Not sure what to do - high tonight

I’m very newly diagnosed (just 7 weeks) and up til now I’ve been very much in a honeymoon phase, where I don’t really get high numbers. Tonight that’s not true. I ate my normal amount of carbs for dinner, and I took my normal amount of insulin, but at my 2 hour post meal point my sugar was up to 283!

I took my correction amount, and 90 minutes later I re tested and it was only down to 241. I’ve never had this happen before, and I don’t want to take too much insulin. How long is it supposed to take for the correction to work? when do I correct again? I have no idea what I’m doing and I don’t know how to fix this.

I know that everyone is different, but I could really use some advice on how to correct a high number

283??? OH MY GOD!!! You are gonna die!!! LOL…J/K…Some diabetic humor!!! hehe…

On a serious note…wait 2 more hours and if at the 4 hour mark your still above target range…take another bolus!!

I usually wait 4hrs. Dont go overboard on the fast acting until you know how it effects you.

Go slow. Wait it out and then see where you are. It will be okay and you will be okay…I know it is scarey. Drink water as well. Let me know what happens.

Mattie,

I’d wait up to 4 hours. I usually correct, then wait 2 hours at the first high reading. Do you know how to check for ketones? I see you are newly diagnosed. I’m not sure what they teach now :slight_smile:

Ryan, please don’t scare the newly diagnosed. High to them may be nothing to us, but they’re here for help, not to be belittled.

I have ketone strips, but I was just told “test ketones when you go high, your meter will tell you to” and there was nothing that said to so I haven’t.

I appreciate the help, it’s just very new and pretty scary to me

Okay take the strips with you when you go urinate. Each strip is pretty different, as per mine in my lap, they say compare color on strip to the key. If you have moderate to high ketones it may be best to contact your endocrinologist just to be safe. Mine has me contact at “large/high”

You need to look at what you ate and how many carbs you consumed. That will help you determine if the bolus you are taking is the correct amount. If you only dropped 40 points after 90 minutes take more insulin to get it back down. I know when i was first diagnosed 3 years ago they told me to take 1 unit for every 50 points so for you 3 units to get it down to the 100 range. Just make sure you have OJ and some sugary stuff around just in case.

Hi Mattie,

Welcome to the community!

Hope everything is back to normal. Understand how scared & frustrated you felt. It is scary!

I start drinking a lot of water when my BG is high. I test every 30 minutes for a couple of hours to see if it’s coming down before taking another correction bolus because I’ve over-corrected before. Your BG may have been steadily climbing to have seen a slight drop after 90 minutes from the correction.

As Mark & Dave suggested, check your carbs to see if you may have miscalculated. What was your BG before dinner & how soon before dinner did you eat something else? The amount of protein & fat you ate may also account for a rise that effected the effectiveness of your correction bolus.

Always good to make sure your insulin hasn’t expired. We’ve all had insulin go bad. Could be from heat, approaching the expiration date, or just a bad batch.

Thank you everyone! By the time I reached the 4 hour point, it had gone down to 140. And this morning I’m down to 103 again.

I haven’t had highs to deal with up until now, just a lot of lows. I don’t even have a correction scale yet because I hadn’t seen a number above 160. My endo just told me that I add a unit for every 40 points I am above 140, but that was for meal time boluses. And again, nothing stayed high enough to even reach the 2 hour mark.

It was pretty much a standard meal (tuna on whole wheat bread with an apple) and it’s something that I"ve eaten before since diagnosis. I suspect that my honeymoon period is ending, and things are going to change now.

I very much appreciate all of your help and advice, it’s hard enough to have to learn how to be diabetic, and it truly helps to feel like I’m not completely alone, so thanks :slight_smile:

Maddie,

Glad that your blood sugar came back down! I see numbers like that too often.

Most fast-acting insulins (Humalog, Novolog) work for about 4-5 hours (this does vary some from person to person). The fact that your blood sugar came back to normal after 4 hours suggests that you did bolus the right amount, but it might suggest that it would be a good idea to take your bolus earlier before eating. For me to have stable blood sugars after eating, I need to wait about 25 minutes after giving the bolus. BUT YOU MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO WAIT TOO LONG. If I wait 35 minutes, I have a horrible low. Perhaps just try waiting 10 minutes before eating (unless your blood sugar is low)-

There is a discussion with helpful tips on early bolusing here. As your honeymoon ends and your body produces less and less insulin, you will likely have more post-prandial highs. The only solutions that work for me is early bolusing and/or lowering carb intake.

Were you about to start your period? I know for me when I am about to start my period or am getting sick, I have to pretty much double my correction boluses.

I am glad that you are feeling better and that it worked well. :slight_smile:

Happy you’re back to more normal readings!

People here willing to help–you’re not alone. Really tough to navigate alone.

What was your BG before dinner? Hope you’re keeping records of your readings & doses to help your endo calculate correct doses & timing. Does take a lot of tweaking.