Going low at work

[Niamh1]

high everyone have been diagnosed with diabetes type I for a year and a halfwent low at work unfortunately my sugar was 2.5 and i told my college to get me coke she came back after a while all i remember struggling to open the coke can having some coke and then the next thing i remember is waking up surrounded my a manager and the ambulance crew i was taken into the hospital had my tests done and an exray as i hurt my self on the side of my right check. I feel better but still in shock annoyed that i had a bad hypo embarrised that this happened. i have a question for example if i inject my breakfast insulin lunchtime and evening 10 minutes before but my sugar is still high around 12 13 14 15 do you still eat or do have to wait till it goes down. what i have understood is that is takes 4 hours for the insulin to work i have really bad insulin resistant in the morning and i have to wait 1 hour or 2 eat this is not always ideal any would be great i am currently on nova insulin for the food. my correction for the food is 1 to 10 and correction is 1 to 3 and i am on a night time insulin of trisba

 

[JMK1954]

You always need to carry fast-acting carb for an emergency no matter what your blood tests show. I once ended up having to ask a complete stranger to go into a chemist's across the road to get glucose for me, because my legs suddenly gave way at a bus stop. Was waiting before you ate responsible for the hypo ? I can't tell if the two are related from what you say. A sudden hypo can come out of nowhere. We can't always be sure of the real cause, as it can be a combination of things.

 

[Soplewis12]

Hiya, I hope you beginning to feel better now & please try & get over your embarrassment, it's happened but you can learn from it. You should eat after 20-30 mins after taking the Novorapid to give it time to get in to your system to balance out the carbohydrates you eat. It could be your basal insulin is not at the correct dose causing the resistance in the morning. You should contact your diabetic team for guidance and advice. Best of luck

 

[Ipodlistener]

I'm only 11 months in and running between 4-10 most of the time. My Novo doesn't hardly work till the 2nd hour and is done by the 3rd. Breakfast is the only meal of yoghurt and granola. That I take insulin either wait. Or eat a spoonful at a time over 3-4 hours. I'm currently on 1:15g. 1u drops me 3mmol as a correction. Between Breakfast and lunch which for me can be as late as 15:00. I don't bolus for pizza 20g carb, Crisps 17g, and probably some jelly babies as I'm a postman. I always carry water and a bottle of vimto diluted full fat. Drinks for me are the quickest way of getting out of a hypo. But once I got my Basal rate correct. I haven't had one so bad I'm shaking. Because my Libre2 is set at 5.6 low and 9.5 high.

 

[Niamh1]

great thanks for your advise everyone

 

[Deleted member 559951]

high everyone have been diagnosed with diabetes type I for a year and a halfwent low at work unfortunately my sugar was 2.5 and i told my college to get me coke she came back after a while all i remember struggling to open the coke can having some coke and then the next thing i remember is waking up surrounded my a manager and the ambulance crew i was taken into the hospital had my tests done and an exray as i hurt my self on the side of my right check. I feel better but still in shock annoyed that i had a bad hypo embarrised that this happened. i have a question for example if i inject my breakfast insulin lunchtime and evening 10 minutes before but my sugar is still high around 12 13 14 15 do you still eat or do have to wait till it goes down. what i have understood is that is takes 4 hours for the insulin to work i have really bad insulin resistant in the morning and i have to wait 1 hour or 2 eat this is not always ideal any would be great i am currently on nova insulin for the food. my correction for the food is 1 to 10 and correction is 1 to 3 and i am on a night time insulin of trisba

Novorapid is at it's peak at roughly two hours and lasts for roughly 5-6 hours. It's onset is <60 minutes.

Please remember that your Novorapid injections are to essentially ''cover'' your meal times. You should not suddenly start omitting meals purposely as this isn't healthy.

We can't give medical advice on this forum however If you're blood glucose levels are elevated pre-meals then I would suggest speaking to your DSNs/diabetic nurses if you're under a specialist clinic. You alongside your DSNs/whoever need to look at your insulin regime and determine whether the dosages/regime is appropriate for you. As you're routinely elevated, please ensure you are safe and are regularly monitoring ketones and acting appropriately if +ve.

