new here but not new to diabetes. I am struggling my blood counts (finger prick) today are 23.4 I spent hours at hospital trying to get it down 3 days ago, at hospital it was 30.4 they managed to get to down to 24.0 then sent me home, I have used extra insulin by 2m for 3 days now upped it to 4m extra a day for 3 days, I am still getting high readings I have not been able to get my finger prick readings below 15 or 16, I'm using Insulatard 40ml each night and NovoRapid 14mls 3 times a day before meals. Can Any Advise Please.
Finger Prick tests
- Thread starter mags1234
- Start date
SB2015
Forum Host
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome to the forum @mags1234, glad that you have found us.
There are a variety of reasons why your glucose levels might rise, but with your levels as high as they are at present it is important to liaise with your Health Care Professionals to discuss ways in which you can reduce them.
Are you coming down with something. I know when I get il. My glucose levels can soar, and it takes a lot of work for me to keep them down and in range.
You mention that you are using 14 units of Novorapid at your mealtimes. Do you change this at all?
If you have high levels after your meals it would suggest that the insulin is not matching the amount of carbohydrates that you are eating. You could discuss with your HCP how you could make adjustments.
In the meantime it would be useful for you, and them to know how many carbs you are eating at each meal. An awareness of this could than help you to reduce this by changing what you eat or reducing portion sizes in order to get your post meal levels more in range.
Keep in touch and I am sure someone with T2 will be along with some other suggestions.
With such high levels you must be feeling very tired.
There are a variety of reasons why your glucose levels might rise, but with your levels as high as they are at present it is important to liaise with your Health Care Professionals to discuss ways in which you can reduce them.
Are you coming down with something. I know when I get il. My glucose levels can soar, and it takes a lot of work for me to keep them down and in range.
You mention that you are using 14 units of Novorapid at your mealtimes. Do you change this at all?
If you have high levels after your meals it would suggest that the insulin is not matching the amount of carbohydrates that you are eating. You could discuss with your HCP how you could make adjustments.
In the meantime it would be useful for you, and them to know how many carbs you are eating at each meal. An awareness of this could than help you to reduce this by changing what you eat or reducing portion sizes in order to get your post meal levels more in range.
Keep in touch and I am sure someone with T2 will be along with some other suggestions.
With such high levels you must be feeling very tired.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I would just like to ask whether the hospital took a larger sample of your blood (ie from your arm in a few vials) to go to the lab for other tests and if so when you are expecting the results of those?
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi and welcome.
So sorry to hear you are battling such high readings.
Most of us find that we need less insulin during the summer months but you are apparently needing more which suggests that the insulin is not working as effectively for some reason.
If this is a sudden occurrence is it possible that your insulin has become compromised?... Have you had a power cut for an extended period when it has been kept in the fridge or has it been left in a hot car or conservatory or greenhouse for any time? Check the date on your insulin and perhaps it might be worth trying a new insulin pen to see if you respond to it better.
It might be due to illness or impending illness as @SB2015 suggests or compromised insulin or your body becoming more resistant to it...sudden weight gain can make a increase your insulin resistance.
If you are on fixed insulin doses and have not been taught to adjust them then you need to speak to your nurse as having consistently high readings like this is putting you at risk.
In the meantime drink plenty of plain water and reduce your consumption of carb rich foods like breakfast cereals, bread, rice, pasta and potatoes as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sweets and go steady on fruit and do not drink fruit juice or anything like that, just plain water to flush your system.
Good luck on getting control and bringing your levels down. Please let us know how you get on.
So sorry to hear you are battling such high readings.
Most of us find that we need less insulin during the summer months but you are apparently needing more which suggests that the insulin is not working as effectively for some reason.
If this is a sudden occurrence is it possible that your insulin has become compromised?... Have you had a power cut for an extended period when it has been kept in the fridge or has it been left in a hot car or conservatory or greenhouse for any time? Check the date on your insulin and perhaps it might be worth trying a new insulin pen to see if you respond to it better.
It might be due to illness or impending illness as @SB2015 suggests or compromised insulin or your body becoming more resistant to it...sudden weight gain can make a increase your insulin resistance.
If you are on fixed insulin doses and have not been taught to adjust them then you need to speak to your nurse as having consistently high readings like this is putting you at risk.
In the meantime drink plenty of plain water and reduce your consumption of carb rich foods like breakfast cereals, bread, rice, pasta and potatoes as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sweets and go steady on fruit and do not drink fruit juice or anything like that, just plain water to flush your system.
Good luck on getting control and bringing your levels down. Please let us know how you get on.
Thank you so much for your advise. I have seen my new diabetic nurse today and she has advised me to up my Insulatard from 40units to 46 units, we have come to an agreement to chat next week and see if my diet is the cause of my sugar raise. When I was sent home from the hospital I was told to increase my NovaRapid by 2 units. bringing it to 14 from 12 units.
