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Bolus Split

T

Tracie1212

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Any ideas on how to split bolus for chips and potatoes? If I inject novorapid at meal time feel really unwell with high levels after eating these carbs. I am on low carb diet but would like to eat a meal with potatoes in.

Always weigh my food and calculate there is no enjoyment to eating at the moment.

Thanks
 
Just wondering why you are thinking of splitting your bolus rather than injecting earlier.
Typically, I split my bolus for high fat meals such as curry and pizza (not together!) which causes the BG peak to last longer.
If I find a meal pushes my BG high it means the carbs are broken down before your insulin starts working. So, if you inject earlier, you should be able to match the rise on the insulin potency with the rise in your BG from the potatoes, thereby cancelling out the peak.
Unfortunately, we are all different so there is a bit of trial and error involved.
For example, if you currently inject 15 minutes before you eat and find you are going high 30 minutes after eating, try injecting 45 minutes before eating.
If it was me, I would inject all the insulin for the meal at this time and not worry about splitting the bolus.
 
Thanks for your reply. Which insulins do you inject? I'm back on MDI Novorapid and Toujeo. If I injected earlier worried about hypos.

Thanks
 
Everyone is different in the way they absorb insulin. This also seems to vary at different times of the day. And I can understand your caution. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to wear a Libre found that we could inject before a meal much further away than we had been given to believe. As long as I am above 5 I will inject at least 20 mins before and in the morning about 45 mins.
 
To avoid complicating things you would always consider experimenting with the dose timing first, rather than split a dose and have to manage that in the coming hours.....

You can just change the timing in small increments to ease any worry about hypos...
 
If I'm eating a high carb meal I'll test 20 mins before. If I'm above 6 then I'll take my insulin. Any lower and I'll wait until 10 mins before eating. I tend to get a hit from food quite quickly whereas my insulin has 15 min delay
 
My insulin tends to behave as it says on the tin, 10-15 minutes to get going.....so I always give that amount of time as a minimum......
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, level gets to 16 peak and feel so unwell when sugar levels rising. I've looked at recommended type 1 levels after 2 hours but if I kept levels that tight would have more hypos I aim for better levels four hours after novorapid has worn off . Feel like I am exception to rule with fast metabolism, life and stress find it all very miserable.
 
As has been said before I wouldn't consider split bolusing for potatoes/chips. Splitting would be for high fat meals ie pizza or rice. As @helensaramay has said I would consider an earlier bolus as your carbs are starting to work before your insulin.
 
Tracie1212 said:
Thanks for your reply. Which insulins do you inject? I'm back on MDI Novorapid and Toujeo. If I injected earlier worried about hypos.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I inject NovoRapid.
As @novorapidboi26 mentioned, you could try moving you injection time by 5 minutes at a time to see the impact and gain some confidence with hypo avoidance.

I find this depends on what I eat - some foods (usually high GI such as rice) raise my BG quickly so I need to inject earlier whereas others (such as chocolate) raise my BG slower so I need to inject later to avoid hypos followed by a high.

Tracie1212 said:
I aim for better levels four hours after novorapid has worn off .
Click to expand...
Do you mean "after NovoRapid has worn off" or after you have taken your NovoRapid?
Four hours after taking it, makes sense because, for most people NovoRapid last about 4 hours.
But 4 hours after it has worn off is 8 hours after injecting which is a long time.
 
Insulin usually takes 15-20:min to start its action depending on the insulin
I prebolus 25-30 min before meals and I’m very low carb. Bolus timing is a game changer.
 
Thanks all. Sorry I meant 4 hours after injecting . Having just had yet another hypo treated with orange juice and dextrose tablet can anyone tell me how long the juice and tablets will hold levels for I've had a museli bar too. My food peak is 90 minutes.


Seeing diabetes nurse tomorrow will ask about bolus timing I need a game changer for sure. How low carb are your meals@kirstin251.
 
Like @Kristin251 I eat very low carb, but inject Novorapid when I start to eat (or just after), as I’ll hypo if I prebolus. You’ll just need to experiment to find out what works for you, unfortunately
 
20 or less carbs per DAY. All from above ground veggies.

You may have over treated your hypo and will see a continuous rise for hours.
For ME, I have figured out one carb raises me about 7 ml/dL so depending on how much I want to rise I base my ‘treatment’ on that. I also know 1/2 unit of humalog, away from food, will lower me about 20 ml/ dL.

Keeping a journal is a great tool to help you see what foods do what, how much insulin acts on foods etc.
 
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