Yesterday my sugar was in the 200’s all day and for no apparent reason. I was eating normally and could not get my sugar to go down. Last night before bed I felt awful and checked and it was 459! Argh!
So, I left my pump on but gave myself a shot of humalog for the amount my pump was going to give me (9 units). So, I went to sleep (waking up all through the night to go to the bathroom), woke up and my bg was 329. I was completely shocked because of the large dose of insulin I gave last night. So, I checked for ketones and they were large (which I haven’t had since diagnosis in 2001). I gave myself more insulin (with the pump) and waited half an hour. I just checked and it went UP to 413!!! I am completely confused and have no idea what is going on. These are the kinds of things that make me insane! When you’ve done what you’re supposed to and there is no rythme or reason! I thought I could have a virus and not be aware of it or something? Any thoughts on what is going on?
(Merry Christmas!)
My first thought would be did you take the shot from a different vial of insulin–I have had one of those go bad? Next would be a virus,thankfully my endo has someone in his office on call 24X7…fax your numbres in and call, and they will walk you through the fix–most of the time w/o an ER visit. Dr is a diabetic himself so he “gets it”
But withe very large keytones you must be very careful, and if it comes to it and you can’t get them and your BG down make that ER visit.
I agree that you need to try a new vial of insulin and call your doctor immediately. There’s also the possibility that you could have an unnoticed infection - bladder, kidney, yeast - sometimes they can go unnoticed. You haven’t had any steroids - oral or injected? Change your infusion set, too. But I agree with Denise that bad insulin is one of the likely perpetrators.
When I have stuff like that happen, I change my infusion site first. Like if that had been me, running high all day, and I was in the 400’s before bed, I would have changed it before going to bed (just something to think about if this happens again, ya know?). If that didn’t help, I’d try a new insulin bottle… If that didn’t help and I was still running that high with ketones, I’d call the doctor. Running high or having ketones is one thing, but since you have both going on, I wouldn’t sit on that for too long if the other things you’ve tried don’t seem to be helping.
I sympathize though. My BG’s were either high or all over the place for eth last couple of weeks, and nothing I did seemed to help. I tried to wait it out, and kept making adjustments, but nothing I did seemed to help and I flipped out last weekend because I was so frustrated about it. I asked Santa to bring me good BG’s, and what do you know? They’ve actually been decent today. My BG’s weren’t running as high as yours though so my situation wasn’t as urgent. It sounds like bad insulin or an infection of some kind, like the other ladies already suggested. Let us know when you figure it out though 
Hey all! Thanks for your thoughts and kindness. So, after I posted asking for advice, my sugar kept going higher throughout Christmas. It was a terrible Christmas. I didn’t want to go to the ER on Christmas day, so I kept trying to get it down myself. Didn’t happen. So, my husband called and got the on-call doctor and he just happened to be married to an Endo who he put on the phone! So cool! So, I talked to her and she said it sounded like bad insulin, which we all thought anyway. Problem was that it was my last bottle of insulin and the clinic I get my supplies at was closed. Why do these things always happen on holidays? (boo diabetes!) So, the endo called it in at a 24 hour place and my husband went to get it for me. IMMEDIATELY my sugars went down and large keytones gone. (I did drink about 200 glasses of water as well) I have no idea what happened to make the insulin go bad, but problem solved and next time I won’t try so hard to make things happen myself…I will call the doctor earlier.
PS: I did change the infusion site and that didn’t help, since it was the bad insulin. Thanks for your thoughts and prompt replies! Hope you all had a healthy Christmas! =)
Dear Kellyp.
Poor thing does ruin Christmas does it. That was a modern medical miracle to get someone competent to speak to at this time of year. I forgot to take my shot of Lantus and also mushed my blood sugars. I usually keep at least 2 weeks supply of fast acting insulin in the fridge and a good supply of syringes this may be a good thing for pumpers too when failure occurs. The manually injected fast can substitute for the slow insulin and for a pump in an emergency with an injection every few hours. You would think if there was a God we should be allowed a break from diabetes at least over the holidays. Life is hard then you die. My friend Ben who is my age and not even a diabetic felt so stressed out from work he said he was hoping for a heart attack. I guess 200 years ago most of us were slaves and it was worst.