A sharp reduction in the dose of insulin

[Zhnyaka]

Hello everyone. Over the past few weeks, the dose of my bolus has dropped by half, and the dose of bazal has decreased by 20%. I have no idea what could have caused this. My diet and lifestyle have not changed. If earlier I needed about 9 units of novorapid for breakfast, now I inject 4 for the same breakfast and in the end I still have hypo. I thought that I had a large dose of bazal, because hypo occurs often and not always after insulin injections, but strangely enough, I have practically no night hypos, and there are a lot of them during the day. The last time I pricked myself 2 units of bolus for dinner was about 8-9 years old. It scares me. Yesterday, for example, my friends and I ate donuts (with sugar and hot chocolate!), on which I pricked less than I usually do, and after that my bg was 2.2 (I checked on the glucose meter, cgm is not wrong) and could not even rise to 4 for several hours, (I ate all the sweets that I had, then we bought coffee with sugar, and then we just took a lot of sugar bags in the same coffee shop and only after that my bg became at least 4). I tried not to inject bolus at all, but bg rose to 16 from simple tea with bread (as if everything is the same as before). What could it be? Why does this happen?

 

[Jaylee]

Hi,

When did you last do a basal check? I’d start there. If you are constantly hitting it with fast acting sugar..? It can return.
I’ve noticed my insulin needs drop pretty much by half in recent months..? (Especially the bolus.) OK, I do have a new job. But this was way before..

Are you using Diabox? Same here. Calibrated to the meter..

 

[Zhnyaka]

When did you last do a basal check? I’d start there.

this was my first thought, because such a fall really looks like an overdose of basal, but my bg is quite smooth at night, if it were in the basal, bg would fall here, but it's not. I reduced the dose of basal, fearing that if it starts to fall in the same way at night, I might just not wake up and, since I live alone, no one will be around, but hypo happens quite rarely at night, as before. I don't know what's going on. I use tresiba, it is quite smooth, but it seems to me that I want to divide the basement in half into unequal parts.

I thought cgm was wrong, but I checked with a blood glucose meter . This is strange. My insulin dose has never dropped so sharply and there really is no reason for this. Usually my dose changed by 1-2 units, but never so much... maybe it's something happened with the liver (I don't seem to drink alcohol often) or what else can affect the dose of insulin so much?

 

[Antje77]

or what else can affect the dose of insulin so much?

I seem to remember @In Response had a drop of insulin needs after having covid or after having the covid jab, can't remember exactly, and I'm not even sure if I remember correctly. My apologies if I'm completely misremembering, @In Response .

 

[Zhnyaka]

****, it really bothers me. I have prepared food for a week, that is, everything happens with the same meal, not only the same amount of carbs.
Perfectly smooth basal... Practically without carbs and bolus

basal, bolus and food yesterday, it seems there are no complaints either

and the same food today

What the ****? Then my need for insulin drops by 20% in two weeks, then the old one seems to return, because such a schedule looks like an insufficient dose of basal...
Of course, my diabetes sometimes behaves strangely, but it's so illogical for the first time... Usually the strange behavior of my bg does not exceed 24 hours...
The most interesting thing is that there is not a single reason for this. I had a Covid a year ago, the exorbitant stress level has been holding for 8 months, the diet is the same, physical activity is the same, nothing new... What the hell is going on?! Has anyone ever had something like this?

 

[Hopeful34]

Yes, I've had episodes like this. No rhyme or reason!!

 

[In Response]

@Zhnyaka could this be a monthly cycle?
It is not uncommon for our insulin sensitivity to be affected by hormones.
Many women find they need more insulin during their periods but we are all different so some may find the opposite.

Apologies if this suggestion is not appropriate

 

[Zhnyaka]

@Zhnyaka could this be a monthly cycle?
It is not uncommon for our insulin sensitivity to be affected by hormones.
Many women find they need more insulin during their periods but we are all different so some may find the opposite.

Apologies if this suggestion is not appropriate

During my monthly period, I sometimes get ****** up with bg, but usually a day or two, not two weeks, I have never changed my basal because of this. Although I'm not sure that during menstruation, ****** up is caused by hormones, rather by the fact that it hurts me so much that I don't go to the gym and I want to eat so much that the amount of carbs increases . In any case, there were no monthly periods in these two weeks, but the assumption is very logical, many people have bg changes a lot at the same time

 

[Zhnyaka]

Yes, I've had episodes like this. No rhyme or reason!!

In the plural? Does this happen often?

 

[Hopeful34]

Not that often, thankfully, but it's a pain when it does.

 

[Zhnyaka]

Not that often, thankfully, but it's a pain when it does.

Yeah, it's a pain when you can't figure out the reason it's annoying

 

[jackois]

I'm male, diagnosed in 2014 and this happens to me twice a year. Diet is much different all year long but around March, start of the warmer weather, insulin needs fall. Basel drops to around 7 units a day and bolus halves as well.... around October it heads the other way back to 14/15 Basel and Bolus back to full.
This has happened every year since diagnosis and can be quite interesting at changeover time. As it starts I tend to go with a couple of weeks eating identical meals daily until I've got the doses right.

Good luck.

 

[Zhnyaka]

I'm male, diagnosed in 2014 and this happens to me twice a year. Diet is much different all year long but around March, start of the warmer weather, insulin needs fall. Basel drops to around 7 units a day and bolus halves as well.... around October it heads the other way back to 14/15 Basel and Bolus back to full.
This has happened every year since diagnosis and can be quite interesting at changeover time. As it starts I tend to go with a couple of weeks eating identical meals daily until I've got the doses right.

Good luck.

Wow! How interesting your liver works. For the first time I see that the dose of basal depends on the diet or the time of year.

 

[Zhnyaka]

apparently, I'll just return both bolus and bahal to the old values, leaving this period as "something strange"

 

[MrsA2]

Wow! How interesting your liver works. For the first time I see that the dose of basal depends on the diet or the time of year.

There's at least one of the well known doctors (name escapes me currently) has the theory we can metabolise carbs better in Autumn as our bodies ready for the winter fasts. I suppose that theory would link through to insulin usage too.

Rick Johnson and fructose. Might send you down a you tube rabbit hole but it's fascinating

 

[Dobsfidge68]

Same here.