Why are my blood sugar numbers so high?

My surgery, done lapriscopially) on Sept 25, 2007, has gone extremely well and the healing process has been wonderful with the exception of one thing. Prior to the surgery I was taking 36 units of Levemir at bedtime and was on a insulin to carb ratio for my Nonolog, usually taking 3 units of insulin per each carb that I had for the meal. My numbers had been running right around 100 in the mornings, about the same for lunch and maybe 160-180 at dinner time. When I came home from the hospital they had me on 13 units o Levemir at bedtime and a sliding scale for the novolog. My numbers now are in the high 200's and even into 300's, with one tht was over 400. My Dr.'s keep telling me that because I have had such major surgery and my eating habits have changed so drastically that it is going to take some time for things to settle down and go back into a lower mode. What frightens me is that for years I have had it pounded into my head to eat correctly and keep the numbers low. Wed. my Dr. told me that he would rather have my numbers be high right now than low and bottoming out. I know that worrying about it is causing me more stree than I need right now and have been so impressed with the surgery and how fast I have come along. As of today I have lost 34 pounds and feel great otherwise. Could someone please e-mail me and tell me if this is common for the numbers to be like this or if they have a suggestion for doing something else. Thank you so much, Sandy Reimer [email protected]

Sandy, I just wanted to say that I am so PROUD OF YOU.You have done so well on your journey. As you know I dont have any help for your numbers, but I sure hope someone can help you out here. Everyone is so helpful on here. I will talk with you later today after work.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/nutrition Hey Sandy you may want to post this here also. Just a thought. Take care and I will talk with you after work.

Sandy, Congratulations on winning a seat on that long loser's bench. I was never on insulin, just oral meds.  I know that they had to give me insulin on the sliding scale when I had my surgery.  I was discharged on just the metformin (not the byetta or starlix) that I was on before surgery.  I was told to monitor my sugar 4 times a day and keep it in the range of 100 - 140. It was several weeks before I could get it consistantly in that range. Remember you had major surgery and that's a huge STRESS on your system and w know that stress is a major contributor to increased blood sugars. Even today when my A1C has been normal since the surgery, my PCP still keeps me on 1 500 mg Metiformin tablet.  The WLS disagrees, I'll have to think about this for awhile.   It also took a long while to get the first morning sugar to be concistantly less than 100, almost a year. I don't know much about having sugars in the range that you have them.  My WLS told me that the length of time you were a diabetic plays a role in the rate the sugars go down. Hope this helps Jeanne

Sandy, I remember that I had the same issue at first.  My numbers were quite high as well.  The first thing they did upon release, was cut my insulin in half, both kinds.  And After being diabetic for 19 years, I thought i had it all figured out.  but of course i didnt, i really had to rely on the professionals for this one! I ended up speaking to my pcp daily in order to get adjustments over the phone. Anyways, I am just over 4 months out, and my a1c is right at 6.0% which is normal.  I check my sugar 4x per day and I dont eat many carbs, so I dont take as many shots of Novalog.  Only two a day of it.  I hope this helps.  It will even out soon.

Belinda, Thank you for replying to plea for help. They sendt me home with the insulin numbers reduced very substancially and when the numbers kept getting higher and higher I was really beginning to panic. My Dr. is not really worried, but it sure has bothered me and know that has caused some stress that I do not need. My husband has been ill for several days and we went to the Dr. on Wed. and they diagnosed him with walking pneumonia. I have not felt good for most of this week and I finally decided that I had better go and be checked and guess what----walking pneumonia too. Dang! They put me on a antibiotic that should knock it out in a couple of days but will actually stay in my system for 10 full days. I have been a diabetic for about 40 years and was so looking forward to being off insulin and other medications. I am only out not quite a month yet and everything has gone so well except for this.  Thanks again for your help. I feel better! Sandy

OMG, you poor thing!  Try to feel better.