Seeing higher numbers over the last few days.

[Stuicide]

Hi guys and gals, I’m about 4 months into this type 1 diabetes thing and Just when I think I’ve cracked it, it turns out not so much.
Over the last few days I’ve been carb counting and seeing quite high results - Monday was impossible to get under 10 BSG levels and yesterday at 2pm I was 23.3 on my BSG levels this was Afew hours after lunch and taking the amount of insulin I think I needed. (Currently one unit to twenty carbs) this morning I went from 7.8 to 11.9 in the space of Afew hours after breakfast and my shots and all I had was coffee (sweetener and 10g of uht milk) in between. And this lunchtime same thing happened as yesterday, but was around 17 BSG levels.
Could it be my insulin levels are changing or could there be another reason entirely? It’s all making no sense and I’m fed up of tingling fingers or toes.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Robin]

Hi Stuicide. This 'just when I thought I'd cracked it' We've all been there! Don't despair, things will fall into place eventually.
There could be several things going on here.
1) Your pancreas, having had a final fling, is now giving up the ghost and not producing as much residual insulin ( studies have shown most people still produce a teeny bit) In which case, you'll need to adjust your ratios to take account of this.
2) You could be coming down with a cold or other Lurgy. My body always knows a day in advance if I'm going to be ill, and adjusts it's glucose production upwards. Time will tell if this is case!
3) The rise after coffee - caffeine always makes my glucose levels rise. This is something you'll maybe have to factor in.

Whatever the case, do you have a diabetic health care team, or specialist nurse, that you can phone for advice? It's what they'll be expecting, for someone recently diagnosed, and they will be able to recommend dose adjustments you could make ( which we can't, not being professionals and not knowing your full history, we can only say it might be this, or we tried this and it worked)

 

[Stuicide]

Hi Stuicide. This 'just when I thought I'd cracked it' We've all been there! Don't despair, things will fall into place eventually.
There could be several things going on here.
1) Your pancreas, having had a final fling, is now giving up the ghost and not producing as much residual insulin ( studies have shown most people still produce a teeny bit) In which case, you'll need to adjust your ratios to take account of this.
2) You could be coming down with a cold or other Lurgy. My body always knows a day in advance if I'm going to be ill, and adjusts it's glucose production upwards. Time will tell if this is case!
3) The rise after coffee - caffeine always makes my glucose levels rise. This is something you'll maybe have to factor in.

Whatever the case, do you have a diabetic health care team, or specialist nurse, that you can phone for advice? It's what they'll be expecting, for someone recently diagnosed, and they will be able to recommend dose adjustments you could make ( which we can't, not being professionals and not knowing your full history, we can only say it might be this, or we tried this and it worked)

I thought caffeine was my friend and didn’t push levels up? That would truly be heartbreaking.
I have contacted my team Afew times, but they don’t seem too worried, this was before the 17 number this afternoon which makes me wonder if I’ve missed something....

 

[Amigo]

Ooo please consider changing your avatar name. That’s quite a disturbing one 😱

 

[mikeyB]

I always kick off the day with high dose caffeine, no milk, and I have learned that it goes with 2 units of Humalog. I don’t know why, and I’m supposed to be clever.

I must say, your forum name is a little startling. How about Stuident? Stuipendous? Stuipified? (This is getting like one of those Pointless “words” rounds)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

One of the frustrating things about diabetes, as you will discover, is that there never is the ‘right’ set of doses and ratios - only ‘right for now’ and after a while you will have to make a small tweak up or down to get the results you expect from foods you know well. Eventually these tweaks will be quite small (10% or 20% changes maybe) but in the early days it can take a while to get doses to behave reliably.

Having said that, 1u for 20g carbs is quite a light dose of insulin For some members here. It’s not unheard of, but many of us would be nearer 1:10, so it might be worth asking your team at which point should you be making changes yourself - ie how many readings above/below what should be your sign to make an adjustment. They may want to be more hands-on at this stage, but soon enough I’m sure they will be encouraging you to make your own adjustment.

If you’d like to change your forum name following others comments, I think you need the help of @Northerner the forum admin 🙂

 

[Stuicide]

If people are finding the username an issue, (and completely off topic to the question asked) I would suggest the ‘ignore’ button- That statement isn’t meant nastily.

But thank you to the people who kept on topic, it’s given me a few things to consider.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. A more normal ratio for newbies is 1 unit to 10gm of carbs which is what my DN started me on. The good thing about carb-counting is that you adjust the ratio as you gain experience to achieve the right blood sugar levels. As you make small changes, do test regularly to avoid hypo risk. You also need to make sure your Basal is balanced so seek advice on that from the team if you can. The job of the Basal is to balance the continuous background output of glucose from the liver.

 

[silentsquirrel]

If people are finding the username an issue, (and completely off topic to the question asked) I would suggest the ‘ignore’ button- That statement isn’t meant nastily.

But thank you to the people who kept on topic, it’s given me a few things to consider.

I shall probably take your advice to ignore you - I have never done so with any other posters, though sorely tempted a few time!
My son took his own life - over 11 years ago, but still very raw at times - and seeing your username gives me a nasty jolt I can do without. Ignoring you will only help if I log in, and my usual practice is to read without logging in.
Please bear in mind that some posters and potential new posters are very fragile mentally, and your name could be very unhelpful, to put it mildly. They cannot ignore you until after seeing your name for the first time.
One of the hallmarks of this forum is that most members show remarkable kindness, as well as offering practical help.
You may find your name mildly amusing, but please reconsider its potential unkind (and maybe worse) effect on others.

 

[Stuicide]

I shall probably take your advice to ignore you - I have never done so with any other posters, though sorely tempted a few time!
My son took his own life - over 11 years ago, but still very raw at times - and seeing your username gives me a nasty jolt I can do without. Ignoring you will only help if I log in, and my usual practice is to read without logging in.
Please bear in mind that some posters and potential new posters are very fragile mentally, and your name could be very unhelpful, to put it mildly. They cannot ignore you until after seeing your name for the first time.
One of the hallmarks of this forum is that most members show remarkable kindness, as well as offering practical help.
You may find your name mildly amusing, but please reconsider its potential unkind (and maybe worse) effect on others.

It’s never been to upset/ anger/ antagonise anyone. You are not the only person to lose someone due to this and humor has been one of the ways I have chosen to deal with this. As for seeing it while not logged in, I don’t control how you view this site. The moderators are in contact with me via this.

I’d request the moderators to lock this post as it is clear this is no longer about my original issue.