Advice please

[Kingo kingsley]

Hi very new to all this and would like a quick pointer please.

I woke up this morning and was 12.7 I put 4 measures of insulin in and had a bowl of porridge a cup of tea and a coffee two hours later I was 20.4 would you advise me to put 3 more measures of insulin in before lunch?

Thanks

 

[Juicyj]

I wo

Hi very new to all this and would like a quick pointer please.

I woke up this morning and was 12.7 I put 4 measures of insulin in and had a bowl of porridge a cup of tea and a coffee two hours later I was 20.4 would you advise me to put 3 more measures of insulin in before lunch?

Thanks

I would advise you to do nothing and test again before lunchtime - as long as you took the right correction dose based on your ratios and the right amount for the carbs you ate then you should be within your range before lunch and if necessary correct then. If you correct now based on your readings then you still have quick acting insulin in your system and you could end up having a hypo.

It's best to test 4 hours after taking insulin as your quick acting would be out of your system, it's tempting to test as often as possible but this is where you can end up taking too much insulin and having a hypo, best to ignore and wait until next meal time.

Been there and got the t-shirt for this one many a time !!

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Lol thanks I defiantly am wanting to test every two hours to try and see what my body is doing, I'll wait another two hours and re test then put the right insulin in to get me down then more depending on my carbs for lunch, sorry if that's wrong to lol, thanks for the reply

 

[Juicyj]

Hey your welcome - I was diagnosed about 3 years ago and was testing all the time, but taking correction doses would leave me hypo-ing and then having to eat more carbs, I was becoming very absorbed by 'keeping in the range' and trying to get great readings. It was incredibly tempting until I did DAFNE, where I learnt to chill out more and just test before mealtimes or if I was driving but only then to make sure I was safe to drive and not to take action at that point. It was then I got my life back and diabetes became a little issue again and I could carry on living 'normally'.

It can be fairly scary to see high numbers on your meter, but if you can leave it until next mealtime you will see less scary numbers, I promise !!

 

[Riri]

Hia there, it will take time and a lot more trial and error to see what works. Have you had this breakfast before0? I know a lot of people including myself have trouble with porridge and it causes quite a big spike in blood sugars. For others it works just fine. As JuicyJ says, leave it until before lunch and then do a correction. If it were me and I was still high at lunch I would avoid eating a carb heavy meal (have some salad, meat or eggs) until you're back on track. All the best and keep asking - it's the way I learnt.

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Thanks that's made feel
Lots better lol I'm glad I'm not the only one being obsessed in trying to get perfect numbers, if it's ok I'll let you know my reading at 12:00 and if you can give me advice on the action to take from there please, thanks

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Thanks yeah 90% of the time I have porridge I've planed on tuna fish sandwiches for lunch I think it's not to bad minibus the brown seedy bread? I'll put a blood reading on in about an hour just before I eat, thank you both for your quick response

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Just re tested and like you said to wait was a good call as I'm now 9.6 any insulin two hours ago would of been not a good move, thanks

 

[jack412]

have you done your hundered rule from the links I have given you, workbook 2 from memory? this will give you a correction you can further fine tune

 

[novorapidboi26]

to avoid such a large spike at the two hour mark, getting the insulin BEFORE you eat is effective...........

10 minutes it takes Novorapid to work, so this should be a minimum...........I have seen myself dosing 45 minuted before eating.........

 

[noblehead]

Just re tested and like you said to wait was a good call as I'm now 9.6 any insulin two hours ago would of been not a good move, thanks

A better result

Some great advice from Juicy and Riri, but if you wake high like that again you should also include a correction dose in your breakfast insulin dose, this would have brought your levels to around the pre-prandial levels that they want type 1's to aim for.

Take a look at the following as it will cover things like corrections doses, insulin-to-carb ratio's and getting your basal dose right, it's an on-line course similar to the DAFNE course:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

To reduce postprandial spikes, try injecting your insulin 15 mins before you eat your food, the book Think Like a Pancreas covers all this and has some excellent advice on Striking the Spike. (edit, just seen Novorapidboi saying the same ).

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Thanks just signed up I'll have a good read later. Am I right in saying if I wake up at say 15.0 I should put my food insulin in plus about an extra 2-3 to get me down to 6-7 area then I should be ready for the day? Thanks

 

[novorapidboi26]

yeah, insulin for the food.........and what you call a correction amount for the high blood sugar level............


the amount 1 unit of insulin brings you down by can vary but you can fine tune that later.................a drop of 2-3 mmol per unit of insulin is a good start though.......

 

[yingtong]

What is your basil insulin and what dose?

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Sorry if you mean my 22-24 hour one I put 8 in every morning sorry of that's not what you mean lol

 

[LucySW]

It's best to test 4 hours after taking insulin as your quick acting would be out of your system, it's tempting to test as often as possible but this is where you can end up taking too much insulin and having a hypo, best to ignore and wait until next meal time.

The best possible advice. Tho either Gary Scheiner or Dr Bernstein says wait five hrs for rapid-acting insulin to get out of your system, rather than four.

 

[Kingo kingsley]

Thanks for the tips