Two days ago, my son (10 yrs) had minor out patient surgery and his blood sugars have been high ever since. I have done a correction bolus every time we check his sugars, which is about 8 - 10 times a day. I’m hesitant to rise his Basal rates because he has so much more active insulin than usual. Is it common for pain to raise blood sugars?
Please never worry about contacting his physician with questions like this. As you know, a lot of things can cause increased blood sugar readings. His increase could be due to pain, stress, relatively low activity levels during recovery, inflammation, or it could be a precursor to an impending and as yet asymptomatic illness. Infection is always a possibility with surgery, but it would take some time to set in, so it would probably be a less likely cause of an immediate blood sugar increase. I am sure most physicians would welcome such a question about a patient.
I would agree that it's probably combined stress of having the procure plus the ensuing pain. However, a post-surgical infection could also cause a rise, so it's probably a good idea to rule that out. By all means, call the doc and be assertive that you need a callback.