Type 1 about insulin

[kksingh]

Hi guys i am new here on the form.
my daughter recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and it is shocking for us as family.
I am looking to get help and advise about so many questions we have as family.

I found the community here and hopefully will get guide and advise where i needed.

for now i have question that we are using short acting Novorapid,can we give this insulin after meal?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. I expect you will receive many replies. Normally short-acting insulins such as Novorapid are given before the meal to allow time for it to work ready for the food. There is no fixed rule but I will inject perhaps 15 minutes before the meal. It is likely after a while that your daughter will have a longer-acting insulin such as Levemir added. This manages the background glucose output from the liver. I assume at the moment your daughter is doing finger-rick glucose testing? If you haven't been offered a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) you may want to ask for one on prescription. The typical choices are the Abbot Freestyle Libre 2 or the Dexcom G7 or similar. The advantage of these monitors which fit on the arm is that they can give an alarm on your mobile phone or reader when the blood sugar goes out of range which can be important at night if it goes too low (a hypo). Do ask any more questions.

 

[ElenaP]

.... we are using short acting Novorapid,can we give this insulin after meal?

I guess your family is already following whatever advice the hospital diabetes nurses gave you.
What age is your daughter? If she is a baby or a toddler, the advice from the diabetes team used to be to watch how much of her food she has eaten, and then inject insulin immediately after the food. However, it is important that you learn carbohydrate counting.
If she is older, then she will do carbohydrate counting for her portion of food and inject prior to the meal.

 

[In Response]

While it is normal to take fast acting insulin before a meal, I can understand how this can be challenging with a young child, especially if they are a fussy eater because you need to calculate the dose based on what will be eaten.
For this reason, I have seen suggestions to take it after eating during this phase but slowly move it to taking beforehand when eating patterns are more stable.

 

[kksingh]

I guess your family is already following whatever advice the hospital diabetes nurses gave you.
What age is your daughter? If she is a baby or a toddler, the advice from the diabetes team used to be to watch how much of her food she has eaten, and then inject insulin immediately after the food. However, it is important that you learn carbohydrate counting.
If she is older, then she will do carbohydrate counting for her portion of food and inject prior to the meal.

Thanks Elana
As my daughter is 6 years old and when we got discharged from hospital they advised the insulin doses short acting 5-6-5 and long acting 8 units in the night.

But now we are giving short acting 0.5-0.5-1 units and long acting 2 for night but still hypo is happening during night & day.

We are not sure whether the still insulin is more,even she is having enough carbs.

 

[kksingh]

Hi and welcome. I expect you will receive many replies. Normally short-acting insulins such as Novorapid are given before the meal to allow time for it to work ready for the food. There is no fixed rule but I will inject perhaps 15 minutes before the meal. It is likely after a while that your daughter will have a longer-acting insulin such as Levemir added. This manages the background glucose output from the liver. I assume at the moment your daughter is doing finger-rick glucose testing? If you haven't been offered a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) you may want to ask for one on prescription. The typical choices are the Abbot Freestyle Libre 2 or the Dexcom G7 or similar. The advantage of these monitors which fit on the arm is that they can give an alarm on your mobile phone or reader when the blood sugar goes out of range which can be important at night if it goes too low (a hypo). Do ask any more questions.

Thanks for response!
As my daughter is 6 years old and when we got discharged from hospital they advised the insulin doses short acting 5-6-5 and long acting 8 units in the night.

But now we are giving short acting 0.5-0.5-1 units and long acting 2 for night but still hypo is happening during night & day.

We are not sure whether the still insulin is more,even she is having enough carbs

 

[Antje77]

Please contact your hospital again to ask for more advice on dosing, @kksingh .
How often are you in contact with her doctor or diabetes nurse to discuss your daughter's treatment?