This is a rant.
The last few days it seems my basal rates and meal boluses have stopped working. needless to say, I am having one of those days where I am just about ready to throw in the towel. Nothing I do seems to work. My BS seems perfectly happy just hanging out around 230-250, regardless of how many corrections I throw at it. I changed sites about 6 times in the last two days, threw out one vial of insulin and tested about 50 times. Im not sure if Im creating some sort of domino effect on my self by getting stressed over this or what. But it makes no sense how pre meal I could be 130, bolus for the carbs about 10 minutes prior, and one hour later I am 290. I might not be a perfect carb counter, but I can get in the very near ballpark 90% of the time. Then, the next 4 hours are spent chasing that high, with basically no correction working. Oh, I wake up in the morning to a 58. LOL, the last three days have been an extreme exercise in WTF moments to say the least. So, what should I do? basal test to see if I have some freaky change? I hate hate hate basal testing. Reevaluate my corrections and I/C:R? Seems like I am in need of a wiped slate. Complete do-over, re-start. Not happy about that to say the least. Rant over. Thanks!
I’ve been having the same rant for the last month!
I hope it works out for you soon.
You might be having absorption problems from scar tissue. Have you tried correcting by syringe? That would help with knowing if your need a correction dose adjustment. Sometimes changing to another brand of insulin does the trick.
So frustrating! There’s never any figuring it out when everything changes constantly on us. Coasting along just fine & then it goes hooey!
Yeah, I’m with Gerri. If it continues, I’d try a good old fashioned shot of insulin, if you haven’t done that already, and see what that does before you scrap everything.
We’ve all been there. =/
I wish there was an answer to this one and if you find it let me know as I am fighting the same thing with morning at about 200 no matter what I eat it only goes up to the area of 300 – 350 except the one time I said to hell with it and had waffles and syrup and an hour later it was only 285. I will see doctor again September 27 and will see about changing to different insulin and after I thought maybe I had a handle on it for 6 months. I got denied a pump which might have helped not sure I am up to 8 injections a day 3 kinds of insulin and 4 doctors and no end in sight. End rant for now.
There are so many reasons why that happens but don’t give up. The more stressed you get the higher your bs will go. When you bolus wait at least 15-20 minutes before eating. When what you are experiencing happens to me I ride it out like a storm and keep fighting…don’t give up.
I don’t have a pump, but Many others I know have, including my Brother…
1- ck your Lines
2. change your location
3. Change your Insulin…Summertime- it can cook if out in heat.
4. Eat very Low Carb…Until you get back on track…
5. And at last resort? Take A MDI- Manual Injection of Novalog- Fresh Bottle of Novalog…
6. And Double the Normal Correction Bolus! Set alarm clock for testing every 1/2 hr… to avoid going hypo…
You have to Shock your Liver! Getting a Lazy Liver as I’ve been told…
And you’re not alone my friend… I go thru the same all the time…
This Insulin program is NOT as Consistant as they tell us… Our Bodies are always changing and there is alot more going on, than they want to tell us…
I just went to bed with a 133, took ,my usual Levimre for bed and got up with a 59! WTF!
I’m lucky if I ave 5 mornings out of 7 being " In range" ( 80-110) the other 2x wk? Who knows!
there are at least 6 reasons for all these Screw ups and unless you use a Check list and be 120% focused all the time and Miss just 1 step? You’re Screwed…
And have you Gotten and Read “THINK LIKE A PANCREASE” by Gary Scheiner…?
And John Walsh’s- USING INSULIN
It can help level the playing field… but not all the time
This Damn Disease wants to Destroy our Organs and Kill Us…!-
And Don’t care what they say- This disease does Control us, either Physically or Mentally or Both, 24/7… Ignoring it, is just living in denial… It has to be the 1st thing to come to mind in everything we do…if we don’t? Then it Gets us! and it wins… and we loose.
5.8% Ave A1c’s past 12 mos…using insulin pens
But that only tells 1/2 the story…
Waiting for the Solo Insulin patch to come out…and get rid of using Levimire…
What do you mean with ‘You have to Shock your Liver! Getting a Lazy Liver as I’ve been told…’ ???
