Two weird blood sugar experiences:

[Ryan]

Here's one--

Friday morning, 5a: Checked sugar, 140, took 15u NPH (my long lasting cloudy one)
Friday afternoon, 1p: Ate sushi. LOTS of sushi. UNGODLY amounts of sushi. Sweet rice, sauces, etc. I was really bad.
Friday evening, 4p: Checked sugar, 190.
Friday evening, 7p: Ate again, chicken quesadilla.
Friday evening, 9p: Checked sugar, 140.
Sat. morning, 1a: Checked sugar, 130.

Here's the other:

Yest. morn, 5a: Checked sugar, 150, took 15u NPH
Yest. morning 9a: ate a naughty breakfast (worst I've ever eaten since diagnosis. Pancakes, syrup, waffles, chocolate, potatoes, etc.) :whistling
Yest. afternoon, 530p: Checked sugar 103

Since I was diagnosed at the end of February, I have *NEVER* seen my sugar go below 119 or so. So I binge yesterday and it goes even lower? I didn't change anything about my timing with insulin or meals or anything... I just ate worse stuff.

Why does my sugar get wonky when I binge?

[camjen1]

Are you taking any fast acting insulin with your meals or is it just the 15u in the morning? If I wasn't taking any insulin (bolus) with my meals and ate a pancake WOW I'd be over 200. :eek:

[duck]

Yeah, is NPH the only thing you take?

BTW, get off the NPH and onto Lantus--NPH will kill you at some point in your life.

[am1977]

Hmm...that's interesting, Ryan. I really don't think I can explain what's going on there, I wish I could ;) . If it were me and I ate a pancake meal like that...I would be way over 200...probably close to 300 or 400 :eek: . Maybe you were very active after you ate that meal? Perhaps you did have a spike after the meal...but by the time you tested later in the afternoon...it had come down? I'm just guessing here :p . It could just be one of those wacky diabetic occurences.

[Ryan]

NPH will ACTUALLY kill me??? Like I'll inject it and I'll keel over and die?

The 15 of NPH was the ONLY insulin I had on those days. I wasn't active at all between those two times yesterday. I ate, went to work, sat at work for 7 hours, then ate again. :-

Since I've been diagnosed I've been cutting out pretty much all sugar and carbs from my diet.. but now that I've reintroduced them through rice and an evil breakfast yesterday everything seems OK.

It's just strange.

[duck]

Ryan, I forget: Are you Type 1 or Type 2?

Look up "NPH" using the search function, and you'll find a few of us spouting off about the evils of NPH...It should be banned.

[gettingby]

Yeah, is NPH the only thing you take?

BTW, get off the NPH and onto Lantus--NPH will kill you at some point in your life.
Dude,
I agree with Duck. Get on the Lantus. I've been on it for several years and plan on staying on it. I will NEVER go back to NPH !!!!!!! IMHO, Lantus is the choice for me (until I find a good endo and get on the pump). :D

[rzrbks]

gettingby
Dude,
I agree with Duck. Get on the Lantus. I've been on it for several years and plan on staying on it. I will NEVER go back to NPH !!!!!!! IMHO, Lantus is the choice for me (until I find a good endo and get on the pump). :D

All that said about Lantus, while I too am an advocate of Lantus, keep in mind that a small percentage of the population ( as with all medications) does have adverse reactions to Lantus. A couple of them are posters on this board.

I've made my disclaimer:

Lantus is SO much better than NPH.

[HeatherP]

Now, now, let's not freak Ryan out! I had my share of nastily dangerous lows the last year I was on the stuff (in addition to the daily minor lows) but he'll most likely be okay for a bit. We have to remember that he doesn't have insurance and Lantus is ridiculously expensive.

Ryan, I too, would recommend Lantus, but if you're careful on the NPH you should be okay.

[Ryan]

Are the prices comparable?

Do you REALLY need a prescription for insulin? A dibetic friend said no, others said yes. Can I ask the doctor to change me to Latnus? Is it the long acting?

I'm type II, btw.

[camjen1]

If I'm correct (which usually Im not) Lantus is cheaper then the NPH where I am at. The Humalog is what takes a bite out of the wallet.

[HeatherP]

In some states you can buy insulin without an rx, I think Lantus is still rx only but I might be wrong.

