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BG level dropping overnight

P

pinewood

Well-Known Member
Messages
792
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I was diagnosed a month ago and I'm still trying to get to grips with the correct Lantus dose.

I started on 6 units but it wasn't enough, so they moved me up to 12 units. This was way too much, so I've been steadily decreasing it and settled on 8 units.

However, over the last 2 weeks I've still been dropping by 3 or 4 each night (e.g. I'll go to bed about 8 or 9 and wake-up at 4 or 5).

Therefore, I dropped it to 7 units last night. Went to bed and I was at 10 ... and woke up this morning at 5.2!

Really don't know what to do. Should I drop back down to 6 units?

I tend to have dinner quite late (e.g. 8.30pm) and have 2 or 3 units of NovoRapid just before. I go to bed about 11.30pm - could it be that there is NovoRapid left in my system and this is dropping me rather than the Lantus?

Thanks for any advice.
 
Waking up at 5.2 is fine. What targets did they give you? I'd stay with the dose you are using for a few days & let everything settle a bit before altering again. It may not be the lantus that is dropping you from 10 to 5.2 but the residual novorapid from your evening meal. If your meal was high in protein this would take the novorapid longer to deal with.

When I started, I devised a boring but repeatable diet & pretty much ate the same things for the first few weeks. This allowed me to find the right Novorapid for the meals I was using. Once I had that under control I turned to sorting out the Lantus.

I had been started on 20units by the hospital clinic, who explained that I should alter it up or down using the morning blood tests. If low, decrease the dose if high increase. However they also pointed out that I shouldn't alter more than 2 units either way & allow 2 to 3 days for the changes to work through.

They also explained that the 'honeymoon' period, when the pancreas starts to provide more insulin as your injected insulin takes some load from it & you recover from the initial symptoms that got you to the doctor in the first place.

Once you've settled down a bit, you could do some basal testing overnight, which is a pain as you have to set your alarm & check your blood every hour. Do a search on this forum & you'll find plenty of how-to's for it.

Hope this helps.
 
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