Ok so here’s my problem. Saturday night go to bed with 100 BS. 3:30am Dexcom alrets HIGH. Check with meter BS=200. Do correction bolus fall back asleep. Dexcom continues to alarm. SO at 6:30am check with meter again. Now BS=236. Do correction bolus fall back asleep. Sunday morning wake up 9:00am check with meter BS=240!!! So now i have given almost 7u of insulin without eating or drinking anything and BS has done nothing but rise. SO i pull the pod. When it comes off appears to have a bent cannula. SO I put new pod on and do another correction bolus and head to church. All through church dexcom alarming HIGH. Get out of church 12:15pm BS=210. So now I have a new pod in a new location and the correction still is not doing anything!!! So I continue to family Easter. Now it’s time to eat( I haven’t eaten anything sense 8pm the night before.) BS=175. So it’s finally come down from 200 but not by much. So I bolus wait my 30 minutes before eating and then eat but not many carbs. Bolused for 60g carbs probably consumed maybe 40. Soon after eating BS is on the rise. Goes back up to 230 then turns around and settles about 190 for the rest of the day. I eat one more time Sunday evening and the same results nothing matching up. Nothing making any sense. Sunday night finally get BS back down to 90. (think I did it by over bolusing enough to kill a horse!!) Go to sleep BS=90, 3:00am alarm high! Check with meter BS=200!!! I haven’t eaten or drinken anything but water! Perform correction bolus upon waking up this morning BS= 190!! So if anyone hung in there with me long enough to get through that explination does anyone know what the heck is going on?? It’s obvious there is some insulin working but either not enough or is it bad insulin?? It’s possible that my Insulin might have got a little hot on saturday afternoon? I am not sick or anything? Just looking for any advice anyone might have. Maybe ways to test whats going on? Anything will help.
Thanks,
Will
Bad insulin is one possibliity, another is an additional bad canula, and a third is a build up of ketones. Any ketones will require a mass bolus to overcome. First I would check the canula/pod attachement and location. Try taking an insulin shot of humalog (or whatever) and see if that does it to eliminate a bad site. Try new insulin, too. Sometimes it’s just a trial by elimination.
Been there, done that! I’ll be interested in any advice on this also! 
I am also interested to see what others say. We have the same problem with our daughter on the pod and sometimes I wonder if it is even working! It’s not the site because it worked in that “general area” two weeks ago, the cannula isn’t bent, there is no occlusion, insulin isn’t bad because it worked fine in the next pod. One time I gave the pod a tap with a pen when she got the bolus and what do you know, the blood sugar came right down after being 200+ for several readings. Lately I’ve been massaging the area around the cannula insertion when she gets her bolus to see if that makes a difference and I think it does…
Will -
I have an answer, but I’m not sure how comforting it will be. Every once in a while, I have this problem, too, and it has nothing to do with my pump. My body simply decides - for sometimes a few DAYS - to become insulin resistant. Persistently high (200s), not much will get it back down. And then, poof, everything is back in line. It happens a couple times a year, it seems. And I’m typically in the under 6.0 A1c range.
Once I’ve corrected a couple of times and change my pod, I catch on that it may be a matter of insulin resistence.
Rather than correcting with bolus/correction doses, I find it helpful to increase my basals for the duration - as much as 20-30%. Also, I’ve heard some people say (and I agree) that not eating, even a little, during persistent highs isn’t good for your body, either. So, definitely keep eating lowish carbs (and avoid problem foods like steak) if you experience this again.
Hope you get some other good insights on the board!
Had the same thing happen on Friday. I think it may have been my insulin? But I was doing injection boluses to bring myself down (at least 12 units total over 8 hours) and still was a high old wreck. There is NOTHING so frustrating as identifying the problem and giving the correct solution and getting NO results! I totally feel your pain.
I chose to open a new vial of insulin and do a pod change. I also called in the uncooperative pods and Insulet is replacing one.
Also - I think I was a tad dehydrated and I just read that dehydration can cause insulin resistance. So I’ve been trying to drink up since then!
