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Afternoon highs

becky.ford93

Well-Known Member
Messages
244
Location
Exeter
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've been using the freestyle libre for the last few weeks (life changer!!) and noticed, as I had already anticipated, that I'm often running high in the afternoons after lunch. I work in an office so I'm not able to be particularly active in the afternoons, and find often my blood sugar stays fairly high until I walk home. It's come down to the right range by the time I get to dinner, so my ratio is working fine, but I'm sure it must be making a big impact by running high for 3-4 hours each day.

I usually eat homemade soup with wholemeal bread, or a wholemeal sandwich, and then usually some popcorn or a yoghurt and a couple of pieces of fruit. I've been spreading it out over a few hours in an attempt to prevent a big spike but it doesn't seem to be doing enough.

I'm starting to think my best option might be to eat lower carb/low GL at lunch times but I study as well as work full time so don't have time to spend hours meal prepping. If anyone has any suggestions for easy lunches that don't cause spikes I'd be very grateful, or any other suggestions for how to combat this! Thanks

(NB I'm on Novorapid and Lantus)
 
How long before you eat do you inject your novorapid? I used to find if i did my jab just before eating I would spike after lunch and come down levl(ish) about the same time as yourself. I then started to inject 20-30 mins before.
I have just been moved from Novorapid to Fiasp. WOW the Fiasp works pretty much straight away, it's going to take some getting used to. Will agree with you about the Libre, an amazing piece of kit
 
Hi @becky.ford93 Personally if this was me then I would increase my bolus/carb ratio for lunch and eat a low carb lunch, I too am office bound in the day and i've found by eating low carb and increasing my bolus I can halt this, again I go low-ish around school run time and this is when I am more likely to hypo during the day.

I generally eat a salad or soup for lunch and snack on nuts to keep hunger at bay.
 

I've been injecting about 10-15 minutes before but perhaps I should increase this a bit.

Thanks @Juicyj , I think that's probably gonna be the way forward for me too. Shouldn't be too painful eating a salad now that we're coming into Spring
 
Oddly enough today i've been desk bound and had soup for lunch and have been coasting above 12, so looking forward to escaping and getting the insulin pumping around my body properly again !! It was triggered by a biscuit around 11am (which I never normally have but someone bought some in and couldn't resist one.. )
 
Spreading it out will just make it more difficult in my opinion.....

experimenting with the dose lead in would be my first choice...maybe try 20 or 30 minutes.....
 

I couldn't resist a Twirl finger mid morning that a colleague brought in haha
 

Sometimes having a little treat is nice. Hopefully some diabetic biscuits do exist. I have digestives when I leave school
 
Like @novorapidboi26 says would spreading it out not be MORE of a problem as you would presumably still have some of the carbs eaten later working after your bolus had stopped working?
Anyways I'd stretch the pre-bolus out first rather than heading straight down a low carb route, but that's just my opinion, many would disagree xx
 
Olives, cheese, nuts and hard boiled eggs make a good lunch that needs minimal prep and can be eaten without cutlery if you’re on the run. Bits of cold meat, salami, smoked salmon, tuna, avocado etc might need some spanners, but also pretty faff-free. I have an insulated lunch bag where I keep a set of cutlery, sharp knife (with guard), a collapsible bowl and a black pepper grinder for when I’m out and about, plus a small plastic bag for putting any dirties in. Means I can eat anywhere easily
 
Have you considered doing a basal test at work? Reason I ask is that I work in an office and was having similar issues in the past ie running high after lunch for few hours but by tea time was back in range. Turned out my basal needed to be increased from 10am to 2pm and my bolus needed reducing slightly... maybe this is something to consider?
 
I had the same issue a while ago and changed my lunch habit (left out the fruit and moved that to another time) and injected earlier then normal. But I believe FIASP is good when you have afternoon highs. Might be worth discussing it with your care team
 
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