Can I take my insulin even though I am not eating?

You should take your basal (long acting) insulin but NOT your bolus (meal time) insulin if you're not eating @Alex_B

Yes, it's potentially dangerous.

Alex_B said:

Is it dangerous? Should I have not taken my meal time insulin?

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If you take insulin to cover a meal that you're not going to eat, that is dangerous because the insulin can make you have a severe hypo without food.

If you've already taken meal time insulin now and aren't going to eat, you need to balance that insulin with food (carbs) so that you don't have a hypo.

What's your blood sugar? How much did you inject? What would you normally eat for this dose?

If u take ur mealtime insulin then you must have something to eat. yes it is dangerous ! u must eat something to avoid dropping ur BG too low. try cook something light, porridge or least drink something please.

Alex_B said:

Thank you! I've been trying to tell people that its not an excuse. I really do want to take my insulin so when the NHS fund for insulin pumps I can get one. I haven't took it today because I just haven't ate anything. Last time I took my insulin was yesterday afternoon, I took about 13 novorapid. My blood sugars are 18.3, I just checked them.

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Ok. Is it your teeth/infection making your blood sugar high? If so, perhaps you need antibiotics?

Keep taking your basal insulin (Levemir or Lantus or whichever one you take) because you need that even if you don't eat.

The fast acting/meal time insulin is just for food, so if you miss a meal you don't need to inject. It can also be used to correct high sugars (that's called a correction dose). When you spoke to your DSN, did they tell you about correction doses? If you're concerned, you could phone them and have a chat about your teeth problems and your blood sugar. They're there to help

If you can't eat solid food, you could try soup, cereal (like Ready Brek or Weetabix) or similar foods

If you're in a lot of pain, see if your dentist can give you an emergency appointment.

When your mum phones the dentist, she could mention you're diabetic.

I had to have an emergency appointment once and my dentist was very good and saw me the following morning as an emergency. Make sure your mum says you're in pain.

If you can't eat hot or warm things, then perhaps cereal like Weetabix would be best. You can leave until it's nice and soft and then you should be able to swallow it without chewing.

With your Mac and Cheese, leave it until it's tepid and maybe cut it in too little pieces, so you hardly have to chew.

There are toothpastes like Sensodyne that can help with sensitivity. You can rub them in your teeth. If your mum's at work and close to shops, perhaps she could get you some to try. It's often on offer.

The dentist should make clear whats going on and you can go from there.....

it sounds like infection may be contributing to the higher blood sugars...once you get rid of that you can then start looking at your doses with a view to adjusting them...

Most dentists will fit in an emergency appointment the same or following day if you are on their books. In the UK dental hospitals can sometimes help if you are near one.

Mod edit to remove a deleted quote.

Alex_B said:

I haven't been eating because of severe teeth pain, everything I eat causes me pain that I can't get rid of even with tablets. So I stopped eating until I can get into the dentist (hopefully this week) Can I still take my insulin even though I am not eating? I have been told by multiple Diabetes Nurses that I can't because its "dangerous" I have been taking it but I am a bit anxious if it is actually dangerous.

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Definitely shouldn't take your fast acting insulin if you're not eating, as the insulin will have no sugar to break up and you'll just have lots of hypos. Can't you drink sugary drinks through a straw? You can't just not eat, it will only end badly. What about soup?
All the best.

Alex_B said:

I haven't been eating because of severe teeth pain, everything I eat causes me pain that I can't get rid of even with tablets. So I stopped eating until I can get into the dentist (hopefully this week) Can I still take my insulin even though I am not eating? I have been told by multiple Diabetes Nurses that I can't because its "dangerous" I have been taking it but I am a bit anxious if it is actually dangerous.

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Hi I've been type fa 5yrs now. I've jus got out of hospital cuz my bloods were too high but the diabetic nurse said to me that I must still take my day pen aswell as my night time. Reason bein is cuz when ya not eatin your keytones build up so the insulin you take in the day will only affect ya keytones but that's only if they rise above 1'5. Normal would be 0,5. Jus take less than normal an jus check a little more often. Hope this helps

Those would be correction doses @Robert_78 You should follow your nurse's advice but the general rule is not to bolus if you don't eat. I don't think the OP here has been told his correction ratio so that would,be something he needs to,check with his nurse before making any corrections.

Hi, new member. Had type 1 diabetes for over 20 years now, but I have a question.

First of all wow :O I can't believe Alex B was ready to keep taking his fast acting insulin without eating, and put "dangerous" in quotes... have you never had a hypo before? :O

Secondly, I wonder if any of you can help me... My question is regarding the long lasting (lantus) insulin. Should I still take this if I'm not eating? Azure you did already say "You should take your basal (long acting) insulin but NOT your bolus (meal time) insulin if you're not eating"

But I'm not talking about missing a meal, I'm talking about going at least three days with no food. I'm keeping an eye on my blood sugar and last I checked it was 7.1 m/mol (which is what I consider to be a great level). I haven't eaten anything today so I haven't done any insulin and it seems to be working as my blood glucose is okay.

Now my first instinct is do take my lantus anyway, because I take that every day regardless of what I've eaten, and normally just adjust my Novorapid for food. However I'm not sure if this is still the right thing to do when I'm not eating anything at all. I don't actually know how the Lantus works.. I've just always taken it once a day. The Novorapid makes sense to me; it lets my body absorb the sugars from my blood stream so I have to balance out the carbs I eat with insulin. But where does the long lasting insulin come in?

I always thought maybe it's for absorbing the slowest of all the carbs and it takes all day to do so. Like, the Lantus needs to be going 24/7 to keep my blood sugar down and the Novorapid is just like a bonus to stop it spiking when I eat.
If this is the case, then surely someone who eats absolutely no food at all should not be taking either type of insulin? Or at least a lower dose than usual of the Lantus?

I know this is an old thread, but I hope someone can help because I'm really unsure about this. Thanks

Thanks. My thought process was similar to that. However you say "When fasting, the body steadily releases glucose into the blood to our cells supplied with energy." but if I'm not eating anything at all for days where is that glucose coming from? I assume that when it says "fasting" it means normal everyday fasting like when you go to sleep.

Last night I decided to do half my normal dose of basal and I kept getting low blood sugar throughout the night. Luckily I had some granulated sugar, which I mixed into water and drank.

To answer your question, I have no money for food.