Sounds frustrating!!! I have had at least a dozen of the same episode in the past 5 years…not bad when you consider the total of 30 years of the big D…the newest technology is great but still not perfect! They are on the right track though, when I get into a bad funk like yours I switch back to MDI until the bg’s are right again and holding! I will still wear the pod for the entire process until it dies, but I will rely upon MDI"s for all boluses. Not basil, however, and have you tried elevating your basil? I would try that, if you havent. My basils change whenever the weather changes, and this is the time of year. I just had to increase my basil by .5 and I will decrease it in about 6 months, then the entire thing starts again. Good Luck, and PEACE!
My daughter and my brother both have days like this. Since you’ve changed the pod, it’s likely not a pod issue. Give yourself a shot for your next correction, if you don’t come down like you should, it might be the insulin. Try a new bottle. Also, if you’re having a period of insulin resistance, some extra exercise might help get you back on track.
Also, I think I’ve read that when we fast, the body responds by having the liver push out glucagon to feed the muscles and other tissues, so eat some lower carb foods – don’t starve yourself!
Will, I tried to reply earlier, but don’t think it went through, so hopefully this is not a dual post. I couldn’t believe when I read your post earlier today. I feel like I had the exact same weekend as you. My issues are identical. Go to bed at 90, wake up in the morning at 240. Next night same thing, but this time I check in middle of night. It’s elevated, so I do a correction bolus. By the morning it’s in the 200s again. My nighttime BG is always very stable, but I’ve been having issues on and off for the past 3 or 4 weeks or so that I can’t explain. I’m not ill and I’ve used different bottles of insulin. This past weekend was a nightmare. I’ve switched the pod a couple of times and also looked at the cannula, but couldn’t definitely say there was anything wrong with it. It appeared that it was inserted, though perhaps slightly curved. I’m going to call Insulet and see if they have had any other similar cases or can explain what might be happending. I’m not saying it’s the pod, but honestly I can’t find another reason for what is going on, unless I have a really bad batch of insulin, which I don’t think is the case. I always store my insulin in the fridge and it doesn’t expire until late 2012. Will, please let me know if you figure anything out if it is related to the actual pod, ok? Honestly, I’m at my wit’s end. I have had other issues with the pod (such as the recent pod failure issue that Insulet is working to fix), but never an issue like this.
Thanks!
Gail
In addition to my previous post I forgot to add in that I’ve also had unreasonably and unexplainable highs during the day as well. Have really struggled bringing my BG down to normal levels. I typically only consume 30 units of insulin per day, but think I almost doubled that over the last 3 days just to try to get it back to normal levels.
I have experianced this type of problems too. I have noticed, with me, that the change in weather can cause this to happen. I have had to have a basel program for spring and fall.
I have had these issues too. Almost on a nightly basis, I wake up to my CGM alerting me to high’s in the 200’s, I give a correction and sometimes it’s normal when I wake up and sometimes not. Most often I go to bed in the normal range and then it goes crazy while I am sleeping. I’ve been wondering if I have developed that neuropathy that affects your digestion which is truly scary. And other times I have pumped and pumped in insulin with no apparent change in my numbers. Generally, I am very happy with the pod, but now that so many have brought up this issue, I wondering too. Is it the pod, diet, metabolism, neuropathy, insulin, insulin resistance, stress, pod placement???
This has happened to my daughter also. We changed the Pod, checked the insulin (still good), etc. Then, 2 days later, she came down with streph throat. High BG numbers can be a sign of an illness “lurking in the background.”
Thanks guys. Good to know I am not the only one dealing with this. I will say I now don’t think it’s a problem with the pod. I believe it began with the bent canula but i don’t know why it was so difficult to return to normal. I did get a pretty bad sunburn on Saturday afternoon. I was wondering do you think my body was stressing over that and maybe resisting the insulin more? I held in there and didn’t change the pod or the insulin in it(of course). And now i am back down to normal. BS=120 all night long. Just ate breakfast a while ago and I am at 118. So the insulin stilll has to be good? I guess it was just my body doing something it’s never done before? Like Jan says maybe I am going to be sick? Or maybe the bad sunburn was my “sickness.” Still no concrete answers. But i guess that’s what this whole D thing is about!
My Endo and I were just talking about this yesterday. I will go through periods of time where I need to up my basal by 20% (or decrease by 20%). I use a temp basal setting when I see that I am consistently high or low. He is also a diabetic, and says he has periods like this, too. No explanations, it just is. Just the fun on being a diabetic!