im newly diagnosed and i just increased my background insulin as my blood sugar was always 14ish so now ive increased it my bloods are always like 7 or 14 and nothing in between is this something i should worry about or is it not important?
blood sugar always changing changing
- Thread starter ellie09
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Heya @ellie09
Guessing your type 1 ?
If so, then as a newly diagnosed your levels will change without rhyme or reason as your body adjusts to getting a regular supply of insulin, you may well even find that your initial insulin dosing needs reigning back too as your pancreas (now working under less stress) will attempt to kick some insulin out too, called the honeymoon.
Just keep in regular contact with your diabetes teams to manage your insulin doses, but do keep a record if you can which will help identify trends and patterns which helps with insulin dosing adjustments.
It does take time for your body to adjust so try to take it easy and not stress too much seeing fluctuations, it's adjusting to the new 'norm'.
Guessing your type 1 ?
If so, then as a newly diagnosed your levels will change without rhyme or reason as your body adjusts to getting a regular supply of insulin, you may well even find that your initial insulin dosing needs reigning back too as your pancreas (now working under less stress) will attempt to kick some insulin out too, called the honeymoon.
Just keep in regular contact with your diabetes teams to manage your insulin doses, but do keep a record if you can which will help identify trends and patterns which helps with insulin dosing adjustments.
It does take time for your body to adjust so try to take it easy and not stress too much seeing fluctuations, it's adjusting to the new 'norm'.
In Response
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The purpose of your background insulin is to keep your levels stable not reduce them.
So, if they were 14 and stayed at 14, the dose was probably about right but you needed a fast acting insulin to lower them.
That said, it is not a good idea to lower your levels too fast as that can cause other issues in small blood vessels such as in your eyes.
So, if they were 14 and stayed at 14, the dose was probably about right but you needed a fast acting insulin to lower them.
That said, it is not a good idea to lower your levels too fast as that can cause other issues in small blood vessels such as in your eyes.
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Hi @ellie09
I am assuming you are T1 and on a basal (background insulin) / bolus (short acting insulin) regime. If this is not the case you should probably ignore the rest of this post.
As @In Response said, the basal insulin is meant to keep you steady when you are not eating and not injecting bolus (typically if you go to bed a few hours after having an evening meal and its bolus then if your morning level is the same as your evening one then you know the basal is right.
Once your basal is right you can use your bolus both to balance the carbohydrate in your meals and, if necessary as a correction dose to bring your levels down if they are too high. Your team should help you work out whether your basal is right and then supply you with ratios that allow you to calculate how much insulin to give for carbs and how much insulin to give as a correction dose.
People vary massively in how much insulin they need so dosing is a very personal process and only experience will tell you how much your particular body needs. And insulin needs can be affected by all sorts of things - illness, exercise, hormones. Some T1s joke that the colour of socks they wear in the morning makes a difference.
Hopefully your team are in very close contact with you at the moment and helping you manage your levels down. My 3 3suggestions would be
1) Feel free to pester your diabetic care team with questions (as well as these forums, but we're not allowed to give dosage advice)
2) Don't panic if it takes a while to get the hang of things
3) Always have sugar with you in case of hypos (low blood sugar)
Good luck
ps And when you read the posts by T2s here remember that their condition is very different to yours.
I am assuming you are T1 and on a basal (background insulin) / bolus (short acting insulin) regime. If this is not the case you should probably ignore the rest of this post.
As @In Response said, the basal insulin is meant to keep you steady when you are not eating and not injecting bolus (typically if you go to bed a few hours after having an evening meal and its bolus then if your morning level is the same as your evening one then you know the basal is right.
Once your basal is right you can use your bolus both to balance the carbohydrate in your meals and, if necessary as a correction dose to bring your levels down if they are too high. Your team should help you work out whether your basal is right and then supply you with ratios that allow you to calculate how much insulin to give for carbs and how much insulin to give as a correction dose.
People vary massively in how much insulin they need so dosing is a very personal process and only experience will tell you how much your particular body needs. And insulin needs can be affected by all sorts of things - illness, exercise, hormones. Some T1s joke that the colour of socks they wear in the morning makes a difference.
Hopefully your team are in very close contact with you at the moment and helping you manage your levels down. My 3 3suggestions would be
1) Feel free to pester your diabetic care team with questions (as well as these forums, but we're not allowed to give dosage advice)
2) Don't panic if it takes a while to get the hang of things
3) Always have sugar with you in case of hypos (low blood sugar)
Good luck
ps And when you read the posts by T2s here remember that their condition is very different to yours.
