Oh, it does not happen regularly! Oh god no! I would be very scared if it happened a lot. I have only been in the 300s a few times in the past year. I dont think I would be qualified for a pump if that were regular… no, no ,no. The BG doesnt make me feel sick, all of the water I drink does though 
Thanks, I was worried. Just drink less water–don’t get sick! It only makes things worse.
haha! Yeah, I am always prepared to have a high, but just as much prepared to have a low. Water bottle in the car and sugar tabs in my purse
…speaking as one of those who “regularly” have sugars in the 200-300 range. I’m not proud of this fact, neither is my endo and he has a lot to say about it as you would expect.
However everyone he has both different phyical and psychological challanges to be able to manage this. I admire you for your tight control, it’s something that has escaped me for over 30 years. Having said that I realize that 203 was terrifying for you but I don’t think that it’s cause for “freaking out” any more than an occasional 300 or yes even 400 is for me.
In my own opinion, from my research, and overall observations I feel that what would be more of a concern to your (or at least my) endo is an unexplained spike in A1c levels. Maintaining good overall A1C is key to our long term health.
Unexplained High’s aren’t a failure, they’re not personal, and sometimes they don’t even make sense but I doubt that this specific instance had any measureable effect on your A1C level.
I guess what I’m saying in my rambling round about way is that “Freaking Out” should be reserved for winning the Lottery. Unexplained highs should be treated, noted, adjusted for then…forgiven.
Best of Luck T1
Decaff
I agree!! A singular BG is probably not worth freaking out about. Well, maybe if it’s 25 or something like that?
I don’t freak out if I know the cause of a high number or even if I suspect the cause. It’s the ones out of the blue that cause me to spend hours playing detective and working on getting them down that frustrate me. Over the years I’ve seen enough trends that I can usually pinpoint the cause. Case in point. I’m a bit higher this morning but last night had a later than usual dinner which was higher in fat than usual. So being up about 30 points this morning is no surprise. I corrected it. Also the no surprise is lack of appetite for breakfast, I’ll just eat a few nuts and have a early lunch.
I am so glad to read your post, not happy for what you went through, but I thought I was the only one who had those days. I freak out when I see 50’s or over 190’s, unless I know the answer to the “why” question. Last night alone in the house with only my dogs, I had my first HIGH experience, I know what to do with lows, but not highs like 300 where you start to loose things…if it weren’t for my two beagles, though I might not have hung on…everytime I would look like I was going to pass out, they would run around me, barking and scratching at me…one arm looks like a war zone…but they kept me going. I drank lots of water, and tried to stay with what was going on…dh was at work (couldn’t possibly come home if his wife was passing out) and then there is no one to call. We made it through it, but I’m never eating cherries again. You can bet today, I’ll be looking up again how to manage high bg readings…but freaking out doesn’t help, we both know that…it only adds stress which adds numbers…guess I need to take a class on how to manage stress, too.
Nicely said.
I guess though, some of us just do not get sick from an occasional high.
You couldnt pay me to go to a hospital for a high or call a dr., but then again they always go back down.
My problem last year was that I DIDN’T freak out when they were 400 and up, and wouldn’t come back down again. One day I took 150u of insulin, and it didn’t touch my BG. The reason is apparently that once your BGs are high for a period of time, you develop insulin resistance, and if it goes on long enough, it really does become uncontrollable.
But if yours do come down, then that is a relief. I just don’t want ANYONE to go through what I did!
mmm, “higher in fat than usual” yummy!!
I freak out soon as bm are high and i strt vomiting. Had a scarey experience being in hospital once and never realised how sick i was. soon as i start having a sick day now i freak out!!
