I'm over it

Type 1 and LADA
1

I’m officially tired of diabetes. I have had a few really sh**ty days and cannot seem to get things right. I have been since Sunday high the entire time. I cannot get my numbers lower than 175. I have corrected, changed my infusion site, changed even the vial of insulin on the freak instance that it’s gone bad, and even corrected via syringe and still am not lowering. I woke up this morning at 238 and that’s the lowest I’ve woken up to since Sunday. I am not getting sick and feel fine with the exception of a headache today. I just don’t understand it. I was doing so well…

I am going to send my doctor my log tomorrow if it keeps up and see what he says, it’s just so frustrating that it makes me just want to give up…

Sorry to vent, I’m just tired of feeling like crap.

2

My son has been running high for the last two weeks and just out of the blue for no real reason he is getting back to normal. Maybe there was some virus that you didn’t feel that was affecting your numbers…hope it goes back to normal for you soon. I know…it is crappy to be doing the right things and not getting the results for your efforts.

3

Thanks guys… but this is day four. This morning when I woke up at 238 I just about ripped my pump off and threw it across the room. I had an occlusion alarm go off (not sure why, my pump has been doing this for about a week just randomly) but it going off just really pissed me off and I ended up sitting in my bed crying and ended up being late for work. It seriously needs to go back to normal… I can’t take it anymore…

4

I know how hard it gets.Feel free to vent away!!! Just always look at it as Dave says tomorrow will be better!

5

I know how you feel Liz (by the way I’m an Elizabeth also :)). Lately I have been running high. What I do when that happens I change my basal rates until something changes. Just my opinion I think that happens when the body is fighting something that doesn’t register anywhere…not even a thermometer. Today was the first time I’ve had a low low in quite awhile, it was 42 an hour after lunch so I decreased the adjustment I made a few days ago.

6

it took me a good two weeks before i started seeing numbers in the hundreds. Originally i would be half sick as my body got used to bringing me down to normal and my testing of my insulin to carb ratio.(see i stopped taking humalog all together since the summer,just started back up). Your case is probably different, looks like you have to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate some things. Maybe look at your medicine, what your eating, your insulin to carb ratio, heck maybe even where you injecting. Or maybe it’s stress, god knows a good cry can raise my sugar. Good luck and make sure to ask plenty of questions from your doc. I read that your on the pump, woo that’s another language to me…

7

I know how you feel. I frequently had similar problems while I was pumping. I went through so many of the same bouts where I was ready to throw my hands up in the air and quit out of shear frustration that I wish I something reassuring to tell you from my experience. What I can say is that I have been there and if you want feel free to drop me a line, glad to talk it out. Hang in there…

8

Elizabeth, deep breath.

Then another one.

Have you tried one of the great books out there? (Pumping Insulin~John Walsh, Smart Pumping~Howard Wolpert). Maybe you just need a little tweaking of your rates.

9

I own Pumping Insulin and have been rereading it for the third time recently as I was going to see if I could get away with lowering my basals overnight by doing basal testing, but this isn’t the time for that.

I think I’m just going to call my doc tomorrow and see what he says to do… ugh I hate having to do that…

10

So sorry for your struggle. Not that it changes anything for you, but I’ve been there also without finding any reason behind it. Don’t have a pump, but I’ve opened new vials, had my husband inject in new spots I can’t reach in case a new site would work better & anything else I could think of. Made me wonder if I was immune to my insulin brand.

I had my pharmacy get insulin from another of their stores with a different lot number in case the whole batch of insulin was off.

You feel like you’re shooting water instead of insulin & then afraid it will all hit causing a bad low. Horribly frustrating.

Hope you’re doing better now.

11

If I were in your shoes, I would try a round of aerobic exercise. If there is something you do normally - run, cycle, elliptical, etc., try it for a session of 30 to 60 minutes. Of course, test before and after. Don’t snack. Don’t remove your pump or change basal. It’s got to be truly aerobic though…breathing hard for most of the session.

See if you go back up and remain up afterwards. It will also be good for your mental state.

