Re: Basal-Bolus - Not eating raises blood sugar dramatically
monkeynuts said:
I have been on Humlin M3 for 26 years and moved over to Basal-Bolus therapy back in october.
I have 36 units of Lantus (solostar) and a varied amount of Apidra (solostar) depending on what I eat.
However, if i don't eat a meal my bloody sugar constantly rises to plus 15. For example this morning (8:00) bloody sugar was 5.2 I had a glass of sugar free cordial and thats it ( i administered 4 units of Apidra as i knew it would increase). Come 11:30 it now 13.8. Therefore, I have to take fast acting insulin despite not having any food. I appreciate the liver can release glucose but i thought the long lasting insulin would be able to cope.
I am very tempted to go back to Humlin M3 were I rarely tested (HBA1C 7 - 8) rather than having to test every few hours.I am struggling to see the benefits of the Basal-Bolius system
Regards
Change back if you're not happy.
I too used to be a bit like you but once I changed to injecting the basal twice per day instead of just once and opted for Levemir instead of staying on Lantus, that's when my bg levels stayed a bit lower in the morning without needing to use a bolus to lower them.
One of ways bolus/basal insulins achieve any success is through bg testing and altering the bolus insulin using a carb to insulin calculation, so probably that's why your consultant has persuaded you to use it, so that you test more. All diabetics do need to test their bg levels, even twice daily users so hope that you were testing at least 5 times a day when on Humalin M3. Your hba1c is ok but ideally it could do with being somewhere between the high 6% to low 7% and not 8% as that will put you in some danger of probably developing background retinopathy after a few years (presuming that you are newly diagnosed).
It is a complete PITA testing bg levels as I dont like doing it myself but its a necessary evil in order to be well using insulin. Take care, you do get used to bg testing.