how quickly does your BG drop?

[poodlebone]

I had a high BG this evening (342, double checked with another meter just to be sure) and took the correction my pump suggested, 2.6 units. That was at 8:07pm. I checked at 9:13, just over an hour later, and was 155. By 9:43 I was 89. The same thing happened last month, where my BG was very high and after an hour it had dropped 200 points and then continued to fall quickly.

It used to be that when I was well over 200, it would take forever to get it down. It's scary having it drop so fast, not that I want to spend hours fighting to bring down a high either. Last week my CDE had first told me to give the correction as a square or dual wave bolus and I thought that was weird. Now I wonder if maybe it's not a bad idea.

Does anyone else drop this quickly?

[BriOnH]

I had a high BG this evening (342, double checked with another meter just to be sure) and took the correction my pump suggested, 2.6 units. That was at 8:07pm. I checked at 9:13, just over an hour later, and was 155. By 9:43 I was 89. The same thing happened last month, where my BG was very high and after an hour it had dropped 200 points and then continued to fall quickly.

It used to be that when I was well over 200, it would take forever to get it down. It's scary having it drop so fast, not that I want to spend hours fighting to bring down a high either. Last week my CDE had first told me to give the correction as a square or dual wave bolus and I thought that was weird. Now I wonder if maybe it's not a bad idea.

Does anyone else drop this quickly?

Absolutely. After a correction I will often drop 2 mg/dl per min (2 mg*min/dl?). If I drop like this I usually just eat 10g of carb (if that) when I get to where I like to be and it usually stops.

[jen_slc]

Me too. Sometimes it drops fast and I hit my target, sometimes it drops fast and I overshoot. I think it's my Novolog because my bg drops much faster nowadays since I changed from Humalog to Novolog ~6 months ago. What do you use in your pump?

[poodlebone]

Absolutely. After a correction I will often drop 2 mg/dl per min (2 mg*min/dl?). If I drop like this I usually just eat 10g of carb (if that) when I get to where I like to be and it usually stops.

I'm dropping more like 200/hour. I really think my correction factor needs to be upped but I forgot to mention that when I e-mailed my CDE this morning. I've been reading my copy of Pumping Insulin and so far have not been able to do any of the tests (basal, bolus, correction) because there's always been a bolus within the last couple of hours, or hypos that day, or one of the other things they say shouldn't have occurred to do the test.

[poodlebone]

Me too. Sometimes it drops fast and I hit my target, sometimes it drops fast and I overshoot. I think it's my Novolog because my bg drops much faster nowadays since I changed from Humalog to Novolog ~6 months ago. What do you use in your pump?

I'm using Humalog; have never tried Novolog. I've noticed that when I have a mild high, say 180, and only need a small correction it doesn't happen as much. I think it just takes longer for tiny amounts to work because I have corrected a high like that (170-190 range) and have it stall (and sometimes go up a little) for an hour or more, so I correct again and then eventually I fall too low.

When it drops fast and I hit my taget it doesn't mean much because half of the correction insulin is still in me, working away to bring me down even lower. That's why I think 55 is too low for my CF.

[BriOnH]

I'm dropping more like 200/hour. I really think my correction factor needs to be upped but I forgot to mention that when I e-mailed my CDE this morning. I've been reading my copy of Pumping Insulin and so far have not been able to do any of the tests (basal, bolus, correction) because there's always been a bolus within the last couple of hours, or hypos that day, or one of the other things they say shouldn't have occurred to do the test.

342 - 89 = 253 mg/dl
9:43 - 8:07 = 1 hr 36 min

That's roughly 1 - 2.5 mg/dl per minute, which is pretty normal for a CF imo. When you eat something it doesn't stop it and level it out? I don't understand how you are determining your CF. Your target bg is 55 mg/dl?

[psilocybin]

i drop like a rock,....when i correct , my goal is achieved within 1 hour-2 hours of my correction

[poodlebone]

342 - 89 = 253 mg/dl
9:43 - 8:07 = 1 hr 36 min

That's roughly 1 - 2.5 mg/dl per minute, which is pretty normal for a CF imo. When you eat something it doesn't stop it and level it out? I don't understand how you are determining your CF. Your target bg is 55 mg/dl?

My CDE set my original CF when I started pumping. I upped it on my own a couple of times over the last year. Right now it's 55 (1 unit to drop 55 points). My target is 100-140. Can't set it any lower because of hypo unawareness and having way too many lows.

According to Pumping Insulin, if you have your CF set correctly it should bring you into your target range in 3-3.5 hours. They're assuming that's how long Humalog lasts for most people, I guess. If I'm below range in 1.5 hours I still have half or more of the correction still working. So yes, it does mean that I have to eat in order to avoid a hypo, but I don't always want to eat! That's why I like the pump - I don't want to constantly feed lows. I think I would rather bring the high down a little slower and avoid dropping too low and having to feed the low.