The last time I looked, the cash price of Lantus was about $70 a vial and I'm one of those folks that throws it away after about 30 days because I start having unreliable results. (my co-pay is $25)

Lantus is long acting, and it's certainly within your rights to ask to try it. It's "peakless" (unlike NPH) and most people only have to inject it 1x/day.

[Ryan]

Is NPH really really strong? Is that why I went to 103 after a sugary meal? Or did the NPH sense lots of sugar and started taking effect?

[HeatherP]

NPH can't "sense" anything. It does have peaks however, and so if you've eaten before it peaks then you will chew thru whatever you eat. If you ate a lot of protein and/or fat in your meal it will slow down carb absoption and maybe help to avoid a high or low.

[Ryan]

NPH is too short to search for.. what forums were the topics in?

[daddyo]

Ryan; I would bet my bottom dollar you are in the honeymoon phase, Which is your pancreas is not down for the count just yet, This will probaly last one to two months. Then the honeymoon is over.

[gettingby]

All that said about Lantus, while I too am an advocate of Lantus, keep in mind that a small percentage of the population ( as with all medications) does have adverse reactions to Lantus. A couple of them are posters on this board.

I've made my disclaimer:

Lantus is SO much better than NPH.
I did say that Lantus was the choice for me.

[Ryan]

Ryan; I would bet my bottom dollar you are in the honeymoon phase, Which is your pancreas is not down for the count just yet, This will probaly last one to two months. Then the honeymoon is over.

What EXACTLY is the honeymoon phase?

My doctor said I was diabetic for a year before I got diagnosed... some new test they did or something. :confused: Before the two weird experiences, my sugar was constantly high, when I wasn't intaking any sugar/carbs. Now that I've introduced them back in slowly it seems my sugar is getting to normal levels..

[duck]

You're right, NPH is too short. See? It's evil.

Here's my issue(s) with NPH: NPH does peak, but for me it was very inconsistent in its peak, when it would peak, how strong it would peak, etc. Some weeks, my sugars during the NPH peak were fine. Other times, I was low. Others, high. But what makes me think it is evil is that my second NPH shot came at about 6PM, so it would peak (if at all) sometime while I slept. Twice I found myself incoherent, unable to walk, to talk, anything...My instincts told me to get some sugar, and luckily I did. Another time I woke up to find my girlfriend at the time trying to stuff sugar into my mouth (and she was a realllll trooper since I had bitten her and made her bleed). All three times were because of NPH's unpredictable effects on me.

Little did I know at the time that it was the NPH--It was only after beginning pump training that one of my CDE's mention that I would be more happy on the pump because it would allow my overnight sugars to be more stable, and unlike NPH it was more predictable...Which made me ask questions about NPH.

The stuff should be made illegal, I'd bet real money that the number of diabetics who suffered some type of injury from being low would correspond strongly to the time their NPH peaked hard unexpectedly.

[Cinnabon]

I have been using NPH and Humulin N for nearly 22 years, honestly i never had anything that bad happen. I am now trying Lantus slowly and gradually and I get kinda dizzy and my BS is ok. Unfortunately, all INSULIN is the cause of complications. This is extremely unfair.

[Ryan]

You know what's REALLY unfair? That your name is Cinnabon and I can't have any. ;)

[Cinnabon]

Hey at least Im practically Carb-free and most definitely :p , Sugar Free.. LOL

[HeatherP]

You know Ryan, there is some evidence indicating cinnamon can have a lowering effect on blood sugars.

I do my own bit of research on the subject myself occasionally (have a cinnamon roll) but so far my results are inconclusive. ;)

[Ryan]

Cinnamon and radishes, hooray!

So here's another weird experience.

Last night, I checked my sugar right before bed, it was 158. I took 10 NPH and 2 of my fast acting.

I woke up this morning and it was 164.

What's the deal? I eat sugary stuff and my sugar drops to 103? I inject, ingest nothing, and sleep, and it rises 6 points? :confused:

[HeatherP]

Have you tried getting up and cking your b/s around 3 a.m.?

[Ryan]

Have you tried getting up and cking your b/s around 3 a.m.?

Not yet. You think that it peaks and then drops? I get up at 4 to check it because that's when I get up normally.

11p: Sugar 153, took 10u NPH, 3u fast acting.
4a: Sugar 164

It was just 5 hours between checks.