I've been running around 200 since mid-day yesterday and have had no real success in bringing it down. I've upped my temp bolus from 120%-160%-180%-200% and I've corrected every hour or two. Over night I was able to get down from 205 to 134 with multiple corrections at 4AM but was back to 200 at 7:20. I corrected again and was down to about 165 a couple of hours later.
I've only eaten a couple of eggbeaters with cheese and 2 carbs worth of Greek yogurt today bolusing for the protein which I never do and still went up to 200 again at noon.
I switched out my site last night, and rewound my pump to push out air bubbles. I walked up and down the stairs last night for an hour after taking a correction which usually will drop my blood sugar by close to 100 points. Not this time, I was at 179 which is within the margin of error of my strips. Nothing seems to help. I tested for ketones and they are negative.
I am fighting a staph infection so I assume that is what is causing the problem but is there something I need to do other than drink water and pump insulin at the problem?
Yikes, no fun, Maurie! Personally, my suggestion to you would be to rest and relax. If you are fighting a staph infection that is the best thing you can do. Is it evident enough to begin antibiotics? I know you are used to being in good control, but you are not in the danger zone running around 200. I don't know that I would suggest walking up and down the stairs for an hour when you're sick. I would just keep correcting, testing, drinking water, eating good balanced food (if lower carb than usual) and taking care of yourself. I think you are a lot more at risk from being sick than you are from the blood sugar. Perhaps others will have different suggestions but that would be mine, to not stress out!
I've had similar experiences with infections. One time I had a poison oak allergic reaction and the site became infected. I doubled my insulin intake and most of my BG's were around 200. Things finally returned to normal after a few days on the antibiotics.
I'm sorry I don't have anything to suggest other than what you're already doing. Drinking lots of water helps as it dilutes the high concentration of glucose in the blood. I assume you are on an antibiotic. Eating yogurt will help restore good microbes to the gut.
Maybe a 24 hour fast would help re-establish your body's sensitivity to insulin. My memory of past infections is that the only thing that restored my BG control was getting rid of the infection.
It seems you're be very pro-active. I'll be interested to see if anyone else knows any tricks to dealing with this. Good luck!
Thank you Zoe! It's an infected finger and I haven't been thinking of myself as sick but you're right - I am. I'm most of the way through with the course of antibiotics and the strange thing is that for the first few days my blood sugar was normal.
A staph infection could certainly cause elevated blood sugars. And some forms of staph infection are quite serious. Additionally, if you have been given an antibiotic, that may raise your blood sugar.
It might be good to try a manual correction with a syringe to just rule out any pump problem.
Taking is the manual correction has been the one thing I've tried to avoid. I'm really a bad patient when it comes to shots. If I can remember how, I might try a manual correction for the next one.
I was reading "staph" and even wrote it but I was thinking "strep", so, that's different that you don't feel sick, but nonetheless your body is sick. I think manual corrections are like riding a bike? (though less fun). It does sound like the infection and the antibiotics are sufficient explanation for the high numbers, but manual corrections do work quicker.
Just FYI I'm always getting minor infections around my fingers - little areas next to the nails where the skin cracks open. Ironically I was told this is common for diabetics about 20 years before I was diagnosed! As soon as I get one I put antibiotic ointment on and cover with a bandage. Sometimes I have three bandaged fingers..lol. Can't help you now but just in case you have this happen regularly as well.
Injections are the way to go in this situation. Some use intramuscular shots for fast action. I'm not that brave since they hurt. Accidentally did that once & had birdies flying over my head.
You are such a rock and wealth of information around here. Thanks.
Illness is hard. Just be very sure you are not layering doses. You know this, but when odd things happen everything is never normal. I know the pump is "supposed to figure it all out for you," but it tends to concentrate on the correction seperately from the carb input.
Sometimes sick is just sick. Keep an eye on Ketones and relax. The thing I always forget is that it will get better if I give it time.....
Depending on how much insulin you're injecting, you might also be best injecting some in one site and some in another for better absorption. I've also found that when I'm persistently high (i.e. from steroid injections) my ISF changes, and I need more insulin to bring the numbers down to where I want them. Don't stop eating, your body needs the nourishment to heal!
When I have a sticky high, I up my temp basal for an hour to about 2x the normal. My basal might be from .9 to 1.6 depending on the type of day. But I often find that a temp basal set to 3 u/hr + the correction or enough insulin for about 15 g of carbs will do the trick. I just make sure it's done during the day, with some sugar close at hand in case things start going in the other direction. It takes a little experimenting, but I do this just once and it typically works.
I want to thank everyone for the kind words and good advice. All the responses have helped me relax a bit and go with the flow. I'll use a pen for my next correction which will be an adventure as I haven't used one in four and a half years. Zoe is probably right that it's like riding a bike. But that provides scant comfort - you should see me try to ride a bike.
Like everything else D, IM injections are a plus for some people and not others. I don't mind them but I don't see much difference in response time, so I seldom bother with them now unless I just REALLY want a site change. For some people, they make a real difference -- much faster acting. For me, the difference is negligible. As always, "Your Diabetes May Vary" -- you have to find out what works for YOU.
I'm not sure I'd agree with the injections. I hardly ever bother with injections as I don't like to have unknown IOB floating around. I agree that an infection is a good suspect for a culprit. If I feel I'm getting sick and see BG edging up, I'll crank the basal up to 200% for a few hours and see what happens. I also do this for site changes sometimes, run it "hot" until I see my BG start to drop and then turn off the temp basal and go back to normal. On the other hand, I also think that low BG will help create an unhealthy environment for germs so perhaps the pens my help get you there quicker? Good luck with everything and get well soon!!
It turned out that I was using bad insulin or a bad reservoir. I changed the reservoir using insulin from my pen and over the next few hours my blood sugar came back to normal. I've dropped my basal to 100% and had a medium carb dinner and all is good. So many factors and so easy to go astray.
So what do you supposed caused your insulin or reservoir to go bad? Obviously you had put a lot of thought and frustration into this before you came to that realization so it must not have been readily apparent.
