Haha. Well, I went to post something very similar to this today and decided to do a search first to see if anyone else had the same sort of trouble so that I wouldn’t duplicate their topic. Instead, I found that I had the same trouble four years ago.
But, alas, today has been another one of those “stuck high” days. High all night and all day today. I’ve changed sites, I’ve used different insulin, I’ve tried exercising, I’ve corrected every few hours, I’ve done injections, I’ve skipped meals and/or eaten low carb, I’ve raised basal rates and lowered ratios. I’ve just been stuck in the double digits for nearly 24 hours now regardless of what I’ve done.
I try not to get frustrated with diabetes, but I’ll admit, days like today (which are not unusual for me) are frustrating!!
No real purpose to this post except for another “vent” and perhaps advise from anyone else who gets stuck high for extended periods of time on how to break out of it and stay out of it!
(ETA: Just checked ketones and they are moderate, so drank a bunch of water…maybe that will do the trick…)
No real suggestions to offer. But after reading this and similar problems of other younger women, I just have to say how thankful I am that I didn’t become type 1 diabetic until my 70s. The wild fluctuations in BG due to hormonal shifts would really drive me crazy. How fortunate I am that I rarely have big surprises.
I recall reading that one woman said her basal rate would suddenly double at one point during the month, then again suddenly drop in half at a later point with no gradual shift to help one keep things in better check. I also recall reading that someone was better able to predict the timing of the shift by taking her temperature regularly. Have you ever tried that?
Oh, yeah! I actually completely forgot about the temperature thing. I did intend to try it, though. I’ll have to set a reminder on my phone to start doing it each day.
I do find my basal needs shoot up very suddenly, as much as 25-50% (no real way of knowing ahead of time how much it will be) literally overnight. So far today I’ve raised my basal rates by 0.3 units an hour, which is a 20% increase for me, plus have dropped all my correction and carbohydrate ratios lower. I think I’ll be raising my basal rates again later tonight, since my blood sugar has not budged.
It didn’t make sense to me either but my daughter’s endo’s endo’s explanation makes sense. When basal is too high it sends the body into stress mode, leading to even more insulin resistance & stubborn highs. When you lower the basal the resistance releases & the corrections start working. There is no doubt in my mind it’s hormone-related for my daughter. With oral contraceptives & Metformin it happens less often now, but we do still see it. We’ve been doing this the last 3 years & it works for her.
I have heard of the high basal rate and stress hormones before, but only in the context of going low and then the body responding with stress hormones that cause rebound highs and insulin resistance. I have a CGM, so I know there aren’t lows followed by highs, but this was an issue at times before I had a CGM when I would have undetected lows but think I was running high all day. At those times, after hearing about this, I did find that lowering my basal helped.
There have been months where I’ve been able to somehow crank my basal and other pump settings up the exact amount I need and the entire month has been smooth. But most months seem like this, where I go high, raise everything, go low, lower everything, go high again, raise everything, then eventually at some point it may work, at least until the “drop” happens.
It looks like part of my overnight “lows” may have been my sensor being inaccurate (it’s on day 29-30, so I’m going to leave my pump settings as-is and see what happens. So I’ll see what happens today… If only there were a crystal ball telling us exactly how to adjust things!
I finally got “unstuck” but am now wondering am I getting sick or did my insulin pen get too cold during the recent frigid weather or…is it just the orneriness of diabetes. Sigh…
I don’t know, what happened, really. Stayed hydrated, mostly. I gave myself 4u this morning and didn’t see any action for nearly 2 hours. Ate 20g, spiked up, but started back down right afterward. Waiting to level out so I can calibrate.
You and me, peas in a pod, Jen. Had the same sort of day yesterday. I bolused (this is shocking) 80U trying to get it down, and I just hovered all day between 190-220.
Under normal circumstances I could easily and reliably bring that 200 down to 80 with 10U.
I’m fighting C. diff, and we seem to be in a stalemate, so back to the doc tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s messing with my insulin response (or lack thereof). When C. diff has the upper hand, I feel like absolute crap (pun intended, please laugh people ), and that’s when my system seems to go, “insulin? What’s that?”
Now, I am well aware that that amount of insulin would kill many reading here. No joke. My resistant body, when ill, shrugs it off.
@Terry4 mentioned it took two courses of antibiotics and 10 weeks to shake this thing, and I’ve just gotten started.
Did your doc talk to you about taking some prescription probiotics while you are taking heavy-duty antibiotics? That can really help the GI tract cope!
Yes we discussed probiotics, no not prescription. I am taking a probiotic supplement that requires refrigeration, and the gal at New Leaf Market was some sort of guru that knew exactly what I could take with the antibiotic I’m taking so that the PB wouldn’t be killed off.
I’ve only been under treatment for 10 days. I was hoping for more improvement by now, and while it’s gotten a bit better, still pretty uncomfortable, slightly nauseated, poor apetite, etc.
Clostridium difficile (French for “difficult”) is apparently called that for a good reason: It can be tough to shake. Learned that after some googling.
@Dave26, that’s really horrible. I hope you feel better soon! I find one of the most challenging parts about diabetes is that when we’re sick (or stressed) and feeling crappy, that’s when our diabetes tends to need the most attention.
As for me, I’ve been running low all day today. So I’ve moved my settings back down. I think I should have gone with a temporary basal rate yesterday. But it’s so hard to tell, especially when you’ve been high for hours or days on end. Sometimes I feel like after more than 25 years I still don’t really know what I’m doing.
That was three days ago, and diabetes being like politics, a different geologic epoch.
Got it back down by the afternoon, and control normalized to my usual IC and CF. Control continues to be more difficult than usual, being kinda “brittle” – i.e., more spikey., and tougher to bring down.
It’s the C. diff. Avoid it at all costs.
Saw the doc Monday, he consulted a Gastroenterologist, verdict is that Flagyl (the antibiotic) routinely causes mild GI discomfort, loose stool, and general fatigue malaise in some people (not unlike the C. diff itself turned down a bit), so finish off the 14-day course, wait a few days, then we’ll see.
So that’s the current steady-state. Not crazy that I’ll need to go a second round of Flagyl to kill these buggers off completely – told this was quite common. Less common is then a 3rd round with a different antibiotic if it STILL won’t go away.
So, I’ve got a fair runway of feeling crappy ahead of me for the next few months. Good opportunity to do some coding on the xdrip+ contributions I’d like to make
), and that’s when my system seems to go, “insulin? What’s that?”
