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Confusing reactions to insulin

Adam.froud said:
I tried having a lidl protein roll for lunch today, which is 8.5 g CHO per roll, I believe.

I was 7.4 before lunch and had my roll with 5u novorapid. Three hours later my BG is 5.2.

So maybe I am over-calculating a bit?
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What are you counting the carbs in? Eg for your sweet potato meal, I'd only have counted the sweet potato not the green beans. Generally, when you have some carbs with a meal, then you don't need to count green veg, onions, etc.

I do think something may be out somewhere. I strongly recommend doing that basal testing. It could be that you need a little more basal and then your meal doses will be more like your stated ratio above.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being 5.2 after three hours as long as that's stable and not dropping. What were you at two hours?
 
Adam.froud said:
My DSN did say I might be a bit insulin resistant because I'm about 92 kg, so I am a bit overweight!
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How tall are you?

You may be slightly insulin resistant, we certainly can't rule that out. But if I were putting money on it, it will be a lack of basal. Your ratios don't make much sense at all, 5u for 8.5g carbs in a lot of insulin, especially if your DSN has recommended 1:5.

If every person who was overweight was insulin resistant, then every overweight person would be pre-diabetic or diabetic:)
 
azure said:
What are you counting the carbs in? Eg for your sweet potato meal, I'd only have counted the sweet potato not the green beans. Generally, when you have some carbs with a meal, then you don't need to count green veg, onions, etc.

I do think something may be out somewhere. I strongly recommend doing that basal testing. It could be that you need a little more basal and then your meal doses will be more like your stated ratio above.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being 5.2 after three hours as long as that's stable and not dropping. What were you at two hours?
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After 2 hours my BG was 6.3. It's now down to 4.8.

I did count the carbs in the green beans last night (2g).

Based on this lunchtime:

5u covered the 8.5g CHO, and also lowered my BG by 2.6 mmol/L.
 
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6.3 is good :) If you continue to drop, then you can 'top up' with a small amount of carbs. That's what I do because it's not possible to get the exact same results each time so some days you may go lower than you like even though you've done nothing different.

Do you have a half unit pen?
 
azure said:
6.3 is good :) If you continue to drop, then you can 'top up' with a small amount of carbs. That's what I do because it's not possible to get the exact same results each time so some days you may go lower than you like even though you've done nothing different.

Do you have a half unit pen?
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No half unit pen. I've been recommended those by a few people on here. I have an appointment with my DSN next week so I'll ask then!
 
GrantGam said:
How tall are you?

You may be slightly insulin resistant, we certainly can't rule that out. But if I were putting money on it, it will be a lack of basal. Your ratios don't make much sense at all, 5u for 8.5g carbs in a lot of insulin, especially if your DSN has recommended 1:5.

If every person who was overweight was insulin resistant, then every overweight person would be pre-diabetic or diabetic:)
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I'm 5'11. Bmi = fat!

I've got some alarms set for basal testing tonight!
 
azure said:
I strongly recommend doing that basal testing. It could be that you need a little more basal and then your meal doses will be more like your stated ratio above.
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So I tried nighttime basal testing last night. I was 6.5 when I went to bed (2300), 6.1 at 0245, 6.9 at 0430 the 6.6 on waking. So that's pretty steady!
 
Adam.froud said:
I'm 5'11. Bmi = fat!
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I've got some alarms set for basal testing tonight!
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Although your BMI would have you down as overweight, I wouldn't deem that to be enough excess fat to cause insulin resistance - certain the amount that you seem to have anyway. You're probably just over 2st above where you should be weight wise?

Do you exercise or at least, are you busy during the day?

One last important question, at what time in the day do you take your basal insulin?
 
Adam.froud said:
So I tried nighttime basal testing last night. I was 6.5 when I went to bed (2300), 6.1 at 0245, 6.9 at 0430 the 6.6 on waking. So that's pretty steady!
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Yes, it is. It will be interesting to see your daytime basal tests as that's where the question mark is over whether your boluses are compensating for a lack of basal.
 