This really proves that dogs are man’s or in your case woman’s best friend. We all need someone to support us especially when our minds are in a fog from the high BG levels. That’s the problem with being on oral meds only. When the levels go haywire there’s not much you can do but hang on and let time cure the problem. Thank God for two attentive beagle hounds
I freak out…
When I lose my car after an hour of walking around when I only have a couple of glucose tablets with me and it requires more walking to get food and even more walking to find the stupid car. I’m turning into my mother. That totally freaks me out. Never going back to that mall again!
When I finally notice that I’m low (that’s the chemicals talking). Why wasn’t I shaking before I took my BG???
When I’m stressed because I always go high with stress, then I get more stressed trying to work out exactly how stressed I’m going to be (despite trying to relax) so I know much more insulin I need. That’s a freak-out spiral.
When my basal is off and I have to permanently increase it, knowing I’ll be packing on even more pounds thanks to insulin, despite doing lower-carb 90% of the time.
Oh what the hey… diabetes is a total freak out in the first place! I’m more freaked out about it now than I was 30 years ago! Not cool.
I am so with you on that Susi-I think ignorance was bliss. I’ve been Type 1 for 37 yrs in September-I think I am more baffled and plain ole freaked out than ever. I am so glad there are sites like this one-so I don’t have to FREAK OUT all by myself.
That gave me a chuckle! Why don’t we have a big communal, world-wide freak-out over diabetes day? Why do we need a cure, when we can just freak out together LOL!!!
You mean, risk our stellar reputations as sane, upstanding, pillars of the community??? I’M IN.
Since when was I ever a sane, upstanding pillar of the community? I was a freak from the word go, and adding the out part to it was easy!!
Natalie ._c- the odd duck out!
Natalie, you crack me up!
2:53!!
That’s a tough question to answer. For me, when I was eating carbs freely, I ALWAYS spiked up above 200, and often above 250, but came back down again within 3 or 4 hours. The only way I’ve been able to get rid of those spikes is to limit my carbs. I still spike (if you can call it that) up to 140 or 150, but that’s a WHOLE lot better than the 200’s!
The reason for the spikes is that the insulin you inject can’t begin to match the insulin that a non-diabetic produces. The normal pancreas secretes insulin directly into the liver, which uses about 90% of it. That turns off the glucose production of the liver. Injected insulin can’t do that. Second, injected insulin is really absorbed rather slowly – and increasing the dose will only cause lows later, so that’s not a solution, either. So it seems to me that limiting carbs, and waiting a bit between bolus and starting to eat is the best solution, although AcidRock just exercises after eating, and that seems to work for him. (He’s buff; I’m not!) My goal is not to go above 140 2 hours after a meal, but of course, I don’t always achieve that!
As far as basals, I really can’t answer that if you’re on injections. I went straight from NPH, which was a nightmare, to the pump, and on the pump, you can adjust in very small hourly increments, whereas on Lantus or Levemir, you’re stuck with whatever you’ve injected. But the first goal is not to wake up significantly higher than you went to sleep, WITHOUT having lows in the middle of the night, which was the problem with NPH. During the day, you have to figure out how long your bolus insulin lasts. It varies from person to person. For me, it lasts about 3 hours – and then my BG tends to stay level wherever it happens to be. So if I’m high at 3 hours, I will correct. But you may well be different. Which is why I hesitate to make any recommendations.
Best thing to do is keep a log of your BGs, food, exercise, illness, etc. and consult with an endo or CDE who has experience in adjusting insulin doses. If you’re over your honeymoon, it should be easier, but be warned that, just when you think you have it right, it will change. And as my friend Arturo, an endo who teaches at Harvard says, each day is metabolically different – what works one day may not work the next.
And each person’s “freak” number is different. My freak point is if I go over 250 and can’t get it down. It’s the not being able to get it down that upsets me, but it doesn’t usually happen. If you get a number like that and can’t get it down, check for ketones, and if they come out positive, then you need to take more insulin. If your BG comes down, great, but if it doesn’t, then call the doc. You may have an infection or something that’s causing the high number, and needs to be treated.
I WISH it was easy, but it’s not.