12

Oh Elizabeth I know its hard and makes you want to give up thats how I was for a long time,hated it with a passion nothing seemed to have done anything until I went into hospital with ketons and infection then we found out the reason for the crazyness and I did feel fine to be honest friday felt sick saturday I was at the hospital.So phone your nurse and get a blood test if you can then they should see if something is coming up.
The more you worry the worse it gets its part of the cycle I guess,try not to worry.
Vent away it helps lots,hope you feel better soon.

13

I had the same thing happen a few weeks ago and went throught the same process, changed insulin, inset, tried a syringe, etc. then I just thought I was getting sick, but never did. then after three of four days everything just went back to normal…no reason. I’m sick of diabetes too, is there somewhere we can go to trade it in?

14

Liz, I wish I could give you any advice but I’ve been dealing with the SAME issue… it’s SUPER frustrating.

I literally took over 100u in corrections yesterday (not all at once, but starting at 9am every 3-4 hours until 1am when I gave up and went to sleep) and still never dropped below 200 (last night in fact, according to dex, I climbed after going to sleep and I was above 400 for about 6 hours - despite taking a large correction via syringe before bed, I just kept climbing, then began to come down around 8:30am). I don’t know what’s going on… I’ve changed insulin, and there’s little change - it just makes NO sense, it’s like hitting a freaking wall and NOTHING is working. I ate very little yesterday as a result and I have no good explanation for any of it.

Now, the really crazy part is that I was frustrated enough last night to just leave my basal rate alone. Despite being at 400+ for an unreal amount of time, I woke up at about 9:30 at 191… and I didn’t start dropping until about 7-8 hours after the last correction shot. Yet I dropped 200+ in the span of an hour. WTF?

My TDD is usually somewhere in the 45-50u range… my pump says it gave me 104u yesterday but that does NOT include corrections via shot. I’d guess about half the corrections I used yesterday were shots, so I probably took over 150u of insulin yesterday. A sudden 3x increase in insulin usage and my #'s are absolutely scary? Something is up, and I really don’t think the problem is ME… I look at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I freely admit I pigged out, and my TDD was 66 and 67u respectively, and my #'s were just peachy.

This started Saturday when my son went to a birthday party… I didn’t bring my meter with me because I thought I was just dropping him off (which would have been a 20 minute trip), but I should have… my BG shot up via Dexcom like I had a bad site, and I felt helpless to do anything about it without my meter to confirm how high I was. I was only away for about 2 1/2 hours but in that time I went from the 130’s after lunch (with a brand new site) to 400+. I was in the upper 300’s when I finally did get home, after giving a cautious correction based on the Dex #'s.

The only thing I can presume is that something is up with my insulin… this seemed to have started with the site change Saturday, and I’m pretty sure I opened a new bottle then.

I am about to take all of the insulin I have (which is all the same lot #) and demand that Walgreen’s replace it with a different lot #. I just filled my RX about a week ago so I’m stuck with what I have unless they agree to replace it or I can get more freebies from my Endo (I might try that too).

15

i feel the same way!

16

i ran high for 2 weeks straight once…you just got to hold on… you’ll pull through

17

So sorry to hear about this terrible week Elizabeth! Have you tried opening a new fresh vial of insulin?

What infusion set are you using? If you are getting kinks in the infusion set that can cause limited delivery with lots of occlusions!

Hope that better days come soon!

18

I dont know anything really about the Pump. I am sure alot of people have given you advice. I just wanted to say I hope that you figure it out, and you feel better really soon. I know how it is to run high…just awful. Take care and keep fighting. You are worth it, Honey. Better blood sugars are just around the corner. xo

19

pump sounds tricky huh?

20

I like the answer to both of the above responses. I’ve found them to be true. Could be bad insulin. Even my doctor - who is Howard Wolpert of Smart Pumping fame - said if the diabetes management goes awry to throw out the insulin I’m using and use another one. The author of the excellent book, “Think Like a Pancreas,” Gary Scheiner, says the same. I’ve done this a few times and it works. Also, I’ve found that if I’m upset or anxious about something, excellent blood sugar management more often than not takes a hike. There’s nothing better for that, I’ve found, than to join your little blood sugar management’s vacation and take a hike, too, or get some aerobic exercise. Gets your blood moving, your insulin moving, and your mind off of all the stuff you’re worried and upset about and soon becomes nonsense as life improves.