GrantGam said:
Although your BMI would have you down as overweight, I wouldn't deem that to be enough excess fat to cause insulin resistance - certain the amount that you seem to have anyway. You're probably just over 2st above where you should be weight wise?

Do you exercise or at least, are you busy during the day?

One last important question, at what time in the day do you take your basal insulin?
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Yeah I'm about 2st overweight.

I take my basal at 10pm.
 
Adam.froud said:
Yeah I'm about 2st overweight.

I take my basal at 10pm.
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A lot of us find that our basal insulin works for a shorter time than it should, or claims to... Those of us who take Levemir, typically split it into two doses 12 hours apart as it gives the best control. Your insulin (patent free version of Lantus) can also be split (albeit debatable by some), but you will want to consult your diabetes team before doing so. As far as I'm aware, there is only one basal insulin (Tresiba) currently on the market which will truly last 24 hours from one daily injection.

You may find you fit the same category as a lot of us, wherein your basal insulin is running out well before it should. As @azure has already said, your day time basal rate test results will confirm this, or disprove it.

Let us know how you go:)
 
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I don't think my basal lasts anywhere near 24 hours. I'm steady through the night but as soon as I get up I start going up. Now I take novolog , eat, and an hour later take another small dose to stop the rise. Sometimes I need another small dose about two hours later. So 2-3 shots between bf (8am) and lunch (3pm). I don't know any other way to do it other than a pump. Even just taking one unit lantus in the morning I hypo all day so that's not an option.

Point is, testing basal during day isn't always going to work right? I know I would just keep rising. However I do count on just novolog during the day and I don't even consider lantus still being on board. BUT this allows me to be much more accurate with my novolog doses without having to consider a second insulin.
 
GrantGam said:
A lot of us find that our basal insulin works for a shorter time than it should, or claims to... Those of us who take Levemir, typically split it into two doses 12 hours apart as it gives the best control. Your insulin (patent free version of Lantus) can also be split (albeit debatable by some), but you will want to consult your diabetes team before doing so. As far as I'm aware, there is only one basal insulin (Tresiba) currently on the market which will truly last 24 hours from one daily injection.

You may find you fit the same category as a lot of us, wherein your basal insulin is running out well before it should. As @azure has already said, your day time basal rate test results will confirm this, or disprove it.

Let us know how you go:)
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So I did the 'afternoon' portion of the basal test today. My numbers were pretty steady overall:

12.00: 7.1
13.00: 6.5
14.00: 6.9
15.00: 6.3
16.00: 6.6
17.00: 6.9
18.00: 7.0

So I think I need to lower my baseline. Although it held pretty steady!
 
Adam.froud said:
Okay, so I am very new to this and my understanding and experience is limited.

But...

This morning when I woke up my BG was 6.7. I had 100g Greek yogurt (4g carb) and 5 units of novorapid. 2 hours later my BG was 6.0, and three hours later it was 6.1.

At lunchtime my BG was 7.1. I had chicken breast and cabbage (2g carbs) and another 5 units of novorapid. 2 hours later my BG was 6.3, and three hours later it was 6.6.

At dinner time my BG was 6.7. I had chicken breast, green beans and 75g sweet potato (20g carbs) and another 5 units novorapid. This time my BG dropped down to 4.2 two hours after eating.

So why such different reactions to insulin? I'm aware that insulin resistance is usually lower in the evening, but is it to such an extent?

This condition is so confusing sometimes!
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If you're new to this are you honeymooning? That could explain things too
 
Adam.froud said:
So I did the 'afternoon' portion of the basal test today. My numbers were pretty steady overall:

12.00: 7.1
13.00: 6.5
14.00: 6.9
15.00: 6.3
16.00: 6.6
17.00: 6.9
18.00: 7.0

So I think I need to lower my baseline. Although it held pretty steady!
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Those numbers are excellent! When you say that you may need to "lower your baseline", if you mean reduce your basal dose - then personally, I wouldn't if I were getting numbers like those!
 
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