I told nurse that my veins shut down as soon as needle goes in, when they found the vein, as soon as they pull for blood to fill tube no blood will come out, she managed to get 3mls then nothing, she held the tube away from the needle and blood started to come out, she was holding the tube slightly away and tried catching the blood to fill the tube, this took ages, then another nurse came and said, as long as you can get 5mls I can test it, so no they didn't test for anything else. I am having a second test done with my own GP. After 5 days my diabetic nurse had no results from tests done by hospital. No communication from the hospital at all.
Last edited by a moderator:
rebrascora thank you for your advise, everything you say is correct, I needed the nurse to explain how to adjust the amount of insulin I need and not to be scared to much. Even though I have been diabetic for more than 5 years, I have not been taught properly how and when to make changes not only in insulin but also food in take. I have asked my diabetic nurse to please help me with all of this, she was very understanding and we have set up a day to chat. I have to say a very big thank you to all who answered my post. I am so grateful for all advise given. THANK YOU ALL
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Mags reason why I'm asking about the tests is cos you do sound like you could be LADA (ie nearer a T1 than a T2) but they'll need to do a C-peptide test to find that out and it's a test that takes a while to get a result for due to all the processes they have to do in the Lab. That's all - and the fact that if you are LADA you should have a choice of other Basal insulins than the somewhat elderly Insulatard.
silentsquirrel
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Or even if you are T2, no reason why you could not try a change of basal insulin. I am T2, was on Lantus and Novorapid, recently changed the Lantus to Levimir.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Well no, you're right!
I think sometimes when some GPs see people's date of birth though they're still thinking that because you aren't in the full flush of youth that automatically means you aren't very willing to change things - which OK is age-ist and I'd soon tell em where to get off if they happened to try it with me - but some folk really are set in their ways. We joined a new to us UK rallying organisation in 2013 and toddled off to the first of many subsequent rallies in our new motorhome. We introduced ourselves pdq and it turned out that the rally officer happened to also be a T1. I was more than thinking of swapping to a pump at that time and said so to him, cos it actually made sense to me to be able to give so very finely adjusted doses of insulin instead of having to slap in whole units at a time, etc - doesn't it? and he looked at me like I had two heads, and replied that he was perfectly happy 'taking the doses of insulin he was told to by his doctor and eating exactly the amount of whatever when they told him to'. Speechless. Saved by the land owner who'd nipped across the field on his buggy to have a chat with the rally officer - and cadge a cup of tea. The latter's still a lovely bloke to have a natter to to this day, no idea what the other chap's up to these days though, LOL
I think sometimes when some GPs see people's date of birth though they're still thinking that because you aren't in the full flush of youth that automatically means you aren't very willing to change things - which OK is age-ist and I'd soon tell em where to get off if they happened to try it with me - but some folk really are set in their ways. We joined a new to us UK rallying organisation in 2013 and toddled off to the first of many subsequent rallies in our new motorhome. We introduced ourselves pdq and it turned out that the rally officer happened to also be a T1. I was more than thinking of swapping to a pump at that time and said so to him, cos it actually made sense to me to be able to give so very finely adjusted doses of insulin instead of having to slap in whole units at a time, etc - doesn't it? and he looked at me like I had two heads, and replied that he was perfectly happy 'taking the doses of insulin he was told to by his doctor and eating exactly the amount of whatever when they told him to'. Speechless. Saved by the land owner who'd nipped across the field on his buggy to have a chat with the rally officer - and cadge a cup of tea. The latter's still a lovely bloke to have a natter to to this day, no idea what the other chap's up to these days though, LOL
Last edited:
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Thank you, I've thought I was T1 they do tests once a year and my meds never changes. The finger prick test I do every day has never been below 15, I keep being told to adjust the units of my NovoRapid, my sugar counts come down a couple of units but it goes back up again, now with a new nurse I have to change units of my insulatard from 40 to 46, I've not had to make changes with this insulin before, lets hope this does the job. After doing this for three days my sugar count is now down from 23.0 to 15.6 . I will be talking to my nurse about the LADA and the C-peptide test, that I found very interesting and something I have never heard of, thank you so much for your input.
I totally agree with you regarding making changes, problem I have is, I don't have a choice my doctor is a stickler for saying, "who is the doctor here" and when did you go to medical school? because my diabetes is not under control, I get thrush a lot. If I ask him for medication, I'm told " buy them at chemist* embarrassed I found myself walking into a sex clinic to ask for help because my doctor was so rude, I was given 6 months supply of meds, then told not to worry any more I can go straight there if I have any signs of thrush. It was so nice not being treated as an elderly lady but as a person and with care.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Frankly @mags1234 I'd definitely be looking to change my doctor! We always have that choice and always have done - are there any other GP practices you could go to, somewhere in your vicinity?
