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Basal Insulin

R

ReaL

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi
I have a question about my basal insulin. I adjusted it up last night to 12 units and it brought me down to a high of 12+ to 5 during the night and 7 on waking. I have fasted this morning and its sitting in the 6’s. My question is if I happen to go to bed tonight sitting at say 8 will it fall by the same degree/number overnight and cause me to hypo or does it not work like that.
Many thanks
Rea
 
The purpose of basal is to keep your blood sugars stable.
Our liver "drips" glucose into our blood stream all the time. The purpose of the basal insulin is to convert that glucose into energy our bodies can use. Slow acting insulin assumes our liver drips at a constant rate 24 hours a day.
That is a simplified explanation and there are some variations but it is a good approximation.
 
@ReaL , are you also still prescribed metformin?
 
If today was an identical day to yesterday, then the overnight drop in bg should be about the same. By identical, I mean same food, same exercise, same stress levels, same health - all of which are unlikely. However, if you take the same basal dose tonight starting from a lower bg you are risking a night time hypo, this is dangerous, please don't.

Talk to your diabetes team about how to adjust your basal/bolus levels safely.

The human body is what I would call a chaotic system, you can provide exactly the same circumstances twice (bg, food, exercise,etc.), and still get different results.
 
Jaylee said:
@ReaL , are you also still prescribed metformin?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. No longer on Metaformin have updated profile sorry. Have just got a libre so am scanning myself every 2 minutes love it!
 

Hi thanks for your reply. My diabetes team told me that if it was greater than 7 in the morning to increase by 2 units which is what I have done and had better control today.
 
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