I recently had “something” that took two months, six doctor visits, five different antibiotics and a case of pneumonia to clear up. Throw in a couple of “dubious” bottles of insulin and you’ve got a good recipe for a higher than normal (for me) A1c. My last A1c was the highest it’s been since I started pumping two-and-a-half years ago. Oh well, the deck was just a little stacked against me.
Around the 1st of February, my numbers started to run higher than normal, thought I might be catching something so I just corrected as needed. When the illness never seemed to materialize (enter the first dubious vial of insulin), I started making adjustments to basals and bolus rates to get me back on track. After messing with that for a week or so, I actually started to get sick around the 3rd week of February.
I let it brew for a few days, in case it was a virus, but finally went and got meds to treat a case of bronchitis. It seemed to do the trick, but about a week after the antibiotics I got bronchitis again. So more meds and, again, it seemed to clear up.
A few days after that, I started coming down with a head cold/sinus infection. So I went and got a different antibiotic (number 2) this time, but after a few days I was feeling worse, so yet a different one (number 3). A few days later I am feeling even worse. My doctor hears pneumonia in my lungs and gives me an antibiotic shot (number 4) and an oral one (number 5). She tells me that if I am not feeling better in 2 days to go to the ER, otherwise come back for a follow up.
At 2 days, I was feeling somewhat better, I had taken a couple days and slept for most of them along with sleeping for most of that weekend. At my followup, she said that she could still hear some (and seemed half tempted to scold me for not going to the ER, but she didn’t), but I seemed to be recovering and to finish my antibiotics and get as much rest as I could.
During this period, I was running at a +40% basal rate, just to keep the numbers somewhere around 200. I also learned a new trick that helped with meals, I also started adding 40% to my carb counts. I didn’t really feel like eating, but knew I’d end up DKA if I didn’t, so I ate. And always had serious spikes. Upping the carb count seemed to help out in that regards quite a bit.
And, finally, I started feeling better and was able to stop using the temp basals I had been using.
At this point, do any of you remember that I had changed my basals and bolus settings back before I really started “feeling” sick? I didn’t and it took me a few days to figure out why the hell I was now having unexpected lows.
Oh well, I’m almost back to my cranky old self, so stay off my grass! Actually, I’m still too tired to really give a damn…
Thanks for stopping by
Scott
© 2011 Scott Strange, Strangely Diabetic and http://StrangelyDiabetic.com