At the very very least you need to tell the GP that you'd like to have a chat to tell him that so far, as you are still getting ridiculously high BG readings which you are not at all happy with (no harm in adding here 'at my age already!') and ask him directly about what tests he has done to prove that you are absolutely definitely Type 2?
If he hasn't, then tell him you have been researching the possibility of your being LADA via resources provided by Diabetes UK* and that you believe your having a C-peptide blood test would throw light on the matter for both of you.
Don't think it would hurt your case to tell him what you landed up doing about your Thrush and exactly why.
* rather than saying the DUK forum! - to avoid eg 'Bunch of internet warriors, what could they know that I don't?' Aggression is NOT the best tactic. Let's avoid it where we can.
For info - I am 70 too, and neither of us has that many decades ahead of us and dunno about you but I want to be able to enjoy my life! And yeah - we both went to a Sexual Health Clinic about something a few years back and had blood tests amongst other things and as we were seen separately, only found out afterwards that we'd both said 'include the HIV test then, as you're already taking blood you may as well!' LOL Both negative, so neither of us needed to ask or answer any awkward questions! The most UN embarrassing places one can visit - only thing is - not a lot of chit chat in the waiting rooms!!
At the very very least you need to tell the GP that you'd like to have a chat to tell him that so far, as you are still getting ridiculously high BG readings which you are not at all happy with (no harm in adding here 'at my age already!') and ask him directly about what tests he has done to prove that you are absolutely definitely Type 2?
If he hasn't, then tell him you have been researching the possibility of your being LADA via resources provided by Diabetes UK* and that you believe your having a C-peptide blood test would throw light on the matter for both of you.
Don't think it would hurt your case to tell him what you landed up doing about your Thrush and exactly why.
* rather than saying the DUK forum! - to avoid eg 'Bunch of internet warriors, what could they know that I don't?' Aggression is NOT the best tactic. Let's avoid it where we can.
For info - I am 70 too, and neither of us has that many decades ahead of us and dunno about you but I want to be able to enjoy my life! And yeah - we both went to a Sexual Health Clinic about something a few years back and had blood tests amongst other things and as we were seen separately, only found out afterwards that we'd both said 'include the HIV test then, as you're already taking blood you may as well!' LOL Both negative, so neither of us needed to ask or answer any awkward questions! The most UN embarrassing places one can visit - only thing is - not a lot of chit chat in the waiting rooms!!
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Ugh! How infuriating!!
Frankly if your Dr wants to have that attitude, he needs to pay for it BIG TIME in expertise and results.
If you are T2 your guideline targets are 4-7 before meals and no higher than 9 by 2 hours after eating, and if you are taking the doses as he instructs, and following the dietary advice given you have every right to ask why on earth your results are so sub-optimal.
If your diabetes is being described as ‘out of control’ and your Dr isn’t wanting to work with you, but simply dish out instructions - then the responsibility for the ’lack of control’ is his. But it is you that will have to carry the potential consequences of long-term complications.
You can quote eminent diabetes specialist RD Lawrence (co-founder if DUK) if you like...
“The person with diabetes must be their own doctor, biochemist and dietician”
Pumper_Sue
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I would suspect your main problem is your long acting insulin is not covering you for 24 hours. Insulatard sp* is not meant to last 24 hours It's normally injected twice a day. Before breakfast and before evening meal.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
It is such an old insulin I doubt very much indeed that any medical staff now under retirement age will truly have all that much experience of titrating it and my own feeling about it is that some T2's get it chucked at them because it's cheaper than more modern basal insulins.
Oh and just for info, I strongly suspect Sue's 'sp*' in the above post is because since some of us have such a high opinion of it, we usually mis-spell it's name and call it 'Insulaturd'. (Quite like Metformin that we all know how to spell, but because of it's gastric side effects, gets called 'Metfartin' !)
Oh and just for info, I strongly suspect Sue's 'sp*' in the above post is because since some of us have such a high opinion of it, we usually mis-spell it's name and call it 'Insulaturd'. (Quite like Metformin that we all know how to spell, but because of it's gastric side effects, gets called 'Metfartin' !)
omg, I love your comments guys, I never get aggressive or angry with my doctor, he really isn't worth the effort, I can't change doctor, I live in village and the only other doctor is about 16 miles away. Mostly I try to fit in with another doctor at surgery. Now that I have a new diabetic nurse and we spoke of my insecurities, she understand my frustrations at not getting the help I needed, what a lovely lady she made me feel at home and wasn't worried about me asking question, but at same time she was shocked at how I've been treated. My tests are now coming down slowly but surely, a few days ago I was as high as 30.6 now I am at 15.1 Trophywench, I have taken on board what you have said and I will be talking to the nurse again this Wednesday again. We have booked an half hours appointment. You have been such a help thank you so very much. I will let you know how things go, THANK YOU ALL FOR ADVISE AND HELP.