After Hypo!

Hi @djharg ,

Can I ask you a couple of questions,
What insulin regime are you on, do you basal/bolus?
Have you been given any instructions about carb counting?

Ok, so Humilin 1 is your basal (long acting insulin) and Novorapid is your bolus (rapid acting) insulin.

Are you matching the amount of insulin you take to the amount of carbohydrate you ingest?

djharg said:

I'm on Humulin I morning and night 14ml, also nova rapid 6ml with small meals and 8ml with my tea/dinner.
What is basal/bolus??? i have several serious illnesses but diabetes i just can't cut! Thanks for responding, djh....

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It's not so much whether the meal is small or large - it's the amount of carbohydrate in it that matters. If you take your 6 units of Novorapid for a small meal that contains lots of carbs your blood sugar may go high, but if you eat a small meal with very few carbs then your 6 units of Novorapid may actually be more than you need and could make your blood sugar low.

If you haven't been shown how to carb count and how to adjust your insulin to match the carb content if your meals, then it will be more difficult for you to get control of your diabetes.

You ask about eating something when it's not a mealtime - it depends what you want to eat. If you eat something without carbs, then that would be easiest, but if you want to eat, say, two digestive biscuits (20g carbs) you may need to have a small amount of Novorapid. Get your diabetes nurse's help with this and ask to go on a carb counting course if you haven't done one yet.

It sounds like they have you on a set dosage like they are trying to do with me. Being honest the bolus and basal dosage I've been told to do just doesn't do the trick too well when I have to manage other illnesses. I'm sure you can relate to that. If your other illnesses affect your sugar levels like mine do then you're just in for a roller coaster ride. I'm still trying to get information about how to take insulin properly. I got told 1 unit to 10g of carbs one time but this doesn't seem to work too well on me either. I seem to need a lot more insulin. These days I bolus between 16-20 units with my meals and that's just me guessing. I tend to get it right thankfully most of the time... sometimes I don't though.

In regard to your hypo... I was at least taught that. I was told to take 15g of quick acting carbs then wait 15 minutes. If sugar hasn't come up, repeat the process. I was then told that if I'm not near a meal time to eat a snack with carbs in it. I'm not sure what a tea biscuit is? If it is what I'm thinking it is in Australia then it is a refined carb biscuit with some sultanas in it? I tend to carry fruit free muesli bars on me and eat half of one of those usually (eating a full one bumps my sugar up too much).

Well there's some idea I hope that helps. Sorry I'm in the dark a bit too and here where I live I can't even attend a DAFNE course as that is only for T1's. So there are probably some tips and stuff I don't know about even though I've been on insulin 6 years. I try and learn from reading on forums like this.