Very confused. Did my diabetes go away? Am I getting sick? Unexplained BGs ...

[tim94305]

Hi,

I've been Type I on MDI for a few years now (lantus/humalog).

Yesterday, I gave myself my 9am lantus (I do 6u twice a day) and went to work, and ate normal meals throughout the day, covering with humalog. I ended up staying very late at work, and realized I was going to miss my PM lantus shot, so would give myself some additional small humalog shots until I got home to keep things under control.

Here's the bizarre part. Usually when my lantus shot is late, my BGs skyrocket. Last night, they ever so slowly kept dropping, until at 3am, 18 hours after my previous AM lantus and 6 hours after my previous meal (which was a low-carb meal needing just 1.5u of humalog), my BG was 130. I expected it to be 250+. I tested a few more times between 3am and 4am and it was fairly consistently in the 100-150 range.

I ended up dozing off without taking my PM lantus, and woke up just now at 9am, and tested again, expecting BG of 400+, since it has now been 24 hours since my last lantus, and 12 hours since my last humalog shot. My BG was 165.

Anyway, I'm scared to give myself my AM lantus or bolus for breakfast, since I have no idea why my BG is 165 and not 400, given how long it has been since I have injected any insulin. I've been Type I long enough to know what to expect from my body, and this isn't it.

Has anyone got any ideas what might be going on? Is it possible that an impending cold/flu/infection cold be responsible?

Thanks!

- Tim

[owlyn]

Your body is not a mchine. It does not necessarily react or act the same way for any given variable. IOW, YMMV.

[genie86333]

Not sure what happened, Tim, but it could be that your pancreas has not totally ground to a halt - your insulin usage may have helped not burning out, so it kicked in a bit when needed.

**shrug** Or, it could be the aliens.

[shiftzor]

Have you recently increased your activity level? Drinking any alcohol? Could it be a virus or infection of some shape? If I was you I would take that shot of Lantus, if you start to hypo just reduce the next dose until its satisfactory and eat lots of carbs. Make sure you keep testing until things return to normal. I really wouldn't completely stop taking insulin just because you have had a few normal bgs. Type 1 is for life unfortunately you can’t suddenly lose it. There is a possibility that you are honeymooning still which would explain it however it does seem unlikely considering you have been diabetic for 2 years. If it was honeymooning then you should keep taking insulin to reduce the workload on your pancreas helping it to spend more time in regenerating itself which helps the effect to last longer. Keep testing!

[soso]

If it's any consolation, I managed to convince myself yesterday afternoon that I wasn't really diabetic and my numbers were never all that high and blah blah blah I didn't really need insulin..... then I had dinner of pork chop and a bit of kale with no insulin (I'm crazy.. but not dare devil crazy) the resulting 7.1 at 2 hrs reminded me why I need insulin.. I often get really low numbers when I least expect them and high ones when I think I don't deserve them.. fwiw, I often get a run of low numbers if I am getting sick, I think it is my immune system kept busy trying to fight off a new invader instead of victimizing my pancreas.

[tim94305]

Thanks for the responses. I did end up taking a lower lantus dose and had some breakfast, and my BG response from the food and humalog bolus was as per usual. I guess this might just remain a mystery, since none of the usual culprits (alcohol, exercise, sickness) can be blamed - though I may yet discover that I am coming down with something. We'll see I guess.

- Tim

[Cluck]

I would guess that nothing has happened. You have Lantus in your system and missing one shot will do very little.

I have missed a shot before and just returned to my usual routine the next morning. Or if I'm home late for my PM basal shot (its now Levemir but it used to be Lantus), I'll take half the normal dose to avoid too much overlap.

[tim94305]

I would guess that nothing has happened. You have Lantus in your system and missing one shot will do very little.

I have missed a shot before and just returned to my usual routine the next morning. Or if I'm home late for my PM basal shot (its now Levemir but it used to be Lantus), I'll take half the normal dose to avoid too much overlap.

What you say makes sense, however I have missed shots before and seen my BGs rise a lot, whereas here my BGs were actually gradually dropping even 16+ hours after my AM lantus shot. Plus, if anything, my 2x 6u lantus per day regimen is probably a slight underdose, and just getting one of the 6u shots would have resulted in much less basal insulin in my system by the end of the 24 hour period.

Anyway, it all just surprised me, and I don't know about you, but I find any surprises related to my body's reaction to insulin unnerving. :confused:

[Rekarb]

I am new to these forums and I don't wish to get too philosophical but... you may have just bumped up against the limits of measurement. This is to say that a living thing is an extremely complex system and any measurements of it will contain errors. The question is the significance of error. We on this site have are nose very close to the data that we are reading, it is after all our lives. But this closeness amplifies results as well. There will always be outliers in any stream of data. Statistically, we make them go away but they do occur. They are real but are they significant? That's the question that should always be asked when looking at a point that seems so far out of kilter. Sometimes a shrug of the shoulders is the best answer.

Mike