Lows without any reason

Status
Not open for further replies.
bufc07

bufc07

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi everyone, I need some advice. Last couple of days my levels have been trying to fight against me and drop down for no apparent reason. I dropped my Lantus dose - has helped a bit but not a great amount. It's also like my body has started to resist carbs, I had a flapjack without injecting the other day and it only pushed me up to about 9. I don't know if this is normal or not but I can't live with being paranoid and having to fight off my levels dropping constantly so I don't go into hypo range. Is there any advice anyone would give me? Would be appreciated. Cheers
 
Has anything changed? Have you had an upset stomach at all? Have you been more active? Have you changed your injection site?
 
Inka said:
Has anything changed? Have you had an upset stomach at all? Have you been more active? Have you changed your injection site?
Click to expand...
I had a period of about a week where all of my football was called off because of the weather, and now that's gone back to normal. But that's happened a couple of times and I've never noticed a change like this before. Other than that I haven't been ill and I haven't changed my injection sites either.
 
I find sometimes my bs go low unexpectedly...maybe the honeymoon period and you are still producing some of your own insulin?
If it keeps happening you may need to adjust your ratios for your bolus insulin as well as your lantus
Also, have you checked your levels with a finger prick, or are you relying on your cgm? Could be a sensor issue....
 
Tdm said:
I find sometimes my bs go low unexpectedly...maybe the honeymoon period and you are still producing some of your own insulin?
If it keeps happening you may need to adjust your ratios for your bolus insulin as well as your lantus
Also, have you checked your levels with a finger prick, or are you relying on your cgm? Could be a sensor issue....
Click to expand...
I've not even been diabetic for a year yet so I still think I'm in my honeymoon period, I've been unlucky and had 2 sensor issues in a row but this one seems to be fine and levelling up with my finger prick readings. The two before were just completely inaccurate with the arrows and everything
 
Keep double-checking with the fingerprick tests @bufc07 and keep a very close eye on your blood sugar. You might need to give your DSN a call and see if your mealtime insulin needs reducing too. If the lows persist for no reason, then they might do a coeliac blood test just to rule that out. It’s more common in Type 1s so worth checking if these lows continue.

Another thing you could do is change to a new Lantus cartridge or pen. Occasionally I seem to get ones that work more fiercely/strongly.
 
Inka said:
Keep double-checking with the fingerprick tests @bufc07 and keep a very close eye on your blood sugar. You might need to give your DSN a call and see if your mealtime insulin needs reducing too. If the lows persist for no reason, then they might do a coeliac blood test just to rule that out. It’s more common in Type 1s so worth checking if these lows continue.

Another thing you could do is change to a new Lantus cartridge or pen. Occasionally I seem to get ones that work more fiercely/strongly.
Click to expand...
Yep, problem is I don't currently have a DSN as she left about 3 months ago - they told me I'd have a new one by January, but still waiting which is somewhat of an annoyance. Just have to ring the office I think. Nearly at the end of my cartridge so will give it a change and see
 
Inka said:
Keep double-checking with the fingerprick tests @bufc07 and keep a very close eye on your blood sugar. You might need to give your DSN a call and see if your mealtime insulin needs reducing too. If the lows persist for no reason, then they might do a coeliac blood test just to rule that out. It’s more common in Type 1s so worth checking if these lows continue.

Another thing you could do is change to a new Lantus cartridge or pen. Occasionally I seem to get ones that work more fiercely/strongly.
Click to expand...
Also - just for reference, this is typically what I mean by this, just VERY up and down, I have to just constantly stay paranoid as to whether I'm going down or not, luckily I've been very good at keeping myself out of hypo on this example but on other occasions I haven't been1000011038.jpg
 
Sorry to hear you’ve been going through the mill with your levels recently @bufc07 :(

It can take Lantus 2-3 days to settle into a new dose, and with exercise/football ramping up again, and the honeymoon period sticking it’s oar in you may have to hang in there fire-fighting for a few days between basal dose adjustments?
 
Yeah, I've already changed my Lantus dose so it's just a case of whether that changes anymore I guess. It's made a minor difference so far but not fully.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Sorry to hear you’ve been going through the mill with your levels recently @bufc07 :(

It can take Lantus 2-3 days to settle into a new dose, and with exercise/football ramping up again, and the honeymoon period sticking it’s oar in you may have to hang in there fire-fighting for a few days between basal dose adjustments?
Click to expand...
Was probably worth suggesting also that I was still exercising in that week where I had no football, because of school PE classes etc. so I'm not too sure as to why this has happened all of a sudden. Back to school today and it was still trying to push my levels down, maybe not as much but still noticeable.
 
Looks like you are dropping quite sharply overnight too, so you may well need to reduce your Lantus again. My basal needs change quite irregularly (I was going to say regularly but there is no obvious pattern) but often and I just learned to recognise when it needs adjusting and not worry too much about the whys. Sometimes I can predict it due to exercise but plenty of times I can't. I can be stable for weeks or months and then need to adjust it several times a week. I think some other medication has been affecting mine recently, so that might be something else to consider. I believe you are only 14 but alcohol can also drop your levels the day after, which is worth knowing even if not relevant at this time. Hormones certainly do, so it could be that you are coming to the end of a growth spurt or perhaps starting one, as people do in their teens. Lots and lots of possible factors.

