Stubborn Dropping Blood Sugar Tonight--Advice Please

Hi,

For seemingly no reason, my CGM showed my blood sugar dropping rapidly mid afternoon. I suspended all insulin and had a glucose tablet. 3.5 hours later, no IOB (at the time of the drop I had .60 of a unit on board from lunch. I saw the double down arrows driving home and ingested an entire container of glucose tabs (the tube kind with like 8 in this one). Got home, still double down arrow, checked with meter, had another entire tube of glucose. called my mom and waited in my condo till the arrow went sideways. Waited a bit longer and it went slightly up. Decided to grab my groceries, started to feel low and noticed the arrow going down rapidly again! Suspended my insulin again and had ANOTHER tube of tablets. Then an apple. Now I’m sitting here almost 4 hours later and I’m finally going up (I’m sure I’m headed for a major roller coaster ride tonight). In 5 years, I’ve had some lows, but NEVER like this.

I am scared because of not knowing the trigger? |The only thing I can think of is that i overused my stomach for 3 years (never really put my pod anywhere else) and I’m wondering if it’s trapped bubble of insulin released under my skin? I heard someone say that could happen with scar tissue (which I have). I just started rotating to other sites.

Thoughts? Anything else I should think it could be??

I eat when low. Exercise? Ugh. Just try again. Eat more. Lower the basal after a fasting test if indicated. I don’t have any way to test blood until tomorrow and I feel low. I’m lucky that I have few bad lows and can feel a slight low. I don’t know if I’ve eaten enough but should know in time. Patience.

It would have been a very bad low if I hadn’t caught the trend on my CGM. I didn’t turn my insulin back on until bed time, and used a basal rate of .40 instead of my usual .60 and woke up at 7.3. I’m so grateful I have a CGM! I can only imagine how many test strips I would have gone through…but most of all, I was able to see the trend. I just got a lesson in how powerful D is…

Update: I’m now at work and my blood sugar is going low again!! I have only bloused 1/2 a unit for my coffee, which usually takes 1 whole unit. I’ve turned my basal down again to the .40 instead of .60 and I’m still going low. Just went to grab a hashbrown since I’m on a down arrow! I don’t understand what could be causing this!?!?!? Please, if anyone has any experience with this happening, please share. I’m afraid to take any bolus today!

Sorry to hear about this. Scary and frustrating. If everything is status quo the only question I would have is : are you using a site you maybe haven’t used before or used very little? Maybe a site with really really good absorption??? Hope you get it figured out!!

In fact yes! I am! I overused my stomach for years because I couldn’t get the pod to stick to the other sites due to rubbing clothing or what not…until just the other day when I bought SkinTac which is so wonderful at sticking things in place that I now can rotate my sites! I’m so so excited about this.

Thanks for replying…that would make sense!! Not that it makes it any less scary…

You might also be having some issues with slow digestion. I had this the other day, where no matter what I did, my BG was dropping. Hours and hours later, my food finally digested and I was chasing a high for a while.

Have you been drinking water with your glucose tablets?

No, I had never heard to drink water with them…but let me tell you I was choking them down…it was disgusting to eat so many!!

Water is important, if you are even a little dehydrated your digestion can slow down.

Thanks for telling me this. I did recently start a new drug called Invokana and had been warned of it’s dehydrating effects… I’ll amp up my water/electrolyte mix intake. I reduced my insulin intake overall by almost 40%, but have been on it for about two months without a major scare like this, so I don’t think it’s the Invokana

I looked up Invokana side effects and under the “Healthcare Professionals” heading it says the most common side effect is … (drumroll, PLEASE!) …

Hypoglycemia

Right, I know this…but the lowering effect was instant and overall, and I’ve maintained an updated regime to account for this for 2 months. This particular incident was a sudden out of nowhere instant drop…which is why I don’t think it’s anything to do with the Invokana…but who knows… I’m tracking everything and will present it to my Endo. I really hope it’s not a digestion issue…I don’t want another anomaly to account for!

Right, then!

I find that sometimes I get these little digestion issues that pop up and then go away in a day :confused:. Hoping this was a one-time issue for you!

Thanks, YogaO!! Me too!!!

When I was marathon running I could not bring up a low by glucose if I kept running. I had to stop, not walk, and give the glucose some time, once bg returned then I could continue to run.

still going on…using about 10 units daily compared to at lowest 20 for the last 5 years. NO FREAKING CLUE what’s going on but terrified of bolusing now. I’m eating next to nothing and maybe 20 carbs tops (daily intake) because I’m terrified of another bad low…

will keep you posted…

Thanks for the update @jenniferobrien531. I sometimes get a bit frustrated when I have spent too much time low and I will try something outrageous to break out. Too low? I might have some milk and maybe 4-6 chocolate chip cookies without a bolus, then s-l-o-w-l-y correct when the high kicks in. Of course. I am part Cookie Monster (me love cookie!), so there’s that too - :cookie:

I guess that’s the opposite of a “rage bolus!”

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Revenge carbs!

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