- Messages
- 3
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi all! I've been diabetic for 16 years now, yet I've never really paid too much attention to my health until the last 2 or 3 months. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like I was doing too badly - however now I'm actually paying attention to myself I find this condition is pretty difficult to control at times.
I take detemir (levemir) for background insulin twice a day and aspart (novorapid) after any meals or carbs. I typically inject 2 units of aspart for every 10 grams of carbohydrate, or what I call a 2:1 ratio.
After doing a bit of research I've found that lots of Diabetics including myself seem to suffer from the "dawn phenomenon", however whereas others' blood glucose spikes between 2am-8am, mine is typically 8am-11am. The only thing that keeps me under control by lunchtime is to inject 4 units of insulin for every 10 grams of carbohydrate at breakfast, or a 4:1 ratio - which is quite a lot of insulin.
By lunchtime, I usually have to lower my ratio to 1:1. It's almost like my body doesn't use the insulin in the morning, stores it up, then releases it all at once after lunch - sometimes causing pretty nasty hypos. Does anyone else experience something similar to this? Do you have any other tips for managing it?
I've also noticed I have to inject a couple units (2-4, depending on time of day) for coffees - typically I have one in the morning around 10:30, and one in the afternoon around 3pm. I don't take sugar in coffee, but do take milk. Does this sound familiar?
I take detemir (levemir) for background insulin twice a day and aspart (novorapid) after any meals or carbs. I typically inject 2 units of aspart for every 10 grams of carbohydrate, or what I call a 2:1 ratio.
After doing a bit of research I've found that lots of Diabetics including myself seem to suffer from the "dawn phenomenon", however whereas others' blood glucose spikes between 2am-8am, mine is typically 8am-11am. The only thing that keeps me under control by lunchtime is to inject 4 units of insulin for every 10 grams of carbohydrate at breakfast, or a 4:1 ratio - which is quite a lot of insulin.
By lunchtime, I usually have to lower my ratio to 1:1. It's almost like my body doesn't use the insulin in the morning, stores it up, then releases it all at once after lunch - sometimes causing pretty nasty hypos. Does anyone else experience something similar to this? Do you have any other tips for managing it?
I've also noticed I have to inject a couple units (2-4, depending on time of day) for coffees - typically I have one in the morning around 10:30, and one in the afternoon around 3pm. I don't take sugar in coffee, but do take milk. Does this sound familiar?