Not So Elementary My Dear Watson

So it's been a weird few days in blood sugar land. Not crazy rabbit weird though. More like Sherlock Holmes weird.

Something was very very off and the challenge was to figure out what exactly that was.

On Saturday morning, I did the time trial at the pool and mentioned that, for the rest of the day, I was fighting highs.

I kept hovering around 13. I took a correction bolus and, an hour later, was 13. Then I took a double dose (enough to cause a pretty serious low). An hour later, I was still 13.

I managed to get it down to 9 by dinner and took three times the amount of insulin I should have for the meal. Two hours later, I was 13. I double-corrected and went to bed.

At midnight, I was 14. I double corrected again.
At 4am I was 7.6 (thank goodness)
At 6am I was 6.7
At 8:30am I was 4.2

I had a 10k run to do so I took one gel and a small box of raisins. It wasn't really enough carbs for that long of a run but I was willing to risk a low to avoid a high.

After 10k, I was 12.9 instead of the 4-5 I should have been. Everything seemed ok with my pump. No air bubbles etc and my blood sugar was coming down, albeit slowly, so I didn't think my insulin was the problem.

I took a full bolus (which I never do after a run) for chocolate milk and a few graham crackers. I waited 40 minutes before eating it (which I would never ever do after a run) and then I checked an hour later. I was 10 which was promising.

An hour after that, I was 19.8 and was now showing mild ketones.

Bah!

We were getting ready for lunch and I did need to eat something so I decided to experiment. I entered my blood sugar and 20 carbs in my pump and it told me to take 7 units. I then cancelled it and pulled out my old trusty needle. I took 10 units the ol'fashioned way.

I figured if my pump or my insulin was the problem, then using the needle would solve it. If I was still ridiculously high, there was something else going on.

When I checked 30 minutes later, I was 18.4 so I decided to change my pump - might as well fix one of the variables right?

I then checked my blood sugar every 30 minutes for 4 hours. Here is what happened.

1. 18.4
2. 16.3
3. 8.3 (uh oh - dropped fast)
4. 9.6 (damnit! I bolused again)
5. 6.0
6. 5.7 (I ate 20 carbs)
7. 4.7
8. 3.9 (just in time for dinner)

Things were fine after dinner and during the night. Perfect - I solved it!

Monday morning I was 4.2. I had a small box of raisins and headed to the pool for my regular workout. I did the same routine I always do. No variations whatsoever. After the swim, instead of my usual 6-7 BG, I was 14.8.

Double bah!!

I bolused for breakfast and a hefty correction dose, waited 30 minutes before eating and was fine for the rest of the day. Still, there is something weird going on.

These things always settle and the process of figuring out what the problem is can be fascinating on a purely scientific level. The fact that it's wreaking havoc on my body while I figure it out is not so fun.