my correction ratio is 1:30. Woke up this morning, drank some coffee, TESTED at 272 (not sure why THAT is so high either) - took my 12 u levemir and 8 u humalog. one hr later, after NOT eating anything (still fasting from overnight), and it’s 242. I generally don’t have to bolus for coffee. But what is this deal? 8u should have easily brought me down to about 100. It’s a fairly new humalog pen … but I’ve had a few weird highs yesterday too now that i think about it. The insulin looks clear … do I toss a pen to see if that’s the problem? I took another 5 units at the 242 reading and am waiting to see what happens. I suppose I could open a new pen and see if a dose from that one “works”…or is something else going on?
You are probably more experienced in this than me and know what you’re doing, Rebecca, but if your correction factor is 1:30 why would you take 8 units and not eat? Shouldn’t that be enough to lower your blood sugar from 272 to 32?? Am I confused? Luckily that didn’t happen and you only came down to 242, but aren’t short acting insulins good for about 3 hours? So it is still possibly working to lower and you took another 5 units? Isn’t that dangerous stacking? Please be careful! Forgive me if I’m not understanding and worrying unnecessarily. My own correction factor is 1:112 so I haven’t had occasion to do a correction yet.
Here’s some things that can keep a high from coming down in response to injection of rapid-acting insulin:
The site you injected has scar tissue and the insulin was not absorbed very quickly.
As you suggested, the insulin/pen is bad.
Many people are more insulin resistant in the morning, so you may need a stronger correction dose in the morning. But Zoe’s right about being careful with correction doses. If you wanted your 272 to drop to 120, a 1 unit to 30 points correction dose would be 5 units of rapid-acting insulin.
This may sound wierd, but some people do better treating morning highs if they eat a little something, even when high. Some protein (a slice of cheese for example) and perhaps a tiny amount (under 15 g carb) of fiber-rich carbohydrate such as oatmeal that will digest slowly.
Hormonal changes can yield odd highs.
Being dehydrated can yield false highs.
Although people are warned against exercise when blood sugars are high, I’ve found that gentle exercise (moderate walk for 15-20 minutes) can get the blood circulating (as well as any insulin moving) and start to use up some of the excess sugar. You have to be careful, however, if you’ve taken rapid-acting insulin as a correction dose, in case it hits you fast.
Best wishes as you try to figure it out. But some blood sugar mysteries remain mysteries
I am sorry - I believe I took only 6units, not 8. The one thing I hadn’t really considered is scar tissue. How do we guard against that being a problem? I’ve been doing MDI about six months, so I suppose that could have started being a factor.
Following up, it did finally drop to 133 or so after another hour. go figure…
Glad it finally dropped! Just keep an eye on bg levels, because that second correction dose you took can be swirling around for 4 hours or more …
Best way to avoid scar tissue is to regularly rotate injection sites. You haven’t been injecting for that long, so I doubt you have scar tissue, but stretch marks and non-diabetes scar tissue can also get in the way.
Also, I forgot to mention that where you inject matters. Depends on the person and their body fat levels, but usually the abdomen (I try to use from right under boobs to below belly button to give myself lots of real estate) is fastest. Sometimes insulin shot into thighs or buttocks takes a long time. But other people find the backs of their upper arms are quite fast.
I hope your blood sugars for the rest of the day are right on target!
And one more thing, are you being sure to leave the needle in your skin for a count of 10 or so? If you pull it out too quickly, you may not be getting full dose. And, do you prime the needle to make sure it’s full of insulin (so you’re not shooting air)?
Thanks for the advice Kelly. I usually use the abdomen too, but didn’t realize I could go that high up on the body. I am a mom of 5, so stretch marks may very well be the culprit. so much to think about!
And I prime the pen when I open it, but not thereafter.
I have no idea if Kelly said this but here I go … I am on a pump and one of the things the eductor ■■■ is when do I feel the Novalog ends its cycle NOT at its peak but out of my body or all used up. She told me it can be as short as an hour she has seen as long as six. So normaly my BG is little high (160s) 2hrs after I eat but then come hour three I am great. Kelly Has hit on some really god ones too. But I just figured I would give some type of imput.
Hope this may give another idea to you well have a great day Rebecca and Kelly
