[nicole]

I woke up today, and felt perfectly fine. My blood sugar was 257, so I took 21 units of Humalog and 15 minutes later i was laying on the couch and started feelling shaky and just not good.

I tested and it was 53, i went downstairs and got a pop. Drank some, sugar went down more, drank the rest of the pop. It was a 20oz. bottle. But then finally it went up to a more reasonable level.

[poodlebone]

What is your correction factor? Did you eat at the same time, or just inject the Humalog for correction? Unless you're insulin resistant, 21 units seems like a massive correction for a 257.

Whenever I get a high number and feel fine, I retest. Not too long ago I tested high and corrected, then remembered I had been cooking earlier. I washed my hands, retested and was normal. I had already corrected, though, so ended up having to eat but I did avoid the low.

[howdysf]

maybe you had some residual sugar on your hands before testing... did you wash your hands?.. I've had a couple instances where I felt weird in the middle of the night, gotten up, tested, meter says 55 or 65, so I eat something go back to bed, then wake up SUPER HIGH... check back and my meter said that test in the middle of the night actually said 155 or 255 even... in my groggy state of mind I only saw the 55, but not the 1 in front of it... ... I feel like I'm rambling right now so... bye

[Psycho Penguin]

This happens to me all the time. All the novalog hit you at once, plus you probably were on a "rebound high" which I've read about, and then it became lower. Try taking less novalog next time, or waiting an hour from waking up before trying to correct.

[nicole]

I have this problem alot though.
Normally I wake up early in the morning with a low, because of my lantus. I only take 42 units at night and when I don't I wake up high.

[hodgsonsurvivor]

I used to have the same problem. I take 42u of lantus too, but I take mine in the morning. That has worked so much better. Also, making sure my bs is normal at bedtime and having a snack helps prevent the low lows. Like someone said earlier, it also seems a bit extreme to take that much insulin to correct a 250 bs. For me, my bs drops 25 for every 1u of Novolog I take...so I'd of only taken 5-6u. Retest and make another decision at that point.

[walleyedave]

Just wondering, why did you take that much humalog for a 257 blood sugar. My sugar drops by 50 points per 1 unit of humalog. Wow that must have been very scary.
Usually I know if I took to much humalog after 1 hour of taking it, I will start to go low and feel shaky. Feeling like that after 15 min you must have taken way too much.

[drummingfool]

Again, Im just reiterating the insulin decision as far as your high BS. My correction factor is 1u for every 20 high points above 120.

[Psycho Penguin]

Everyone is different.. but then again, I just went from 199 to 57 in 2 hours off of 18 units myself!

[Lizzie G]

id agree that is a massive correction dose, i never take more than 5 units in one go ever, usually less. also, 42u of lantus sounds like a tonne. not sure what height/weight you are but for a young healthy woman that sounds like a lot - how did you decide on the 42u?

[hodgsonsurvivor]

My doctors kept upping my Lantus dosage because my A1Cs were so high. My newest doctor told me that I'm not "glued" to that dosage...meaning if (with other adjustments to my care) my bloodsugars are low, I can reduce the amount I take. I'm not sure about how Nicole got to 42u, but I'd assume her basis has been adjusted like mine. How'd I do, Nicole?

[akielpinski]

I put all of your info into my pump to see how much insulin it would tell me to give (No- I didn't actually bolus for it). I put in blood sugar as 257, target blood sugar as 120, and correction rate of 1:20

According to my pump, you should have given only 6.45 units of insulin. That's why you got so shaky so fast.

[Psycho Penguin]

I just tested this theory finally, and yeah, 1 unit drops me on average 19 points, so keep this in mind next time nicole. It's better go stay a little high and take a unit or two of insulin than go really low!