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blood sugar spike before lunch

E

em0909

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi I'm type 1, on humalog and lantus.

This morning i woke, had a bowl of porridge and cup of tea with a little milk around 7.30. I had a coffee, again with a little milk around 10.30.

The problem being that on waking my sugars were 5.6mmol, I took 8u humalog (more than sufficient according to my dietician) and now my sugars are up to 13.2mmol at 12.30!!!

I had nothing sugary, the only carbs all day came from porridge and milk ( around 100ml in all from both the tea and coffee).

I'm confused at this and want to know if anyone could explain this to me??
 
Three possibilities, your basal needs increasing (do some basal tests if unsure), your insulin-to-carb ratio needs adjusting or porridge isn't the breakfast for you, if this mornings readings are a one-off and your usually fine then I would eat the same again tomorrow and see what results you get.
 
Is this your normal routine for eating and insulin or has something changed?

Do you feel ill?
Have you checked that both your insulins are OK, in date, not gone cloudy or wispy, not out of the fridge too long?

Any chance your 1230 test was contaminated or just wrong? Did you repeat the test?
 
Do you calculate your 8u Humalog dose based on the carbs you eat, or is it a fixed dose? Does your dietician advise your insulin doses?
 
nobleheads advise is good..........

the basal or bolus may need adjusting...........

you can tell if it s the bolus if by the 4-5 hour mark post dose, your number is above target..........

if there on target it means you need to get the insulin in to your system for longer before you actually eat.......

whats the time period between giving the insulin and eating the porridge.....?
 
Hello @em0909

Welcome,

Your waking blood sugar is fine. In addition to @noblehead, @Spiker and @novorapid have said, check a few things.
  • That the insulin is in date and not spoiled
  • That a fresh needle is used each time and after an air shot
  • That the pen is delivering the correct amount of insulin
 
Ok tried again today! Porridge with tea, then a coffee.

Fresh needle, fresh cartridge & upped my humalog to 10u.

Dietician advises 2-2.5u of insulin per 10g carb so i calculate my carbs for breakfast at around 35g carbs as i don't have much porridge!

Sugars are 15!!! ***!! Time between dosing and eating is probably 15mins. This is supposed to be fine on humalog as you could even dose after meals apparently.

The last time I was at hospital the doc asked me to reduce my basal as I was having lots of hypos during the night.

Porridge is meant to be good slow acting carbs, could it be the coffee and tea pulling me up??
 
No I doubt it's the coffee and tea unless you make your coffee with just milk.

Try doing a basal fasting test tomorrow, if your bg remains pretty level then ditch the porridge and try something like scrambled eggs on 1 slice a toast and see how you get on, I add fats to my morning porridge in the ways of seeds and natural yogurt that stops it spiking too much, but if your levels are high throughout the morning then it's either one of the two I've mentioned before.

A brief explanation on basal testing:

http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007
 
em0909 said:
Ok tried again today! Porridge with tea, then a coffee.

Fresh needle, fresh cartridge & upped my humalog to 10u.

Dietician advises 2-2.5u of insulin per 10g carb so i calculate my carbs for breakfast at around 35g carbs as i don't have much porridge!

Sugars are 15!!! ***!! Time between dosing and eating is probably 15mins. This is supposed to be fine on humalog as you could even dose after meals apparently.

...

Porridge is meant to be good slow acting carbs, could it be the coffee and tea pulling me up??
Click to expand...

It could be the caffeine pushing up your BG. That sometimes happens.

We need to know what your BG was before the porridge and how long after the porridge did you get the 15 BG reading.

I would suggest you weigh the porridge oats.

Also 1u of Humalog per 3-4g of carbs sounds like a high bolus dose. More usual would be nearer 1u per 10g ch or for a newly diagnosed person 1u per 20g ch. How did your dietician arrive at this bolus ratio for you?
 
Also is this plain porridge from oats or is a packaged instant porridge that might have sugar added? Check the label for the carb count.
 
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