Help, Insulin Dependancy going way up suddenly

[falken_gt4]

Since I have come back from holiday I have had to increase my insulin dosage from 32/35mmol ish to 45/50mmol ish AND also I cannot eat much otherwise it sends my blood sugar up to in the worst cases 15.

I am on Mixtard30 but I also find myself needing to supplement myself with some Actrapid to manage it at different points in the day.

This has happened a couple of times before and it goes away but I have had this for about 7-8 days now. The last time it happened was 4 months ago. I had my blood average tested lately and it was @ 8.8% :(

Any ideas? It is really p'ing me off.

Cheers
Andy

[duck]

Are you ill at all?

[Harold]

Not on insulin myself, but from reading here and my own experiences we are sometimes too close to the problem. It helps to bounce them off of others so we do not miss the obvious. So some obvious questions.

Have you tried injecting in a different area?

Have you been using insulin from the same vial or pen over this increased period?

Has any stress been added to your life as in circumstances or in your health other than an increase in bg's.

[falken_gt4]

Not on insulin myself, but from reading here and my own experiences we are sometimes too close to the problem. It helps to bounce them off of others so we do not miss the obvious. So some obvious questions.

Have you tried injecting in a different area?

Have you been using insulin from the same vial or pen over this increased period?

Has any stress been added to your life as in circumstances or in your health other than an increase in bg's.

I have had a bit of stress at work lately. The last couple of times it has happened I have been fairly chilled though. Does stress make that big a difference?

Looking on the bright side I have been having very little to eat which can only help my figure I guess. :D

Cheers
Andy

[Simons]

Boy, can I understand your concern about increased insulin requirement. It is occuring to me also right now and I have no idea why? It will occur , out of the blue, every few months and last two or three weeks. I have to take so much insulin right now and have not changed my eating habits at all. I have been insulin dependent for 62 years and so I want to blame it on that but not sure that is right.
Any ideas you have i will listen to. I am on Novolog and Lantus.
Simons :stupido2:

[am1977]

I don't like increasing my insulin either...but sometimes it happens. There are a number of reasons for why this is occuring, but figuring out exactly what is causing the increase can be difficult if not impossible :stupido2: .

Some things that come to mind are : stress or illness :help: (as others here have suggested), weight gain, reduced exercise or activity, or increased carbohydrate intake :eating: , among others.

I wouldn't worry about it so much for now. Hopefully, it will turn out to be only a flukey kind of thing and you will be able to decrease it eventually :wink:.

Take care :)

[bonnie690]

Hi there, :itsme: :party:
Stumbled on this site by chance, i've been an insulin dependant diabetic for nearly 20 years and have just changed from being on 4 injections a day (novorapid and lantus) back to mixtard 30 after protesting that that i hated being on 4 a day, after alot of huffing and puffing from my specialist diabetic nurse she let me go back mixtard 30 has anyone else had trouble with doctors and nurses when it comes to changing insulins, the answer i got when i asked how does mixtard 30 work was "we don't know" how can a specialist not know!! :confused: It has left me angry!! :mad:

[seacomp]

Hi there, :itsme: :party:
Stumbled on this site by chance, i've been an insulin dependant diabetic for nearly 20 years and have just changed from being on 4 injections a day (novorapid and lantus) back to mixtard 30 after protesting that that i hated being on 4 a day, after alot of huffing and puffing from my specialist diabetic nurse she let me go back mixtard 30 has anyone else had trouble with doctors and nurses when it comes to changing insulins, the answer i got when i asked how does mixtard 30 work was "we don't know" how can a specialist not know!! :confused: It has left me angry!! :mad:
Hello Bonnie and welcome to the Forum.
I am too new to the injection game to ever have had experience with Mixtard or any other insulin mix. From everything I know about the older methods of managing diabetes with mixed insulins, the advantage of a reduced number of shots is minor compared to the disadvantages of poorer control, a much higher average BG level, and a dependancy of eating fixed amounts on fixed schedule.
Most of the complaints in this forum are from members whose doctors are not p to speed on the newer insulins, insulin pumps, etc.
I am not, by any means, someone who believes that newer is always better, in this situation, I wonder how you will be able to maintain good control.
Good control does not insure that there are no problems, and some people do very well for many years with less than perfect control. I certainly hope that you are among the lucky.
It does not surprise me that a specialist does "not know", especially if they are younger. They just would teach the older methods today.
This, of course, is only my opinion, other members of the forum may think differently. If you could tell us a little more about your history and any special consideration, that may help forum members help you.
Although I don't agree with your decision, I am happy that you choose to join the forum and contribute.
And, one of the main uses for the forum is as a place where you can get MAD and people understand what you are mad about.;)
Welcome.

[kidvid]

Stress can send me soaring in little time. I think of myself as calm, cool and collected, but recently my son had some minor trouble at school and I had to up my bolus considerably to stay under 200 post meal! This lasted just a few days though...but consider changes in stress levels.

[bonnie690]

I've been round the block on insulins, i was orginally on pork mixtard30 back in the 1980s then pork mixtard30 with lenatard, then with isophane, then got moved to novomix30, then novomix30 with insulatard, then novorapid and lantus and now practically full circle now on human mixtard30. My question was has anyone else feel man-handled, the reason to go to a specialist (whether they are young or old) is that they are a specialist and if you speacialise in anything you should know the background of it, mixtard30 may be viewed as old school insulin but it is still a main stream insulin, i was on 4 a day injections for a year and it turned into a pain, the fact that everytime you wanna eat something you have to injection is not my idea of fun, i am probably old school style because i prefer the 2 a day injection routine, and i know i'm not the only one. i would rather take a gamble with 2 a day injections than go back on 4.:party:

[DeusXM]

Since I have come back from holiday I have had to increase my insulin dosage from 32/35mmol ish to 45/50mmol ish AND also I cannot eat much otherwise it sends my blood sugar up to in the worst cases 15.

I am on Mixtard30 but I also find myself needing to supplement myself with some Actrapid to manage it at different points in the day.

It sounds to me like you've hit 'The Wall'. This happens to people who are on Mixtard insulins or the older isophane basal insulins. Eventually it gets to the point that you simply can't take any more insulin than you already are because you just max out the effectiveness of the insulin and you get caught out by peaks and troughs.

You already say you're having trouble with maintaining your BG and having to suppliment your Mixtard with Actrapid. If you're doing that a lot then you really should move onto Multiple Daily Injections (MDI). This way, when you eat you won't get BG spikes in the same way you do with Mixtard. In fact, you probably won't see your BG go much above 8 on MDI AND you'll have fewer hypos.

The bottom line is that you simply can't get good control with Mixtard. Frankly if you get an A1C below 9 on that stuff you deserve a medal, but really your A1C shouldn't be higher than 7 at the very most - really you should be looking at something between 5-6.5.

Talk to your care team about upgrading to MDI - you'll be amazed at the fact you can eat what you want, when you want.