Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Grumbledy grumbledy groo!

This is a first . . . persistantly high blood sugars for the past two days for no discernable reason, despite frequent testing and way more insulin than usual. Doesn't matter what I eat, I'm 200-something. Doesn't matter how much I rage bolus, I'll be 200-something in a few hours.

The following variables have been eliminated:
  • bad site (I changed my site this morning and am still experiencing The Wonky BS)
  • stress (work is pretty slow, husband and I are fine, marriage party planning is okay)
  • bad insulin (it works...eventually! I actually got down to 65 yesterday after a few rage boluses. AND despite The Wonk, I have woken up both days with 100 and 109 fastings. I attribute this to a temporary basal rate set for 24 hours at 126%!)
  • pregnancy (tested today; "Not Pregnant." Phew!)
The following variables could be the causes of The Wonk:
  • sickness (maybe I'm still getting over last week)
  • period (I'm a couple of days late at this point, but my cycle has been kind of stupid for the past few months anyway. And I've NEVER had persistant highs like this from premenstrual hormones. Sure, I've had *some* resistance, but this is ridiculous.)
So I guess I'll just soldier on with my basal rate at a temporary 126% and keep rage bolusing until the status quo returns...at this point whatever my Bolus Wizard says, I automatically add 1 or 1.5 units and I'm STILL not in range all of the time. I don't know whether I am more mystified or pissed off. Insulin usually works for me. Maybe I need magic fairy dust?

5 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

Magic fairy dust ALWAYS does the trick for me - but it can be damned hard to find sometimes.

What about trying a new vial of insulin? I've had some "go bad" on me before. I know you mentioned bad insulin in your list, but have you actually tried a whole new vial?

One of the trickiest "pump issues" that I have ever encountered was (this was many years ago) a problem at the point where the tubing connected with the cartridge or reservoir. The connection was such that for my basal insulin it worked fine, but when I tried to deliver a bolus it would leak out at that point.

I thought it was all cool because, like you, I was Ok when I didn't eat (overnight, etc.).

It was, quite literally, the LAST thing I thought to check. That's how it always goes though.

Moral of my story - when in doubt, change it (all) out. New vial of insulin, new cartridge/reservoir, new tubing, and new infusion set.

Sounds pretty dang frustrating. Good luck! Please let us know if you find out what the problem is.

Tesney said...

My period ALWAYS messes my blood sugars up. I have about 3 or 4 days of highs right before I start, no matter what I do or eat. It makes me furious, which makes my blood sugars higher, which makes me furious, which makes my blood sugars higher...

Kendra said...

Scott - Very good advice to change EVERYTHING...that is usually what I do. Y'know I have heard of such tubing issues in the past...that has to be weird! When I changed my site out I changed everything, and meticulously checked...all appeared well. The insulin worked, it just seemed to work sporadically!

tdavis - It was a furious first for me! As if Aunt Flo wasn't obnoxious already... :)

Val said...

Actually, if you have high BGs and Aunt Flo isn't visiting as often, you should have your endo check your thyroid levels - they could be high. Even if things seem back to normal now... That's what I saw anyways.

Kendra said...

Thanks, Val :) My endo checked my thryoid levels last week and apparently everything's in range...