- Messages
- 441
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
Hi again @James1968, again not a professional advice or opinion: look up https:/www.drugs.com/humulin_70-30.html
There is a graph of the amount of insulin in the blood stream after a single injection of humulin70-30 ( the interrupted dash line). You will see there are one rounded peak at around 3 hours which sort of corresponds to when the insulin is working at its best to bring BSLs down. Then the insulin drifts down over the next 20 hours or so.
The problem is that the carbohydrates (sugars in cereal, toast etc) you eat at your breakfast meal will usually cause a peak in Blood sugar level (BSL) at about the 2 hours mark, depending a little on what and how much you eat and what other foods accompany this (e.g. bacon or eggs etc).
Then at lunch time a similar thing will happen to your BSL but the insulin is already falling, there is no peak of insulin to help. But with a second dose of humulin 70-30 before your evening meal there will be another peak of insulin to sort of cover that.
Of course, you may still be producing some insulin from your own pancreas which might be able to ease the BSLs a little also.
The problem you face with these insulins in my view is that they miss the BSL rise, with each meal whilst providing a lot of background insulin between meals and overnight.
But when the dose is upped say, everything goes up, the 3 hours peak, the amount of insulin there over the next 20 hours or so and then if the second dose is increased there is the second peak heightened and the amount of insulin overnight is increased also.
This insulin mix insulin appears to to be insufficient at the after meal BSL peaks and then too much in between meals. Again this is just my view.
You may wish to see how you go with whatever your DSN advises about your current insulin doses. If they are upped I hope the DSN advises you to to be watching out and reporting any BSL less than 4 mmol/l as well as those above whatever your DSN has quoted to you as the acceptable upper range.
Please read up on the Home page here about hypoglycaemia which is the fancy term for low blood sugars or hypos as we call them. And as it advises, keep some form of sugar handy in case you start to experience any hypos.
I never drive when my BSL is less than 5 mmol/l as it is dangerous to drive in such a condition. Glucose meters might be up to 15 % out so that could mean that 5 mmol/l is actually 4.25 to 5.75 mmol/l where hypo levels are (as the Home page will also quote) less than 4 mmol/l or 3.6 mmol/l.
Best wishes.
Thanks for that