High bloods but feel low

[karenratcliffe]

Hi everyone.
I havent been doing my blood sugars for a long time, i would say the last 4-5 months. I also only do my lantus solorstar insulin, i dont take the humalog. I havent done this since i had a misscarriage but today i decided its time to get over everything and start looking after myself again.
Anyway earlier i did my bloodsugar after i had my lunch as i felt very low but my levels were 21.5, am i meant to be feeling like im low?
I did my humalog insulin and checked my blood sugars again about 1/2 hour ago and its 15.2, it has told me not to take any insulin at this point.
But i feel very strange.

 

[Redkite]

Hi Karen,

Sorry to hear you've had such a difficult time psychologically with the diabetes after your miscarriage. It's great that you are now starting afresh to get things back on track, but if you've been running very high levels for a while then your body will take time to adjust, and you may feel low even when you're still well above "normal range". You'll get there gradually 🙂. How long after taking your humalog did you test and get the 15? You need to give it 2-3 hours after injecting, and then see what the level is. (I understand you probably checked because of feeling low - good practice to always check with your meter, so you don't treat a "hypo" which isn't genuine. Your body will reset it's high/low-ometer once you are getting more consistent lower levels. Good luck, and don't be put off persevering! 🙂

 

[karenratcliffe]

Hi Redkite
Thank you for replying and giving me the information. I did my insulin @ 1pm and did my bloods again at about 3.15.
How long after i have eaten should i test my blood to find out how much insulin to take? Is it an instant result or do i need to wait for a while to get a true reading. x

 

[Redkite]

What you are aiming for is a blood glucose level 2-3 hours after eating that is equal to the BG level immediately before eating. It's best to discuss doses etc. with your clinic team (especially when restarting after not having used humalog for a while, because it's going to be a bit of a stab in the dark initially), but what I would do if I was starting afresh is the following:

* Test BG level when you wake up (before breakfast), 2-3 hours after breakfast, before lunch, 2-3 hours after lunch, before tea, 2-3 hours after tea, and before bed. It sounds like a lot, but you need the data to be able to reset your insulin doses.

* Keep a diary (at least while you are getting started) of BGs, insulin doses, carbs eaten (assuming you carb count?) and any other relevant info such as exercise.

* Don't rush to make changes all at once. Start with a bolus ratio (x units of insulin to y grams of carb) that seems reasonable to you and your clinic team. Use this for all your meals initially, and keep records of how your levels fluctuate. After a few days, patterns will emerge to help you make adjustments. For example if your BG level before lunch is always 6-8, and your mid-afternoon level is always 12-14, you'll need to increase your lunchtime insulin.

* Only change one thing at a time, and monitor results for a few days. Sometimes if one time of day comes into line, there is a domino effect, so don't increase everything at once and end up with multiple hypos!

* Keep your basal fixed while you are experimenting with the meal insulin ratios. When you are getting more or less equal before-and-3hrs after-meal BGs (within 2mmol), then look at your basal. If the before/after meals and the waking levels are all 5's and 6's, your basal is fine. If (more realistic), they are 10's and above, you would need to increase the basal insulin dose to bring the whole day's BGs down a notch - but again, do speak to your clinic team about how much to adjust by.

I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but just wanted to say don't be afraid to seek support from your team - that's what they are there for, not to judge you for having lapsed for a while. If they don't support you, vote with your feet and ask to be referred somewhere better! And, if you haven't already got it, do buy yourself the Ragnar Hanas book, it's ideal for making a whole new fresh start on this crappy illness! 🙂

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Type-1-Diab...8&qid=1374679545&sr=8-1&keywords=Ragnar+hanas

 

[DeusXM]

It's also worth noting that high blood sugar can cause hypo-like symptoms in general. High blood sugar is usually indicative of not enough insulin. If you don't have enough insulin, your body can't use the glucose in your blood. So your body starves despite an abundance of glucose.

When your body starves, it instinctively tries to make you eat and pumps out adrenaline. Because your body is designed to assume that you have a working pancreas, it will therefore interpret 'starvation' as a lack of food, not a lack of insulin - thus causing the hypo-like symptoms.

 

[jalapino]

It's also worth noting that high blood sugar can cause hypo-like symptoms in general. High blood sugar is usually indicative of not enough insulin. If you don't have enough insulin, your body can't use the glucose in your blood. So your body starves despite an abundance of glucose.

When your body starves, it instinctively tries to make you eat and pumps out adrenaline. Because your body is designed to assume that you have a working pancreas, it will therefore interpret 'starvation' as a lack of food, not a lack of insulin - thus causing the hypo-like symptoms.

Intresting....your a good source of information! 🙂