Type 1 More questions as a somewhat new diabetic...

[gavin86]

Type 1, 6 weeks in.

1) do you have a "minimum correction"? I took 2 units to knock me back down a bit today, there should've been zero carbs active (4hrs after lunch, no snacks/drinks), and it did nothing for me whatsoever.

2) what is your usual range (eg ignoring events that happen only once a week/on a really bad day).
For me, it's been anywhere from 5-15 most days, and often will be up and down every day.

3) do you find it easier to stay in good range by running high or low?
For me, I find it easier if I'm near 4-5 and my insulin is pushing me down. Regulating with little extra snacks of a few grams. But this requires quite a lot of monitoring. If I leave myself at 7-8 I inevitably end up too high. I guess my control isn't good enough yet.

 

[catapillar]

1) do you have a "minimum correction"? I took 2 units to knock me back down a bit today, there should've been zero carbs active (4hrs after lunch, no snacks/drinks), and it did nothing for me whatsoever.

I don't understand what you think you mean by "minimum correction", really i think you might have just made up a term. I mean some people might have a correction factor of half a unit lowers them 5mmol/l. Your question seems to be asking something other than a minimum correction dose. It can often take a while for a correction dose to start doing anything to move blood sugar. If there you are correcting because you are high (in double figures) then it might take 90 minutes or more before the insulin starts acting - the insulins got to climb a big high wall of high blood sugar before it can start breaking it down.

Carbs might not have been active, but if they weren't moped up by the initial bolus then that's what you are correcting. Equally if you're correction is dealing with a lack of basal then that what is giving the insulin something to keep it occupied. So the correction bolus might be dealing with stuff to stop your blood sugar rising, rather than having the effect of actually seeing it lower.

2) what is your usual range (eg ignoring events that happen only once a week/on a really bad day).
For me, it's been anywhere from 5-15 most days, and often will be up and down every day.

I try to stay 4-8.

3) do you find it easier to stay in good range by running high or low?
For me, I find it easier if I'm near 4-5 and my insulin is pushing me down. Regulating with little extra snacks of a few grams. But this requires quite a lot of monitoring. If I leave myself at 7-8 I inevitably end up too high. I guess my control isn't good enough yet.

The point of good range is to be neither high or low. Maybe have a look a sugar surfing from Stephen ponder for some tips to think about for staying in range, but that approach does require a lot of monitoring, it's CGM focused.

 

[gavin86]

@catapillar
By minimum correction dose, I meant taking less than 'x' units, has no detectable effect. I know this sounds strange, but if I take less than 3u, it does nothing for me. So I'm wondering if there is some level of loss/unusable insulin, either physically or biochemically, which is more pronounced when injecting only very small volumes.
My basal is pretty close to correct. Occasionally I will drift down by up to 1mmol/L overnight, maybe once or twice a week.

As for the range thing, I guess that's focused at people who can't perfectly estimate what carbs they get in a meal, like me. (Eg: estimating rice served at different levels of density). Unless I made it myself or it's from a place that has standardised meals, I can't yet estimate with the necessary accuracy. (IE: within 1 unit according to my ratio).
So in that case, someone would either need to overestimate insulin and take on extra carbs as necessary, or underestimate insulin and correct later.
I'm wondering which is more common/preferred. Or maybe most people just don't think about it and wait to find out afterwards if they guessed high or low.

 

[DiabeticRuby10]

My target range is 4.1 - 6.9, wheareas my normal range is about 4.4 - 11.2
BTW I know how u feel, I've had Type 1 for nearly three months now.