Asthma At An All Time Low, or High?

I have shared before that I have some significant trouble with my blood sugar when I have to take steroids during an asthma flare. As with many people, steroids make my blood sugar go up. At least initially. But then as my body adjusts to the steroids, I have a paradoxical response and my blood sugar starts dropping and getting dangerously low. It can be really difficult to manage and I have to be careful to taper the steroids slowly so that my body has time to readjust.

I had an asthma attack a couple of weeks ago and have been on steroids since, pretty much unable to taper at all. And my blood sugar is letting me know it. But with the extended high dose, my blood sugar has remained high as well. The first few days, my blood sugar was getting into the upper 200s and not coming back down. Regardless of what I ate, my sugar would skyrocket.

Ways to get my blood sugar back down

There are typically two ways to get blood sugar back down without insulin. The first is by drinking lots of water. Hydrating helps flush the sugar out of the body, bringing the blood sugar down. The other way is by exercising. When you exercise, the sugar is used to create energy, which brings the blood sugar down.

But here’s the problem. It’s not exactly practical to exercise in the middle of an asthma exacerbation. Am I right? I’m right. Which leaves the only other option of hydrating. But in my experience hydrating doesn’t bring down my blood sugar as quickly as I would like. So where exactly does that leave me? Oh, right, insulin...

I have avoided insulin for many years, choosing to manage my sugars as best I can when I am on steroids. (But lets also be honest here—when I’m sick and don’t feel good, pizza is my comfort food. And pizza isn’t exactly the best choice of meals when it comes to keeping my blood sugar down. Add to that the fact that steroids leave me ravishingly hungry. So, yes, I ordered pizza and enjoyed every greasy bite. Don’t judge, you have your weaknesses too!)

Anyway, back to the insulin...

Getting insulin for my next asthma flare

High blood sugar, over a long period of time, can cause damage to the body. In the short term, it just makes you feel really crummy. So I decided to reach out to my endocrinologist and ask about trying insulin. It’s certainly not my first choice, but the reality is, that my blood sugar is going to be high regardless of what I eat, and the other two options of lowering my blood sugar aren’t cutting it.

A few portal messages later and I had insulin waiting to be picked up at the pharmacy. One is a long-acting insulin that I can use to regulate my blood sugar throughout the day while I am on steroids, and the other is a short-acting insulin I can use with meals when my sugar gets too high and won’t come back down.

By the time the whole insulin thing got figured out, my blood sugar number had settled a little. So I haven’t actually used any insulin this go-round. If I had had it when I initially started steroids I surely would have used it at the beginning for the first few days. But as it stands, my numbers have come down and I don’t want to risk going low by using the insulin. So for now, the insulin will sit in my fridge, ready to go for the next time my asthma flares and I have to start another round of steroids. Ah me, the joys of having asthma!