Top 3 ways to lower blood sugar when insulin doesn’t work
Your blood sugar is high, you’ve checked your blood sugar every half hour. You have taken correction insulin shots. Your blood sugar is staying high or still rising. If you are scared, for the first time, you may consider going to the emergency room. Here are 3 things to change right now to get you back on track.
The most important thing to do is take a breath or several deep breaths. Panic or fear are contributing to your elevated blood sugar. Here are the top 3 ways to fix your blood sugar when insulin doesn’t work.
Step 1
Assuming you are using a pump and the pump is in auto mode. The first thing to do is turn off auto mode.
Step 2
Change your infusion site and insulin. Pick a new site with little to no scarring from previous infusion sites.
Step 3
Get a new vial of insulin from the fridge. Make sure the insulin is not leftover from a previous delivery, it has to be fresh.
Once you have reset the infusion site check your blood sugar and take a correction bolus.
Bonus Tip
If it’s feasible go for a short walk. Bring your glucometer and snacks.
If after 2 hours and your blood sugar stays the same or gets worse now it’s time to go to the emergency room.
Recovery
It will take some time, wait an hour and check your blood sugar again. The fear now is that the blood sugar may come crashing down, so don’t go to sleep. Stay up for at least 2 hours while you monitor your blood sugar.
Discover the Cause
More than likely, the infusion site stopped accepting insulin. Putting infusion sites too close together does not allow the area to heal. The area rejects the insulin put in. On some small occasions, the insulin went bad due to exposure or in a plastic vial for too long.
Your body changes over time
Also on some occasions, your body changes and needs more insulin to keep blood sugar under control. I have had to make several of these changes over the years. After you have fully recovered, put your CGM back on and start to evaluate your insulin requirements. If your blood sugar does not come down within 2 to 3 hours, you might need to add a little more to your bolus. If you are uncomfortable doing this, please talk to your doctor or nutritionist.
I hope everything worked out, and you are back on track with stable blood sugars. Keep up with checking your sugars, eat well, and get outside as much as possible. Let me know in the comments any successes or questions I can answer. Life can be normal even with diabetes. Diabetes can’t stop us.
Disclaimer
I am not a doctor, therapist, or licensed advisor, I am a diabetic though for longer than most doctors, therapists or advisors have been in their profession. Take my advice as advice and double-check with your doctor, therapist, or advisor just to see if I am right.
About The Author
