Four years ago, I got really upset when my blood sugar surged. If you asked me then, I’d have sworn that in four year’s time, I’d have it all figured out and these surges would be a thing of the past – hah!! Thus, I bring you, from October 2005, an all-time favorite post headline:
Crap! High Blood Sugar!
Can I say “crap” here? Well, seeing as I’m the senior staff reporter, managing editor, and publisher all in one, I suppose so… And any of you PWDs (people with diabetes) out there who’ve experienced the Sudden Unexplained Surge (SUS!!) certainly understand my frustration.
It has been a week of highs.
Hosting the Grand Rounds was a blog high (and also a helluva lotta work considering everything else going on). But the mysterious flight into the 200-300 mg/dL zone actually began several days before GR work even commenced. One night I go to bed at 117, and wake up at 300! WtF?! So I correct, go low, eat, go high, correct again, feel nauseous — the usual crap (oops…)
So I chalk it up to a bad D-day and move on. But tomorrow is no different. And the next day 
either! So I start leaving frantic messages for my CDE, to the tune of WtF?! Here are the theories (bear with me):
1. Live-in nanny gives us 4 days’ notice that she’s flying back to her home country for a family emergency — after I’ve committed to a veritable “carnival” of work projects, and become the default leader of a community development protest. The patient is experiencing stress.
2. Scrambling to get said work projects under control before said nanny flies the coop, i.e. lots of extra time on buttocks facing PC. Patient’s activity level has suddenly decreased sharply.
3. Stuffy nose and pain in ear hit one night about 3am (of course!). Patient’s glucose levels elevated due to existing infection/approaching illness.
4. The patient’s diabetes honeymoon is over (?!) Gulp…
CDE doesn’t think too much of No. 2, or No. 1, either. So that leaves us with No.s 3 & 4. Crap!
Definitely time to rethink those insulin-carb ratios, if I had any idea what was going down here…
As Jay of Cyber-Pancreas so aptly puts it: “Tomorrow I will test more, work harder, and make it right. Today though, I get to be frustrated. Today I am not fine.”
I have a sign in my bathroom. It’s for life, generally, but I put it up for things like this: “Tomorrow is another chance to get it right.”
Good points!
Thanks for given by another great explainations about the high blood sugar.
I hit one of those days a month ago. I had a few more scenarios to eliminate, like
5) Patients other autoimmune goodies are spiking some new hormone you can’t measure
6) Maybe I’m exercising too much (no kidding, it was on vacation where I was walking 6+ hours per day)
until I got to
7) That insulin you only opened ten days ago has gone bad.
Arrgh!
and what about . . .
8) your Omnipod has failed without telling you. (This happened to me a lot before I switched back to shots. Dexcom reveals all.)
Dr. Bill Polonsky and Dr. Susan Guzman (from Behavioral Diabetes Institute) have a wonderful reason for those unexplained high glucoses. It is a “visit from the bad glucose fairy.” I love that.
joan
Diabetes is such an insidious disease for this very reason; it isn’t totally under control, ever.
Thanks for putting all the points together on high blood sugar.
High blood sugars, low blood sugars, in-range blood sugars. We all get ‘em.
If you wonder what the numbers look like for other people living with diabetes, search for the blood sugar posts on Twitter, #bgnow (Blood Glucose Now) and #bgwed (Blood Glucose Wednesday).
I had those spikes and could not figure out what was going on until it got really bad and I would get sick after eating. Then I also noticed that those candida problems I thought I was having were getting worse. I felt like i was going down the tubes…
I started to watch when I felt the worse and I found it was after eating wheat! So I cut out the wheat and am now eating a Celiac diet. My doctor doesn’t think it’s celiac but he does think it may be a wheat allergy as I get itchy all over…. the ‘candida’ has gone away too!
So I guess the allergy was putting my body into a severe stress and telling me in it’s own way… don’t eat wheat!
I can also eat wheat free cookies/sugars now and still have only modest rises in sugar… where before it would just skyrocket it seemed if I only looked at a regular cookie:):)
hugs and good luck!
I am pre-diabetic and one thing and probably the only thing that helps me to keep my blood sugar levels in the norm, is a new natural supplement. I found it on an infomercial it’s called Depsyl. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Check out the Url and see for yourself.
When it comes to those that I call special days like sick days and frustrating days when your sugars spike and nothing seems to be working, a few tricks that I use is
1. giving myself a timeout. I have found that a calmer me is the first step towards control.
2. Drinking extra fluids – especially water
3. taking a walk even just a stroll helps alot plus fresh air does the body wonders
EXERCISE!!! yelp I know what a lot of work but exercise is the best way to help control your high glucose, get into a routine and stick with it.
I do it four times a week for about 30minutes and I am always normal…accept after I eat which is normal.