I was under a lot of stress yesterday, I had a biopsy by a GYN that was very painful and had a lot of pain when I got home. I have been taking hydrocodone for the pain. I ate very little last night, just some miso soup and tofu.
Last night my BG was 305, when it should have been around 100. The only thing that could have caused the high was a reaction to stress and/or the hydrocodone. There is a small possibility that my OmniPod is malfunctioning and not delivering my basal but there was no alarm so I discount that. I did several bolus injections and finally got it down to normal. This morning my fasting BG was 203, it is usually under 100. I’m still taking the hydrocodone as I still have pain without it.
Now I’m wondering if it would be better to remove the pod in case it is malfunctioning, it still has one day of life left in it. If I went back on MDI I would be able to know for sure the med and stress is causing the highs.
chiaski,
Some drugs can cause high blood sugar. Look for yours on this list too. Of course, it could not be on here and still cause high blood sugar.
Have you tried a temporary basal increase? For me personally a combination of mental and physical stress tends to skyrocket bgs and it lasts so in those cases increasing basal for some time helps. Though not entirely … always a struggle to keep things in control during these times.
I’m not sure if just switching to MDI would really tell you anything more because there could be issues with switching back and I’ve always found that MDI absoprtion rates are a lot more variable than with pumps. If the high is persistent you could try just injecting the correction bolus manually to see if it works better.
Hope you feel better and that the results of the test are okay!
Hydrocodone isn’t supposed to affect blood sugar according to an internet search. Miso soup and tofu are (besides being very tasty!) very low in carbs so I wouldn’t expect that is responsible.
If you normally see large swings due to stress it could be that. But personally I feel like “stress” is commonly blamed whenever no other likely explanation can be found - I’m not a big believer in it myself, except for performance-anxiety stress which I have seen to be responsible for spikes, although they are pretty short term (max of an hour or two) in my experience.
I do see large swings in insulin sensitivity that I believe are due to exercise - is it possible you exercised more or less in the last couple days?
Sorry I can’t help with the OmniPod question. I’m MDI, considering a pump. I’m glad you brought this up - this is a drawback that I never considered - the increased uncertainty about insulin deliver with a pump. If your BG’s don’t come down in a reasonable time I guess you should assume it’s the pod - you haven’t lost that much by pulling it a day early.
I haven’t taken any since my dx, but i do know that hydrocodone can significantly mess with the digestion process so its possible it could have an effect on your BG. Couple that with stress of the pain, as well as the body working to heal itself, and that probably explains alot.
Hydrocodone is not supposed to affect BG, at least according to the guides, but who knows for sure. I’ve had a couple of minor surgeries and took hydrocodone for the post-surgery discomfort and didn’t really notice much of an effect on my BG. But, I only took a couple of doses for the worst pain and was probably on it for less than 24 hours.
I’d chalk it up to stress, but it’s always a good idea to keep a close eye on things. I’m not on a pump, so I have no advice to give about coming off of it.
I had thought about a basal increase but am afraid that this high is temporary and I’d much rather be high that low.
I just pulled the pod and injected Levemire for my basal. I’m going to test hourly until I find out what is going on.
Thanks for the ideas, it helped.
Am I the only one that stress lowers my BG? Mine fall like crazy at work. On days off its a battle lol. Just curious…?
Right before I was diagnosed and “could have been diabetic”, I was given a drug called Bactrim and had “side effects” that were actually low blood sugar. Althought I didn’t know it at the time. It isn’t well documented at all. In fact most of the info on the drug says nothing about it until I found something about it on one drug internet page.
Lots of these drugs are not research for their side effects for diabetics - nor maybe with the meds we take. It is really pretty general. They don’t know all the possible side effects for everyone.
Hydrocodone didn’t raise my BG, but pain does. So does stress.
Can’t take hydrocodone but I don’t think it can cause high BS. And I think your pump is ok. I belive it’s just the stress of the day causing your high BS. I know stress does that to me and it takes awhile to get it back down. Good Luck!
Like many of the others have said, stress raises blood sugar levels. Pain meds, such as hydrocodone(percocet) have different actions in different peole. I had a bad accident an was on if think all the pain meds allowed, i had the best A1C. So thinking about it all, stress, pain, meds, and lack of eating or eating more, well thats just alot for anyone, set aside one that is diabetic. So all i went through, my advise is to check like your sick, never stop the insulin or “stack”, what the two hours, pump should help you with the controlling aspect, and just worry less about the sugars, just deal with what you have on your meter. Your body is doing its thing, try and relax, take what you need, and worry only about getting better.
mine go both ways … never know if going to have a high or low
Good advice there Josh!
opiates always LOWERED my BG. i only took them a few times for severe pain (hydrocodone) and every single time about 2 hours after dinner my BG went to dangerously low levels and i ended up having to take corn syrup (LOL) and then eat cereal BARS to get it to be somewhere around 120. i was told this was because of delayed stomach emptying - but it sure seems different than the delayed stomach emptying that comes with diabetes LOL - with that my BG would be normal after a meal but creep up several hours later…
stress on the other hand makes my BG very high. when i first was diagnosed with diabetes my doctor was sending me to the ER because my BG was 220 (LOL) and my boyfriend decided to drive me instead of me going in the ambulance - well all the way he griped at me about me having all these problems!!! when i got to the ER my BG was almost 400!!! this was after 2 units of fast acting insulin…
djh
I wish I could get my hands on some hydorcodone or “opiates” for…cataracts…yeah cataracts!!!
I’m not sure if the hydrocodone raised my BG, I really think it was a bad pod. My BG normalized right after I removed the pod and went on MDI.
I do know that hydrocodone causes constipation, at least in me. I’m normally as regular as a Rolex watch but not for the last 2 days, in spite of taking 4 doses of MOM and drinking copious amounts of water.
I’ve had BG shot up associated with pain. I had a bike wreck and it spiked about three hours later. It stayed elevated for about 20 hours. I also tripped once and fell hard on cement. Same thing happened. Don’t discount the pain as a stressor on the body. Good luck!
Me too…about going both ways…except for me good stress (excitement about something) tends to lower where bad stress will make it higher
Btw, how you are doing now? Are you pretty much healed now? Any results?