Being 'hypo' before a meal

[Lucie75]

I tested first thing this morning before breakfast and was 3.6 (shock horror, not supposed to be going below 6mmol at the moment!) so I had breakfast (weetabix with banana & milk) and did my injection immediately after eating to give my bg chance to rise a bit. Just did the 2 hourly test and now I'm 13.3! Did I do completely the wrong thing by injecting afterwards? Didn't want to chance my bg going even lower before I had chance to absorb the carbs.

Usually 2 hours after eating this for breakfast my bg start to drop again. I'm so confused. I just hate my diabetes.

 

[glitterzoe]

no you did right by eating first, you may have read in other post on the site that your liver will up your suger when it starts to drop, so what you have experienced is just that. Dont worry too much, keep checking your bloods as normal and you will prob find that they go back to normal also weetabix and milk and banana are slow relese so this may also have something to do with it. Hope this was a help.

 

[Debloubed]

Hi Lucie, did you use a correction dose? also, I find that testing after 3 hours means a more accurate result as quick acting insulin will still be working/peaking then (although it does depend on the kind you use, obviously).

It sounds like you did everything right though! sometimes our bodies (or our liver!) come to help us whether we want it or not :roll:

 

[iHs]

I tested first thing this morning before breakfast and was 3.6 (shock horror, not supposed to be going below 6mmol at the moment!) so I had breakfast (weetabix with banana & milk) and did my injection immediately after eating to give my bg chance to rise a bit. Just did the 2 hourly test and now I'm 13.3! Did I do completely the wrong thing by injecting afterwards? Didn't want to chance my bg going even lower before I had chance to absorb the carbs.

Usually 2 hours after eating this for breakfast my bg start to drop again. I'm so confused. I just hate my diabetes.

Hello Lucie

You've done the right thing by eating first as you were a bit on the low side, but I don't think your liver has dumped in this situation. What has happened more like I think is that you haven't injected enough bolus insulin to cover the amount of carb in the breakfast. At a rough guess you ate about 50grams of carb. What testing 2hrs later told you was that yr bg test was a lot higher than you would like so you need to learn from that test and the amount of carb you ate.

What amount of bolus insulin did you inject?

You've got to try and do now is to get to grips a bit more with working out a correct insulin to carb ratio for the morning, lunchtime and eve meal. Its all done by guesswork with insulin initially, writing down all the carb you eat, how much insulin is injected and then adjusting insulin or carb up or down so that yr bg levels are all ok. Once you can do that, hypos won't be so much of the problem that they are now. Have a look at the BDEC website which explains insulin to carb ratios and correction doses based on your total daily insulin.

 

[Lucie75]

For breakfast I am on an insulin:carb ratio of 2:15 so I stuck to this as per normal. Admittedly I'm still working out if this ratio is correct, but normally with this dose, and bg of about 7-8mmol before breakfast, my 2 hourly bg is between 12-13 mmol and it then drops gradually for my pre-lunch reading, without correction.

I expected the bg reading this morning to be lower than normal because my pre-breakfast reading was lower than normal.

I've recently been advised to reduce my insulin dose at breakfast because I was always hypo mid morning, whereas now with a reduced dosage I'm higher than I would like to be. I can't find a happy medium. I know that today didn't get off to a good start being hypo first thing, but even with a non-hypo reading first thing I'm into double figures mid morning and then it settles back down. Would just 1 unit more of insulin make all the difference do you think? I don't want to be lower (say 9-10 mmol mid morning and then hypo before lunch.

 

[Debloubed]

try just 1 more and see, small increments are good when you are playing around with your dosage as if you do make a mistake, it's just a small one and as long as you keep an eye on your BG you can correct if necessary.

30g Weetabix plus milk + medium sized banana is approx 55g carbs, so you should be (by my calculations!) be taking 7.5 units, using your ratio - is that about right?

 

[Lucie75]

try just 1 more and see, small increments are good when you are playing around with your dosage as if you do make a mistake, it's just a small one and as long as you keep an eye on your BG you can correct if necessary.

30g Weetabix plus milk + medium sized banana is approx 55g carbs, so you should be (by my calculations!) be taking 7.5 units, using your ratio - is that about right?

Yes, I've been taking 8 units (as I can't take half a unit). Started with bg of 6.2 this morning and had slightly less carbs so reduced dose to 7u (still with same ratio) and my 2 hourly reading was 10.6mmol. Do you think this means I have the ratio about right and that I should ignore yesterday as I started out hypo?

 

[Debloubed]

I think you should test again @ 2.5 - 3 hours.........2 hours is the peak but the peak can last for up to 1 hour.....as we don't produce any insulin ourselves, your BG will rise after food even though you take the quick acting so if you are in the 10's after 2 hours, I think that's pretty good control (although it can always be tighter!) try the 2.5 - 3 hour test and see how you get on

On a side note, I don't use half units either as I prefer the disposable pens so I fel your pain re: the calculations! You do tend to learn though which foods you can calculate up for and which you have to calculate down..........oh for an easy life, eh?! :lol:

 

[kewgirl]

Hi Lucie

Are you not able to take a half unit due to the type of insulin pen you are using?

If so the Novopen Junior Pen suitable for Novorapid Insulin Cartridges is a half unit dose pen. Although it was thought originally by health professionals & insulin pen manufacturers alike that half unit insulin dose increments were of less use/value for adults injecting insulin than for children, in some adults actually half a unit of insulin difference can make a huge difference!
I use a half unit pen for my Porcine Neutral Insulin (the Humapen Luxura HD Pen) & have used the Novorapid Junior Pens & find it very helpful to inject half a unit.

If you prefer to use Insulin Syringes - they too are available with half unit measurements. Both are available on prescription.

Hope you get things sorted.

best wishes

Txx