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Advice needed please!!!

R

rhial

Newbie
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3
Hi,
I'm hoping there is someone who would be able to give me a little advice, my mother has type 2 diabetes and has recently been started on insulin (About 3 weeks ago). Over the past week she has experienced numerous hypoglycaemic episodes where her blood glucose levels have been between about 2.4 and 3.5. This evening her blood glucose level before meal was 3.5 and she took her insulin and had meal. At 9pm it was 2.4. I was wondering whether she should still be having the insulin when her levels are on the lower side or what she should be doing? Will be really grateful for any help. :(
 
Hi rhial.

It sounds very much like your mother needs to possibly adjust the Insulin doseage and/or the food intake. One or both may well be out !

The best advice is to see your GP or DSN and get advice as above. Hypoglycaemic levels are not good for anybody. The main causes are usually too much Insulin, not enough food, delayed meals, Stress and also unusual amounts of exercise.......either way it needs sorting ASAP.
 
Thanks for your reply, i'm so grateful for any advice!
She has altered the insulin dose in a morning which doesn't appear to have made a huge difference. Should she still have the insulin if the blood glucose level is low or should she omit it and just have the meal?
 
Hi rhial.

I'm afraid I am not an Insulin user and was hoping one would be along soon and able to assist you. In the meantime I can only offer my advice as previous.
 
Hi rhial

I'm type 1, on insulin, but the advice I was given ( which admittedly is personal and relevant only to me) was to delay injecting insulin before a meal if my levels were low.

If your mother was at 3.5 before eating last night, she was already hypoglycemic, and should not have taken her insulin when she did.

If my readings are 4 or lower before a meal, I take my insulin after I have finished eating, as advised by my diabetician. But I am not a specialist, you need to have a word with your mother's diabetes nurse, as your mother needs to get her insulin/carbohydrate balance sorted out to prevent these hypos in the future.
 
Hi rhial, im a T2 on insulin and occasionally get an unexpected low reading, and when I do I simply decrease my next insulin shot by 1 unit which for me is enough to return my bg level to 'in range' numbers.

BUT, everyone is different and your mother should talk to her diabetes nurse/team if she is at all unsure of self management and adjustment, call your mums diabetes centre now and ask for advice, it is not nice or good to have repeated hypos.

Hope this helps
 
Hi rhial,

The frequent hypo's that your mother is experiencing can be quite easily corrected. One option is to reduce her insulin by 1-2 units and see if this stops her pre-meal hypo. Another is to increase the carbs she eats at each meal, say another 10-20g of carbs, the choice is entirely your mothers. Should her meals be adequate and she wishes to eat no more carbs, cut back the insulin, alternatively if she feels she could accommodate extra carbs then increase her carb intake.

I know that type 2's have problems with getting test strips on prescription, but it may be worth your mum testing say 1 hour before her next meal, then she can correct hypo and then have her insulin prior to eating her next meal as per normal. As always, it is all about testing, both pre/post meal times. As your mum is new to insulin it may take a little time to find the right balance, but if you are in doubt, get in touch with her diabetes clinic.

Hope all goes well

Nigel
 
hya and welcome,
if im low at a meal i correct the hypo with gluco tabs then inject as normal,if you need to ask anything else, plz feel free :D
 
rhial said:
This evening her blood glucose level before meal was 3.5 and she took her insulin and had meal.(
Click to expand...

Hi Rhial,

She should absolutely not have had insulin when she was already hypoglycaemic. It will also take about half an hour after the meal for the effects of the carbohydrates to take effect so what I would personally do in this situation is wait an hour after eating and then take a reduced dosage of insulin - either than or consume more carbohydrates than 'normal'.

Linda
 
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