If antihistamine are helping you to calm down the swings this does not justify its use for you! Several success stories with questinable products are based on the fact that these products are poisenous. They just allocate all of the resources of the liver and this way the normal glucose production is greatly reduced. This means lower values can be reached with poison. It will kill you in the long run but you might have better glucose control till then, LOL.
Okay, now seriously: the blood glucose of women is heavily influences by the menstruation cycle. After years many women know quite a lot about this cycle and they will know which basal pattern to choose to handle the current hormonal phase. This can also be achieved with MDI. You ‘just’ need to know when it is the right time to increase or decrease the basal insulin. With much trial and error and with frustrations of course.
If your swings are very strong it might be helpful to combine your insulin treatment with metformin. The metformin will calm down the influence of the glucose production of the liver. This is something to discuss with your medical team. Metformin has some unpleasant side effects but with a very low dosage it might work well.
Here is the one factor that I thought was suppose to help me but seems to hurt my numbers. I went from a 2100 calorie a day to 1800 calorie a day diet and numbers went crazy. I know that for a few days this is the case from cutting down in the past but not for 2 weeks or more so I went back to 2100 and in 1 day numbers are coming down fast. Yesterday was the first day and I was high last night over 200 still and this morning 85 that is like really good for me 95 is about normal. I wonder if the 2 extra hours of sleep changed it some as well. Will know in the morning maybe today will be a good day.
things were a bit more stable today. However, Im running high again now, and cannot correct the high for the life of me. Its 240 4 hours after dinner. I give a correction and test again an hour later. still 240. I might have screwed up my dinner bolus, but what the hell does having to correct over and over again and not seeing a change mean? Does that mean there are still carbs being digested and my correction is keeping it from going any higher? This is what drives me F-ing nuts.
I am finding as I get older, it takes longer for corrections to hit, I use a dual wave bolus for 3 1/2 -4 hours: About 1/2 normal bolus, the rest square wave. I keep checking Bs , watching cgms, to avoid a low. I am old school and have been on the pump but seven years, after 36 years of injections… After just one 200+ Bg that does not respond to a pump bolus after an infusion set change and waiting 4 hours, I use a syringe… I do not mind it and it works for me every time… I personally will wait for the blood sugar to lower to normal range for up to 3 to 4 hours, but never all day…
God Bless,
Brunetta
honestly, i think it has something to do with my digestion changing as I get older. Im only 31, but a few years ago my metabolism would deal with any meal in what seemed like an hour. now, it seems to be taking longer to digest/absorb the carbs, so I need to look into how to match that with my insulin regiment. Im just frustrated because it seemed to happen all of the sudden.
Chris, perhaps you should be tested for Gastroparesis.
Chris,
Good suggestion from Betty. I have gastroparesis & it makes timing of insulin a new adventure.
pretty sure there is no GP. I usually only have these issues in the evening. Morning and afternoon are fine, minus the wacky days. But, it might not be a bad idea to look into it. The more I study the situation, the more I am inclined to believe I just need to understand carb counting better and working with extended boluses when required by the type of food I eat. Plus, my wife has been traveling a lot for work, and as much as I like being able to live like a teenager again while she is gone, it royally screws up my routine, and by the time I adjust to her being gone, she is back. Talk about a yo-yo situation!
Gastroparesis is far more evident with dinner. Mine is. I have no problem with breakfast or lunch. Dinner is a nightmare. I hope you don’t have it.
Ill def. look into it, but the other night, when I was 100% sure of my carbs, my BS started at 95, went up to 110, and settled down at 85. This was after eating basmati rice and a persian stew. LOL, I dont want to keep saying its not GP, as I have often wondered myself, but the facts and symptoms just dont add up quite yet. Ill ask my doc in Sept though. Who knows…
I just bought Think like a Pancreas, so hopefully Ill get some good info out of that.
Then, hopefully that’s not it. I have the hardest time with meals that are high protein or high fiber because these take forever to digest. My doctor diagnosed me from the lows I had after eating & spikes hours later. Never had a gastric emptying test because my doctor said gastro is too unpredictable & an early morning test wouldn’t show the problem that typically occurs with evening meals.