When do you seek assistance from your diabetes team?

I have been having unusually high BG over the past week or so. Yesterday and 2 days before that I’ve gone around 400. It’s not that I never go high (obviously I’d be lying) but it’s especially rare that I soar that much. I’ve been correcting, using 140% temp basals, tweaking my basals and I’m still going high. (I’m on a pump) I’m not sure what the problem could be but I’m also not sure do I keep trying to fix things myself or do I consult my endo/team? I am really frustrated and feeling very down and wish this would come to an end. I’ve increased my basal rates by almost 2u in the past week and am not sure what else to do. Have any of you experienced anything similar?

I know you’re been working hard on this and doing everything that anyone would normally recommend to fix it - which to me means it’s time to seek assistance. Even though they may not necessarily have the answer…which would be more frustrating - there could be something going on that they could catch, and the earlier the better.

THe last time something like that happened to me it was because there was a crack in my insulin vial that was barely visible to the eye but meant insulin was leaking out. Is that a possibility?

Anyway, since you’re out of things to try - I would say give them a call! The worst that happens is that they don’t know either, but they might give you some helpful ideas.

Good luck!!

I had similar problems last December/January. It was the holidays, so I was eating more junk than usual, but it’s not like I was eating that differently. Ugh, I was so frustrated and down about it too, but then things just sort of corrected themselves after about a month. I could never figure out why - stress, the holidays were the only things I could come up with, but honestly, I just didn’t think that was the sole reason.

I don’t have any good answers, and I know it’s way easier said than done, but don’t beat yourself up too much about it. Do your best to rein it in, and remember that sometimes diabetes just has a mind of its own. My diabetes educator made some helpful recommendations based on the basal tasting I did recently (and still need to finish…), so I think there’s a lot of value to asking for their feedback. I think we do ourselves a disservice by assuming we can handle it on our own because we’re so knowledgeable, especially those of us who’ve had diabetes for seemingly forever.

Like David, my answer is also, “never”. I tend to be more aggressive in dealing with issues like this then they ever are. However, if you are completely stumped, it couldn’t hurt. You never know, they might have a suggestion.

If this happens with Caleb and I’ve ruled out food, the Pod, insulin (its never insulin for us, but it’s a possibility), I attribute wacky numbers to growth. But equally I blame the phase of the moon, so maybe that’s your issue :).

In any event, when this happens, I buckle down on the tracking. I pull up the old spreadsheet and start graphing everything out and sometimes something pops up that was less intuitive.

I bet someone here will post something that will trigger an “aha” for you. I hope it’s soon! Good luck! Lo

Actually, Lee Ann. I think that’s a great answer.

Stacey, I do what you do. I push the basals higher until I finally come back down and have a few lows due to the higher basals and then creep them back. Like Dave said, it could be bad insulin, but yeah, that’s a rarity. Could be a bad set, could be scar tissue, could be stress, could be hormones, could be menstrual cycle, could be…? I would do everything I could think of first. Crack open a new bottle of insulin, change the set, choose a better site, fiddle with the basals, etc. In my mind, that’s what the medical team is going to tell me to do anyway.

I did call my endo when she was on call ONCE back in 2005. It was after injected steroids to ask how to nurse it down after a few over 400 readings. She had me increase my basals and supplement with injections, I think. And since I’ve been pregnant, I’ve called my CDE once when I felt like I couldn’t come down from the 170s despite much bolusing. (She had me change the set and avoid my scar tissue and I was back to normal levels fairly quickly.)

Almost never… I am in charge. I go to my “team” if I “want” something… like Rx’s :slight_smile:

I do have to say that my current team is great, so it’s not that I don’t feel like I could rely on them, it’s more that I just don’t feel like it’s necessary… because really, no one is around on a daily basis to babysit what I am doing, it all falls on me, and I should know what to do and have the confidence to make any changes.

That said, if you just want a second opinion, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking for it, necessarily. Are you already on a CGM? If not, maybe you could consider trying one - I am currently on a Dexcom trial and it’s interesting… there are definitely some things going on with my BG that I am unaware of. It’s already been helpful and it hasn’t even been 24 hours.

Diabetes has a mind of its own sometimes and I feel the best person to manage it is yourself. Sometimes you screw up…we have all done it…but for 55 years and still kicking…I just accept that sometimes you just have no answers.
Sheila

Thanks for the suggestions … I am just feeling extremely helpless right now. Because not only do I not know what is causing this, I can’t seem to fix it :frowning: I am logging, I am using the dexcom already (which I’m glad for since it’s helped me watch my BG more closely) have changed sites and have used different bottles of insulin. I can’t seem to tie this to anything. The only thing it seems like is that when I bolus, I soar then it takes hours to come down. For example this am I woke at 160 took 1u correction, was 171 2 hours later. Ate around 38 carbs for breakfast but bolused for 48 and have been 270 ever since. That’s with setting a 140% temp basal. I just corrected with 2u. Could it be something wrong with my pump?? Then why does it work sometimes? Should I call Animas? The only thing I haven’t tried is injections but I don’t have any right now so can’t at the moment. I’m sick of feeling like crap … right now I would do anything to crawl into bed. But I know you guys understand.