Well done for already reducing your Lantus but looks like it might need a bit more adjustment to me.
 
rebrascora said:
Looks like you are dropping quite sharply overnight too, so you may well need to reduce your Lantus again. My basal needs change quite irregularly (I was going to say regularly but there is no obvious pattern) but often and I just learned to recognise when it needs adjusting and not worry too much about the whys. Sometimes I can predict it due to exercise but plenty of times I can't. I can be stable for weeks or months and then need to adjust it several times a week. I think some other medication has been affecting mine recently, so that might be something else to consider. I believe you are only 14 but alcohol can also drop your levels the day after, which is worth knowing even if not relevant at this time. Hormones certainly do, so it could be that you are coming to the end of a growth spurt or perhaps starting one, as people do in their teens. Lots and lots of possible factors.

Well done for already reducing your Lantus but looks like it might need a bit more adjustment to me.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the message. I read above that it could be to do with my Lantus cartridge so I've swapped that to see if it makes a difference. I have no problem with my levels dropping it's just the fact that it's constant and I'm having to keep an eye virtually all day
 
bufc07 said:
Was probably worth suggesting also that I was still exercising in that week where I had no football, because of school PE classes etc. so I'm not too sure as to why this has happened all of a sudden. Back to school today and it was still trying to push my levels down, maybe not as much but still noticeable.
Click to expand...

Ah! I hadn’t noticed your age @bufc07

Any chance your hormones could be adding to the chaos? A growth spurt or similar?
 
Yes, it is a good idea to try a different pen/cartridge and it is good that you are not frightened of your levels dropping as such, but what I am saying is that your Lantus dose should be adjusted so that it is keeping you level overnight or as near as possible, rather than dropping as that graph shows. If that is a regular trend on your graphs then that would indicate that your Lantus dose is still too much.
Hope the new insulin fixes the problem but do be prepared to reduce the Lantus again if it doesn't, especially as you say that reducing it before has improved things a bit.
 
rebrascora said:
Yes, it is a good idea to try a different pen/cartridge and it is good that you are not frightened of your levels dropping as such, but what I am saying is that your Lantus dose should be adjusted so that it is keeping you level overnight or as near as possible, rather than dropping as that graph shows. If that is a regular trend on your graphs then that would indicate that your Lantus dose is still too much.
Hope the new insulin fixes the problem but do be prepared to reduce the Lantus again if it doesn't, especially as you say that reducing it before has improved things a bit.
Click to expand...
Yeah the example I've shown probably isn't great, my levels do routinely drop in the night but not as sharp as that, sometimes if I eat something close to when I go to sleep it'll go up then down
 
So since I wrote this post the other day I've tried a few things and unfortunately I'm still in the same situation, it's been like this for a week now. I'm going to try and drop my Lantus dose again but honestly I don't even know if that will help. I know these rough patches sometimes happen but I've just found myself being paranoid about my levels all day. I've just had 36g of carbs without injecting myself and am only at 7.5. I fear something might be wrong.
 
Last edited:
bufc07 said:
So since I wrote this post the other day I've tried a few things and unfortunately I'm still in the same situation, it's been like this for a week now. I'm going to try and drop my Lantus dose again but honestly I don't even know if that will help. I know these rough patches sometimes happen but I've just found myself being paranoid about my levels all day. I've just had 36g of carbs without injecting myself and am only at 7.5. I fear something might be wrong.
Click to expand...
I have come to love it when I need less insulin, rather than worry something is wrong. If I can get away with one or two less injections a day, what's not to love, especially if I also get to eat the odd JB or dried fig to top me up when I am dropping.

Some people get a spell after diagnosis where after starting on insulin for a while, they gradually have to dial it back down and don't need any insulin at all for a while and then they do again. We have one member whose basal needs started to drop to the point that it wasn't worth injecting the tiny dose anymore and he has now not needed basal insulin for several years.... might be as much as a decade, just bolus insulin. At the other end of the spectrum who is suffering very badly with insulin resistance despite being a healthy BMI and she needs to take massive doses. There is no normal with diabetes, just a very broad variety of how we experience it and just when we think we know what we are doing, it changes again. Let us know how you get on with a further reduction in basal. Perhaps you will be another lucky one who can get away without any, at least for a while.
 
bufc07 said:
So since I wrote this post the other day I've tried a few things and unfortunately I'm still in the same situation, it's been like this for a week now. I'm going to try and drop my Lantus dose again but honestly I don't even know if that will help. I know these rough patches sometimes happen but I've just found myself being paranoid about my levels all day. I've just had 36g of carbs without injecting myself and am only at 7.5. I fear something might be wrong.
Click to expand...

Have you had a recent coeliac screen? If not, see if you can get one done. There are a few other things they can test for and rule out hopefully. Then, knowing everything is ok, it’s less worrying and you can just reduce your Lantus if needed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top