508 mg/dL.
What? No way.
488 mg/dL. 501 mg/dL.
Dexcom was just saying HIGH to me.
I made some really dumb decisions. I should have pulled that site out and replaced it last night at 9 pm when it became obvious that my blood sugar was not responding to the insulin from my boluses. Instead, the thick and sticky pudding running through my veins made me exhausted, diluting logic with glucose and making me want to go to bed. I was nauseas. Everything ached.
“Five units of Humalog on board … man, that should do it, right? But what if it doesn’t?” So I took two units of Humalog by syringe at 10 pm, set my alarm for 1.30 am and then again for 3.30 am so I could make sure I wasn’t tumbling into a hypo.
Fat chance. Those two units of Humalog were the only insulin I received last night. I woke up, still nauseas, down to 306 mg/dL, and pulled my pump site out right away.
Shit was bent. Totally bent. My basal rate? Nope. Those boluses to bring down the super high blood sugar? Nope to those, too. I haven’t had a bent cannula in a really long time, and of course I had one last night when we had some solid dinner carbs. No insulin leakage around the site, no weird band-aid smell, nothing other than a ridiculously high blood sugar to tip me off.
(Note to self: be less stubborn)
Now? A few hours after a pump site change and an aggressive correction bolus, on top of another unit by syringe? Down to 164 mg/dL. I’m hoping to see high double digits in the next hour. (side note: I’ve been so high for so long that 164 mg/dL feels low. My body is so confused.)
Next time, I am pulling the site, no matter how much I wish it was working or how many infusion sets I’ve blown through in the last 48 hours (today makes four – stupid clumsy hands and bent cannulas). My brain is mud today.
Onward. And hopefully not upward again.
I’m surprised you can even write this today. The last time I had a bad overnight site and went up to 300 it took me all day to feel better. Yeah, I’m stubborn too.
The last time this happened to me the insulin pooled in my pocket. It leeched out of the site and got into my pocket. I pulled out wet keys and found the reason I had dosed 40U in 2 hours. Oops. Thank goodness for pockets otherwise I might have produced a wet trail as I walked down the street.
Gotta love adventures in insulin delivery.
I’m so sorry you went through this. I’ve done it as well. Hoping that the site was okay even after several highs. Hard to have to pull the set out and waste the insulin remaining. Feel better soon.
Same problem here too, i.e. high as close to 400. Now I wonder if I should change the pod.
Stress doesn’t help. Frustrations with insurance and Medicare sites; phone calls with help techies get me nowhere. Now I can wait 16 business days for the form to be mailed to me. 16 DAYS?!? Pony Express could get it here faster.
Ugh, sounds like one hell of a night. Glad your coming back down smoothly!
That’s the reason I have been using steel cannulas now for four years. I would never ever change back to teflon. Never ever! I’ve had problems with bend cannulas before and also with clogged cannulas but not since steel. They are also less intrusive to the skin, as far as I know, because they are thinner and the tip cannot bend in your skin like a hook (and they generally get changed more often) . They cannot be felt more than the teflon ones, not at all. Not even when I get a direct hit on them during sports. (There are basically no pain receptors below your upper skin layer anyways.)
I love me some steel cannulas too. I think I used to average about 3 bent teflon cannulas a week. And if you pull a steel cannula out by accident – or on purpose if the site is bothering you – you just stick it back in somewhere else and tape it down. Only downside is if a lot of direct pressure gets applied to the site (hello, foam roller!) you’re in for a nasty bruise.
Been there…done that…
I always say “next time I will…” but sometimes “next time, I didn’t.” Bent canuals always make me frustrated! I do end up doing a bunch of boluses and then kick myself once I finally yank it. Glad all is okay now and this reminds me we are not alone in this.
Lunchtime on Valentine’s Day found me at the ER because I’d rather err on the side of caution…
My bs was in the 600’s the night before. Bolused. Next morning it was 600’s still. This time I injected 14 units. Ok, must come down now! 12:30 I checked again. STILL in 600’s. Inject another 20 units.
Time to go to the ER.
Of course, no DKA, AND my bs was coming down. 451…285…148 the next 2 mornings… why, oh why?
Since I think of you as the one who has it all together diabetes-wise, I feel better knowing this still happens—it’s not just because we’re stupid! This happened to my daughter 2 months ago and ended up in ER because couldn’t get it down and she started vomiting—and then they admitted her overnight. There are just too many factors that can cause the highs!! And when insurance will only pay for 10 infusion sets a month—you hate to yank it if you might not need to!!
i had this happen REPEATEDLY several years ago and changed over to the steel cannula’s and nearly haven’t looked back.
they DO hurt so bad if they’re pulled out (which a TSA agent recently did – i cried for a half hour because i felt so violated!) but the peace of mind that comes from knowing i’m ACTUALLY getting insulin unless my pump alarms is worth it!