was nearly 4 years ago and it has been pretty steady since. I can remembers thinking that with all this extra insulin, I was going to drop off a cliff edge at some point and that day felt like it, but at least I was reasonable prepared for it as I had feared it would happen for a while.
I would be interested to know if your husband has a similar experience and his basal needs increase and then level out. Good luck managing it. I think my advice would be, not to resist increasing the basal as much as it needs as I really resisted that and it took longer to sort out and more frustration.
Not sure if your husband's immune system would be capable of killing off more beta cells if he is on immunotherapy as not sure how that works.... whether it suppresses or enhances the immune system... But if he developed Type 1 as a result of them then I assume it stimulates the immune system and further triggering from the vaccine may prompt it to attack his remaining beta cells and kill them off, so like me this may be a permanent situation. Has he increased his basal insulin, of just bolus/meal time insulin?
I was really reluctant to keep increasing my basal and I resisted for a week or more, using corrections to keep a lid on things, which was very frustrating as needed lots of corrections, before I would increase it a couple of units and then firefight with the bolus insulin again for another week or more before increasing my basal again. After 2 months of slowly increasing my basal dose like this until it was nearly twice what it had been, it leveled out, although I did have one particularly active day in late spring when it was very hot, where I ended up hypo 7 times in the day! I think I dialed it back 2 units then and it stabilized from there. That was nearly 4 years ago and it has been pretty steady since. I can remembers thinking that with all this extra insulin, I was going to drop off a cliff edge at some point and that day felt like it, but at least I was reasonable prepared for it as I had feared it would happen for a while.
I would be interested to know if your husband has a similar experience and his basal needs increase and then level out. Good luck managing it. I think my advice would be, not to resist increasing the basal as much as it needs as I really resisted that and it took longer to sort out and more frustration.
His beta cells are pretty much 100% wiped out already. A c-peptide test showed he is producing hardly any endogenous insulin. Immunotherapy induced diabetes is characterised by very rapid and thorough destruction of the beta cells. The checkpoints which usually protect various bits of us from attack by our immune systems are weakened so you are at risk of pretty much any auto-immune condition. He hasn't increased his basal yet, waiting to see if the storm passes!
rebrascora
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Increasing basal is part of sick day rules.
I find that I might need 6-10 extra units of rapid insulin in corrections to deal with issues like this when just 2 units of basal will sort it with much less frustration. I used to be really apprehensive about adjusting basal insulin but that episode after the vaccine taught me to be much more confident in tweaking it. I do however have Levemir as my basal which is much more flexible to adjust than some of the longer acting basal insulins, like Toujeo and Tresiba.
I find that I might need 6-10 extra units of rapid insulin in corrections to deal with issues like this when just 2 units of basal will sort it with much less frustration. I used to be really apprehensive about adjusting basal insulin but that episode after the vaccine taught me to be much more confident in tweaking it. I do however have Levemir as my basal which is much more flexible to adjust than some of the longer acting basal insulins, like Toujeo and Tresiba.
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