[psilocybin]

My CDE set my original CF when I started pumping. I upped it on my own a couple of times over the last year. Right now it's 55 (1 unit to drop 55 points). My target is 100-140. Can't set it any lower because of hypo unawareness and having way too many lows.

According to Pumping Insulin, if you have your CF set correctly it should bring you into your target range in 3-3.5 hours. They're assuming that's how long Humalog lasts for most people, I guess. If I'm below range in 1.5 hours I still have half or more of the correction still working. So yes, it does mean that I have to eat in order to avoid a hypo, but I don't always want to eat! That's why I like the pump - I don't want to constantly feed lows. I think I would rather bring the high down a little slower and avoid dropping too low and having to feed the low.

i would have to disagree...it all depends on you as a individual...some people insulin duration is much longer then others.....and if i am below range is 1.5 hours i leave it alone and some how i end up exactly where i should be at the 3 hour mark (which is my current insulin duration set on my pump)

[BriOnH]

Take into account though that humalog doesn't have as fast of an action profile as novolog does. The three hour mark is statistically, according to the manufacturers pharmakenetics, when the insulin is no longer working. This number obvioulsy deviates from statistics quite often from individual to individual.

[lgvincent]

My blood sugar was 100 at 10 p.m. and dropped to 55 at about 10:50. I did take my NPH a little after 10 but otherwise haven't had any insulin since about 5:00, when I took the Humalog for supper. I can try to get more exact figures tomorrow if you wish but that is in the ballpark. Of course, I'm on the multiple daily injections rather than the pump.

[poodlebone]

I now no longer know what to think! Late Monday night (actually early Tuesday morning) at 12:46am I was 136. My last bolus was at 9:21pm Monday night, 1.4 units for dinner. By 3:00am Tuesday I was down to 63. I had a snack, 19g carbs, went to bed. MY cat woke me up at 6:30am, I was 133. Lock cat in bathroom, shut my bedroom door so I can't hear him crying, get a little bit of sleep. Wake up at 8:42am, 209! Took 1.2 units correction, based on a CF of 55.
8:42am - 209 - 1.2u
9:29am - 203
10:12am - 185
11:04am - 168 - finally had breakfast, 23g carb, 1.2u
12:59pm - 182 - pump only recommended .1u correction, I took .3
1:33pm - 132 - lunch 52g carbs, 2.3u, went for a walk after lunch
3:29pm - 49 - 39g snack (fat free ice cream) - .7u
every reading after that was perfectly normal

At first I thought maybe it was my set, which I changed this morning, but I really didn't think it was bad. I think maybe I will have to set two different coorection factors, one for the morning and one for the rest of the day. I'm not sure why I went from 136 to 63 to 133 to 209 during the night, though. I think my CDE was too aggressive in changing my basals during the night. If the same thing happens tonight I'm putting them back to where I had set them before I told her about my changes, which she said weren't low enough.
I might put my CF back to 45 for the morning as well.

[KickStart101]

Normally my sugar level drops to about half in 45 to 60 minutes.

[KickStart101]

Normally my sugar level drops to about half in 45 to 60 minutes.

That would be for the later after noon and evening. My first shot of
the day, it would take about 90 minutes to drop in half.

[lgvincent]

Last night, I opened a new vial of strips and the first test showed it was 89. My blood sugar actually felt higher and I assumed the meter was wrong but I recorded it and thought nothing more about it. A half hour later, my face was twitching and my lip started to curl just like Elvis's while watching a Burger King infomercial showing how they can get a piece of bread to absorb three sticks of butter into each slice of bread rather than the one stick per slice he used to use when making fried banana sandwiches. I checked my blood sugar just to be sure and it was down to 44. I sure wish Brandy were here to warn me of these things. She was really good about letting me know when my blood sugar was low (and making fried banana sandwiches).

[parrotletzoo]

I tend to drop faster if I do not have ketones in my urine. If I am running high enough for ketones it will take longer and I'll need more insulin for my bs to drop. Usually though, once it drops under 200, I have to watch it so I don't go low.

[lgvincent]

Had it drop from 148 at 7:04 to 48 at 8:08 last night.

[mg_2204]

On regular Metformin sugars would drop faster.

On Metformin Slow Release sugars are more constant.

And then I had this op. Everything has changed or so it seems! It's as if I have to re-learn everything about my body and diabetes. Very frustrating to say the least!

You see my sugars have been quite low. Well uncommonly low for me that is. And they drop fast. I can't do much yet because still recovering from my op but the very little I do makes me drop really fast. I can be 5.4 mmol/L (97 mg/dL) before my little walk and come back 30 minutes later and be at 4 mmol/L (72 mg/dL). It is fast for me anyway!! And still on Slow Release.

Having my diabetic check at the end of the month. Can't wait!

[godismdma]

has anyone ever had letters/words look like they have been put through a paper shredder when low? or is it just me? sometimes not even really low like 60?