So this past week has one of the worst in my recent memory. Started off not feeling well on monday morning, went to the doctor and said I had the general virus, you know nothing we can do for you go home rest should feel better couple of days later. On Tuesday had an appt with my endo and still not feeling well when I went and she said the same thing virus yadda yadda yadda. So my two days off from work were "ok" alhtough had some bad blood sugar swings. I went back to work on Friday night and starting getting really sick as I was working, so sick that they took me by ambulance to the hospital. Anyways my blood sugar when I got their was 417 not good. They kept me their for about four hours to make sure my blood sugar went down. It went down to about 235 and they thought since it was going down that I would be ok going home. I went home slept all day woke up and my blood sugar was still 200. I ate something used my pump and the next thing I know is that my pump is singing to me hey your blood sugar is........ 423 again in the 400's. I feel asleep after talking to my wife she woke me up at 7:00 AM and my Blood sugar was 82. I am getting confused by these swings. I ate something and bolused and then Beep Beep Beep goes my pump now it says in the matter of an hour that I am at 250 again.
I can't go back to work until atleast monday night because of these swings. Which angers me because I HATE missing work. I am kind of afraid to be alone too because what if something happens to me. Any ideas, thoughts, or comments on what this might be???? Any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone for making this an awesome site too come too.
This same sort of thing has happened to me in recent history - about 2 yrs ago when I was pregnant with my son.
I'm on the Omnipod pump, and I changed it out one evening before I went to bed. My BG at bedtime was the normal 90-120 range. But when I woke up the next morning it was in the 200s. So of course I bolused and thought nothing of it.
Then I went on about my normal daily activities, and checked my BG every so often. It kept going up and up, and I kept bolusing to correct it. Finally, soon after it hit the low 400s I started getting sick and vomiting and just feeling plain awful. At the time I was attributing it to being pregnant (both the high BGs as well as getting sick). But then it dawned on me that the pod that I had inserted might be malfunctioning. So I swapped it out and almost immediately my BGs started to go down.
That might be something that you might want to check into, if you havent already...that the pump might not being delivering boluses correctly. Maybe there's a kink in the line somewhere (if you're on a regular, tethered, pump)? Or maybe the canula didn't insert properly?
I don't think it has anything to do with my pump as it was working fine, and have changed the site twice in the last two days thinking that maybe it was that. Just confused as too what is going on and scared all at the same time. Thanks!
Do you make sure to get all of the air bubbles out of your resevoir before you put your pump on (sorry if this doesn't translate well, I use the paradigm). Bubbles mean you wouldn't get insulin at random times. Have you checked yourself for ketones? You might need to flush your system.
Hey Josh - I hope you start to feel better soon. Anytime you get a virus of any kind, you body will release stored sugars in order to help your body fight the virus. I worked out a sick ratio system with my endo a few years back. I am sure it's different for all diabetics but I basically have 2 'sick' basal patterns. If I have your normal run of the mill cold, I'll go to 'sick 1' pattern which increases my basal rate by 50%. If I have a really nasty flu type virus, I'll go to my 'sick 2' pattern which basically doubles my normal basal rates. Is it perfect? No, however it is so much better that I can't put it into words. I don't know which pump you are on but mine has the ability to add different basal patterns to make it easier to switch. After a few days and my sugars are going lower, I'll either adjust it from 'sick 2' to 'sick 1' if I'm fighting a bad virus or I'll switch back to my normal basal pattern if I was already on 'sick 1'. You will always need more insulin when you are fighting a virus. I never like taking more, but for a few days, I'll put up with it in order to get my sugars in order. I know the ups and downs really suck. They just seem to suck the will out of you with lower energy, feeling lethargic etc and are extremely frustrating. These adjustments have really helped me. Just have a chat with your endo to see if maybe that is something that will work for you.
I recently had a bout just like you did with sugars going up to the 400's then down okay to the 200's and back up again. I din't know what was causing it. I was checking my Blood sugar regularly and changing the sites were the insulin goes in. I finally took the sites out and realized they were kinked. I called mini med and since I had been excercising more I realized with their help that I had been hitting muscle when I tried to insert the site. If you have 2 high blood glucose readings they told me always change your site and take a manual injection. Thanks to their help I stayed out of the hospital!
I agree that your body is probably just reacting to the virus. I remember one time I was sick: my blood sugar was 200-300, 30 minutes later I was in the 20's. It sucks, but I'm betting you'll get back into the bg groove soon. My doc's have always told me insulin is generally increased when someone's sick, so it could be as simple as that.
Hoping you get back on top, though. And try to focus on your bg's, health, etc. instead of work. I mean, you're already set to miss it, so I bet your time is better spent focusing on getting better than feeling bad about it.
When you are sick, your body is in attack mode...your immune system is on high alert. Often your body will attack and kill your insulin because it sees it as an invader. Go figure?!?! So the insulin that you are taking will not be effective and yes you have to take more so that some of it can do its job. This might seem obvious, but the best possible thing you can do when you are sick is drink TONS of water!
Hi again Kate,-- attack and kill insulin-one time before on here I heard that your insulin could work against you-I know when sick more insulin may be needed.I need to go back and go over the reasons why.
You struggle so much and it must be so incredibly hard on you. Have you tried meeting with a nutritionist? Maybe making a few adjustments to what you eat or when you eat it would help. It's worth trying at least. I'm in the middle of trying to make adjustments right now with my timing and food intake. I just wanna see my blood sugars more stable, rather than jumping around like seem to do so much. You have so much going on, and I really hope ya' start feeling bette soon.
the blood sugar swings are definitely because you are sick. Your body will always react that way when you are not feeling well. These swings will probably not go away until your illness goes away. I know my sugar always acts up when theres something else that isnt right in my body, even when im having a celiac reaction my sugar goes out of control.
I know you hate missing work but you are probably just going to have to stay home until you get better, and as far as being home alone im sure you will be fine. My blood sugar is always high and im okay [: