This morning I woke up really sick to my stomach and had no idea why — until I checked my blood sugar and it was a whopping 498. I did a set change last night and it was still stuck in prime mode, so I didn’t receive any insulin for hours! I also checked for ketones and had those too ugh! To avoid a hospital trip I took all of the necessary steps to get my blood sugar down and was starting to feel better after a couple of hours. 7 to be exact.
Do you know what to do in these cases? have any tips you want to share?
Dxd November 25, 2000, Minimed Med Pump and CGM
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i did the same thing a few weeks ago. It took me about 3 hours to come down. Doesn't it feel gross to wake up that way??
Yes, I couldn't even go to work it was so frustrating. I still don't feel well.
Gina,
For me, I always need to give about 1.75 - 2.5 times my normal correction factor to get my blood sugar down during those episodes (late caught highs). I have found that I can usually get it back into range in under 4 hours (usually less than 3). Also, I know I have mentioned that I take the Benfotiamine and Alpha Lipoic Acid combo before - one side effect seems to be feeling less icky from highs - I have the research posted on my home page here - and it is still very preliminary but the one thing that seems pretty certain is it can't hurt ya'.
I'm sorry to hear you had a rough moment and always grateful for you keeping the lights on around here :)
Cheers!
A-D
Gina, I'm so sorry this has happened! It happened to me in 2007 when I started pumping and my endo had given me programming that was totally incorrect for me. I was at least 350, with ketones, that evening. I can not depend on my ISF (insulin sensitivity factor) when I am that high. Normally one unit will lower my BG 12 points, but I am lucky to see it fall 8 points when I have a mega high. I take almost twice the normal dose to bring my BG down to target range under those circumstances. I use a syringe too, in case the pump or infusion set is malfunctioning.
Diagnosed in 1945, when I was 6. Pumping with the MM 522. A1c = 5.5
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Hi Gina,
This happened to me on wednesday! I had an occlusion in the middle of the night and didnt realize it til the next morning at work. It took all day to get it back down and i had to leave work 3 hours early:( The throwing up was awful! I almost headed to the ER cause i couldnt get ahold of my CDE or Endos nurse. But then the bs finally went down and ketones disappeared.
Steph
One thing that really helps me get rid of Ketones is to drink a ton of water. I've had large ketones and I change my site/get a shot with extra insulin/and drink water and the ketones will be gone in at least a couple hours. It depends on how much I drink. :) Hope you feel better
Why isn't there an alarm for this kind of problem on pumps?
My Minimed pump alarms whenever there is no insulin being delivered. Even when I place my set in scar tissue, and the delivery is terribly slow, it alarms. I think it would alarm if it was in prime mode too.
I just recently started pumping, and my CDE said to always test my BG about 2 hours after a site/insulin change to make sure nothing's wrong. For this reason, she advised against pre-bedtime site/insulin changes, since "best practice" would require waking up to test.
Seems like a decent policy to me.
As for handling a super high number and DKA, I'm too new at this to be able to be much help!
Type 1 at 30
My Animas ping also lets me know if it's not delivering insulin, come to think of it. I mostly find that annoying during site changes, but the thought of sleeping overnight with no insulin makes me think it's actually a very handy feature!
my endo never said anything about testing for ketones when i get high...heck, nobody in the hospital where they diagnosed me or the endo's office even mentioned ketones to me, i learned about them on here. should i get one of those home tests to make sure im ok when i spike high? and if so, what level of ketones is considered dangerous enough to go to the hospital?
Remember the adult the child dreamed of becoming
Tonya....I can't believe your endo didn't give you a prescription for Ketostix.....you should definitely ask for one!
Gina I am sorry that happened,how long did it take for your numbers to come down ??? This has been one of those days for my daughter too-she left town and left her purse with her insulin pens in there-which meant missed shots-then she gets back to her things and test and her sugars are close to 500. She is trying to bring it down-but I am now concerned about the pens getting too hot today and not being any good..she is not home where we have more pens. (her pens and back up pens she had were left in the hot car. We can get new ones to her in the morning.Waiting and watching tonight...