Hunting the Hyper, yesterday
During this last weekend I’ve been playing a favoured game of all diabetics the world over – the fabulous sport of “Hunt the Hyper”!
Since Victorian times most of the sports we love and enjoy have been strictly codified; with complex, detailed and in-depth rules and customs. Not so with Hunt the Hyper. No, this sport is very much the antithesis of rugby football or soccer. Let me elaborate.
Starting Friday evening I noticed my blood glucose was quite high. No problem, shove in a bit more insulin and test later. Hmm, still high. Correct again. Still a bit high a bit later. Is it the infusion set? It’s been in for two days and I find they’re less absorbent (if that’s the correct technical term; I suspect it’s not) towards the end of their brief lives. So swap out the infusion set and bung another one in.
Hours pass. Still high. Has the insulin been cooked or frozen? Not likely, it’s cold in Scotland but not that cold (and insulin getting to hot is never a problem in the Frozen North). Is my insulin resistance creeping up? I’ve not been out on the mountain bike for a fortnight, so it could be that. I find a couple of hours of careering down hills and getting muddy on a bike does wonders for my insulin resistance. But I chopped down two trees last weekend. Both trees were so deep-rooted that the effort of getting the damned things out of the ground was probably more effort than a 15 miles bike ride. So it’s not that.
Could it be insulin resistance from my recent cold? Maybe. But I usually go high at the start of the whole having-a-cold-process, rather than at the end.
So having thought about it, analysed the data, tried different things, I’m utterly non the wiser. In the end, my hunt for the hyper has been a failure. I’ll just keep testing, correcting and using 150% temp basals until things get better or my feet rot off. Whichever comes first.
Are you pregnant? Assuming not, hopefully the mystery culprit will reveal themselves shortly. Probably the impact of an asteroid passing too close to the moon or something equally unfathomable.
I don’t think I’m pregnant. How would I tell?
The mysterious highs were a giveaway for me. Also watch out for a massively expanding beer belly that starts moving around of its own accord. If you have the two combined, it’ll be almost a dead cert.
Duly noted – I’ll watch for these symptoms
Perhaps you’ve switched from being a ‘before-the-cold-er’ to an ‘after-the-cold-er’? I had a streaming cold about 3 weeks ago which sent my levels up to a record high of 28.5 at one point, despite my best efforts with testing and correcting. At least you have the bonus of the 150% temporary basal rate to fall back on. I won’t have this particular luxury for . . . oh hang on, I get my pump plumbed in a week from tomorrow!! Can’t wait to test it against my first illness 🙂
Hurrah! Fingers crossed you get a real stinker of a cold to test the pump with!
Where are you getting said pump fitted? Up at the Royal?
This post dragged me back – I’m doign this right now! Was a LITTLE high (11ish) first thing this morning. Two hours later after normal everything and a touch extra insulin to bring me back inline and I hit 29.3! I have since realised that the achey limbs all weekend for no apparent reason were probably my body tryign to tell me I was gettign ill. Maybe collecting and moving a piano wasn’t such a good idea after all?!
Good luck hunting yours down, Tim! Don’t forget the silver bullets…
29.3? Nice work matey! Hope you feel better soon.
Sometimes the best we can do is just roll with the punches!
And then parry with a swathing uppercut to the jaw! Ker-powww!!
If no illness has presented could it be something simple like gone off insulin? I always forget this one but do find that sometimes my insulin doesn’t work as well with no reason, no pump problem etc; I change to a new vial and it seems better. I think gone off insulin is one of the great undiscussed subjects but saw it commented on in another site.
You’ve probably got it sorted by now hopefully.