Spiking

[smidge]

Hey Charlie! I have exactly the same problem. Having used the Libra for a while, I found that it is general more than half hour before my Apidra kicks in. his morning I woke with high BG - 10.1- I injected 3units and waited 1.5 hours before eating - I was still at 7 - the Apidra had only just started working. I then ate without injecting any more and will test at 2hours and adjust from there as I think the Apidra injected earlier will cover my breakfast now that it has finally got started. I do find that double-dosing as you're doing lowers my BG too much - the second dose seems to drag me down.

I also find bread and cereal are a nightmare for spikes - the highest spike I ever had was with a small bowl of porridge. I guess we all react differently to insulin, so don't feel like there's some magic formula you don't know about. It's very demoralising when you spike and know your insulin isn't quick enough and everyone tells you it works in 15 minutes as though that's fact and assumes you're carb counting wrong etc. Personally, I just avoid the foods that cause it the most and do my best to manage the timing of the insulin for the rest.

Smidge

 

[Richard F]

QA insulins take around 15 mins to work, so you could try injecting 10-15 mins before food to see if that makes a difference (being mindful to watch out for hypo's when experimenting).

There's some really good advice in the following about preventing postprandial spikes:

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.c...blood-glucose-management/strike-the-spike-ii/

Thanks for the link, interesting reading. I think I'm going to have to read it again to fully digest (so to speak )

 

[LucySW]

Hey Charlie! I have exactly the same problem. Having used the Libra for a while, I found that it is general more than half hour before my Apidra kicks in. his morning I woke with high BG - 10.1- I injected 3units and waited 1.5 hours before eating - I was still at 7 - the Apidra had only just started working.

I second this, Charlie. Everyone repeats the 15 minutes figure, but for me (the Libre gives you this information) my NovoRapid doesn't even begin to do anything for 35 minutes. I am utterly safe waiting that long to eat. And if I do, then I don't get the spike. And spikes are BAD.

So I really recommend experimenting. Have your Dextrosols or whatever with you, but try it out! Remember that BG changes take about 15 mins to show up in capillary blood (i.e. our fingerpricks). What we actually feel precedes that. (That's why, when we hypo, we respond to emergency glucose hopefully very fast, but there's no point looking for a BG rise before 15 mins as it can't possibly show.)

Also, as Smidge implied, you know, jettisoning dodgy things like toast would only help. You'd need a lower insulin dose, and there'd be less unpredictability. My experience is that lower carb helps stabilise levels lower.

Lucy

 

[tim2000s]

Just to add to this, as a guide for someone who doesn't have a Libre, @noblehead 's suggestion of taking your insulin 15 mins before eating is sensible. Even if it doesn't effect for thirty minutes, you also have to give your body 10-15 mins to start digesting and making use of the carbs.

As has been mentioned, it is generally easier to reduce the spikes associated with managing carb intake if you reduce the amount of carbs that you eat, or the type of carbs. There are a fair few cereals with relatively high sugar content and this doesn't help with your post prandial spikes.