Has anyone's BG not come down even after they've bolused?

General
1

First let me give you a little background info:  I've been a T1 for 30 years and my A1Cs are always at, or very close to, 6.0.  No complications yet of any kind, either.

But for the past few weeks I've had lots of highs (300s), which is really unusual for me.  I'm on the OmniPod pump and I have a CGM, so monitoring and/or correcting is usually pretty easy.  The problem is, lately, I'll notice that my blood sugar is heading up, so I'll bolus, but instead of it starting to come down, it'll continue to go up.

Right now my BG is hitting 400, even though I've bolused 3 times since lunchtime.  I even tried swapping out my pod, thinking that maybe that's where the problem is.  Didn't seem to matter though.  My BG continued to creep up.

Not sure what to do next.  Anyone having a similar situation or have any ideas?  I'm wondering if I'm developing an insensitivity to insulin.

2

Have you tried a different bottle of insulin?  Maybe it's the insulin, could it have gone bad - just a thought.   

3

Worth a shot. I'll try anything at this point.

Just got off the phone with my endo, after my BG hit 500.  He told me to try manual injections first, to see if maybe the problem is with my pump.  If that doesn't work I'll switch out my bottle of insulin and see if that helps.

Thanks!

4

Blar...I hate that. It's happened to me, for one of the reasons below:

1. Pump site's been in too long. I don't have a pod; mine has tubing. It gets a little grungy around the site.

2. Canula's crimped, or I am not putting the site in well. If I'm stressed, and tense, then the sites will go in wonky.

3. Batteries are running low on energy. I have had to change them early. It's not supposed to interfere w/pump function, but it does.

4. Bad insulin. I call the pharmacy at this point. There's a procedure for sending it back to the manufacturer. It's a little annoying, but you end up with a new bottle.

5. In light of #4, I have gone to the pharmacy to pick up a refill, and when the pharmacy tech brought it to me, it was warm. Thus, it was out somewhere, instead

of in the refrigerator, where it was supposed to be until I picked it up.

Unrelenting high levels also immediately require shots. Seriously. Whatever's happening, don't rely on the pump to fix it. It could be that there's sickness where you

are unaware of it, or it could be some anomaly with the pump. I call the manufacturer if the above reasons don't settle it, and no matter what, I start pushing the fluids.

DKA can set in rapidly, even when you are very successful in your A1Cs, like you have obviously been...if your pump is not cooperating.

My fiance just said that "Bad Insulin" sounds like a rock band's name. Oy.

I hope your levels clear. After a few hours, high levels like that become hard-headed. Be careful...of course, you already know how to be careful...

 

5

Thanks for all the info Crochet Nut.

I'm able to discount a couple of those possibilities (like crimping and the site being in too long) but you're the 2nd person to mention bad insulin, so I'm going to try that route. If the current manual injection doesn't help matters I'm going to open a new bottle.

Actually, just tested my BG again and I've dropped down to 460 in the past 30 minutes.  So apparently the manual injection is working.  Hmmm.....guess that leaves me with a problem with the pump.  I guess I need to give them a call.  Still seems weird to me though since I used 2 different pods out of 2 different packages.  Nothing seems to be adding up, or pointing to one definitive thing.

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions so far!  Keep em' coming.

6

Glad to hear the injections seem to be working.  I'm not familiar with the Omnipod but could it be the pods are okay but the remote meter (don't know the correct term) is not "communicating" with the pods correctly.  If the shots are working it sounds like a pump problem.  Hopefully things will get better!