Stressed

[sharp00782]

Morning All,

After 6 months of really good control, the last week has been a nightmare. Hypoing at night, numbers shooting up massively after food irrespective of how much insulin I take and corrections that no longer seem to be effective.

For the first time it is starting to get me down a bit now. I am not going to do it but does anyone else sometimes jus thing screw it and stop even bothering with the insulin?

 

[Inka]

Sorry to hear that @sharp00782 Yes, it’s horrible when blood sugars don’t behave and things that worked before don’t work. It’s very easy to panic and/or get very down. Try to distance yourself a little bit and work logically and carefully to improve things. It’s possible there’s been a change in your own insulin production which is affecting things.

What insulins do you take? The first step is to do a basal test. If your basal is wrong, it tends to mess everything else up. But, before doing that, change your insulin cartridges just in case it’s a problem with the insulin (occasionally it degrades and loses effectiveness).

 

[Merryterry]

Try changing your injection sites.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

And keep yourself fully hydrated. This advice is frequently offered in response to being hyper, to help flush out excess glucose; but a well hydrated body helps full metabolism and consistent digestion of everything being eaten; poor digestion results in unreliable (inappropriate) bolus ratios allowing insulin to overpower - hence a tendency to hypos. So much is inter-related!

 

[trophywench]

Please remember you're relatively newly diagnosed hence apart from anything else it might be - it could just as easily just be your body telling you that your honeymoon period is now ending and yes you do need to increase insulin doses generally - but the very first thing to do in order to start to unravel this unwelcome 'thing' is definitely to test whether your basal insulin dose(s) is still sufficient now or not.

It's a right PITA I agree and I know very well it can easily be very tempting to say 'Sod it, bugger you, and I'm just going to spite you and refuse to do anything to change it, so there!' - but now engage logic please (and you already have, cos you've just told us!) and tell your diabetes you are not actually prepared to spie yourself instead of it - cos that's exactly what carrying out that first reaction would be - a prime example of cutting off your own nose to spite your face, which is an extremely silly thing to do, cos it amounts to deciding to commit suicide or at least making yourself so ill you''ll very soon regret taking that decision.

Instead spend some energy working out HOW to carry out the voyage of personal discovery you need to embark on. You will, honestly, get there a lot quicker by plodding through this basal testing business, and get used to it - cos this may well be the first time you need to do it - but it definitely won't be the last I'm afraid.

The correct basal dose is the foundation of the management of insulin controlled diabetes, without which the correct dose(s) of faster acting insulin to carbs cannot be guessed but with the basal correct, the bolus insulin dose becomes much more of a logical mathematical calculation, than a random guess!