Also important to note that you are persistently elevated (I assume you're relatively young) yet you've had an hypo. Do you regularly have hypoglycaemia? Did you have this following a correctional dose or post-prandial? Hypoglycaemia can happen at any time however I generally find that it is secondary to something.

 

[Antje77]

You should eat after 20-30 mins after taking the Novorapid

This timing is highly personal.
Some people can inject and eat, others need to prebolus by 15 minutes, some need to prebolus by much longer.
It also depends on your BG before meal, and on the kind of meal you have.

Just because something works for you, it doesn't follow it works for everyone.
While it's fine to share what works fo you, please tread very carefully when advising others what to do.

 

[Deleted member 559951]

This timing is highly personal.
Some people can inject and eat, others need to prebolus by 15 minutes, some need to prebolus by much longer.
It also depends on your BG before meal, and on the kind of meal you have.

Just because something works for you, it doesn't follow it works for everyone.
While it's fine to share what works fo you, please tread very carefully when advising others what to do.

This is correct, however there are some rough guidelines. Advising someone struggling with their insulin regime to administer their Novorapid 20-30 minutes before seems entirely reasonable to me as a general rule of thumb and it's certainly something that I would teach to someone.

Obviously from there you can personalise your insulin regime to you. You also can learn the other tips/tricks such as injecting Novorapid immediately after a meal if required.

 

[Jaylee]

high everyone have been diagnosed with diabetes type I for a year and a halfwent low at work unfortunately my sugar was 2.5 and i told my college to get me coke she came back after a while all i remember struggling to open the coke can having some coke and then the next thing i remember is waking up surrounded my a manager and the ambulance crew i was taken into the hospital had my tests done and an exray as i hurt my self on the side of my right check. I feel better but still in shock annoyed that i had a bad hypo embarrised that this happened. i have a question for example if i inject my breakfast insulin lunchtime and evening 10 minutes before but my sugar is still high around 12 13 14 15 do you still eat or do have to wait till it goes down. what i have understood is that is takes 4 hours for the insulin to work i have really bad insulin resistant in the morning and i have to wait 1 hour or 2 eat this is not always ideal any would be great i am currently on nova insulin for the food. my correction for the food is 1 to 10 and correction is 1 to 3 and i am on a night time insulin of trisba

Hi,

I would recommend basal testing before experimenting with bolus timings? Through, to be fair basal needs on a work day may vary from the day off? Though, my understanding tresiba is like steering an “oil tanker” regarding daily basal change needs?
The Lantus I use is easier to preempt the following day but can be flakey.

I’m sorry you had this low episode at work. I don’t personally rely on colleagues. I carry my own stuff. It also gives me more confidence having fast acting carbs to hand?

How long after injecting your bolus insulin did you hypo.? Did you factor in a correction dose with your bolus? How long did you wait to eat??

Unfortunately BG levels & work is “something” only you will understand to arrange & manage for yourself? (Given time.) You may also be still experiencing the “honeymoon period” as a relatively newly diagnosed?
I got a “day job” & I also perform in two bands.. The music? My BGs are far less unpredictable or harder to wrestle..
Lol, my DSN & endo. Not understanding my lifestyle the DSN feels I should “give up the day job.”

 

[Soplewis12]

This timing is highly personal.
Some people can inject and eat, others need to prebolus by 15 minutes, some need to prebolus by much longer.
It also depends on your BG before meal, and on the kind of meal you have.

Just because something works for you, it doesn't follow it works for everyone.
While it's fine to share what works fo you, please tread very carefully when advising others what to do.

Hi, I was only making a suggestion in line with consultant & DSN guidance given to me as a starting point for poster. I did suggest speaking to their own team.

 

[Antje77]

Hi, I was only making a suggestion in line with consultant & DSN guidance given to me as a starting point for poster. I did suggest speaking to their own team.

I know how you meant it.
Which is why your post has been left standing and I added some nuance to it.

Next time, instead of saying 'You should eat after 20-30 mins after taking the Novorapid' (which is straight medical advice and not true for all), you could say 'I have been advised to eat 20 to 30 minutes after taking NovoRapid and this works for me.