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Confused about pre-surgery insulin - advice please!

H

HamSandwich

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My husband is having elective surgery on Friday afternoon. He is on Levemir (12 at night, 5 in morning) and Novorapid.

We had a phone call today from the hospital to say he has to have breakfast before 6am on Friday but to take no insulin at all, and then to eat nothing, and drink only water till 11am. At 1pm he has to show up with blood glucose between 5 and 8, ready for the operation.

Does this sound feasible? I find it quite worrying. He normally has highish blood sugar mid-morning - it's when his insulin seems least effective. We were told on the phone that taking no insulin would mean no problems with blood sugar.

I suppose if he has a no-carb breakfast at before 6am this might be OK. They didn't say no-carb though.

We are asking for more information tomorrow, but could do with a bit of advice here please!
 
Check with them again, even with a no-carb breakfast (without a bolus dose) my bg levels would be in double figures by 11am, so if your husbands is usually high mid-morning then this won't get him between 5-8mmol/l.

If in doubt run it by his diabetes team, they'll speak with the clinic/ward concerned.
 
Thanks you - she seemed so surprised when I queried this that I was doubting myself.

I will talk to the diabetic nurse tomorrow. Different hospitals, but perhaps they can talk to each other. Not very confidence-inducing!
 
Unless they want your husband in DKA then he needs insulin. If breakfast is at 6 AM his bolus will be well and truly finished by 1PM anyway. You definitely need to talk to his diabetes team regardless.
Personally if they insist that's what has to be done I would refuse the surgery and go elsewhere.

Oh he definitely needs both his Levemir injections.
 
I think they're being a bit obsessive. At my last op we shared decisions and they just checked my sugars a short while before the op to check it was in the right area.
 
When I had an elective back in April they told me to disconnect my pump at 10am....I wasn't due to go Into hospital until 3pm...anyway I contacted my dsn who said to definitely not do that as I would go into dka....not that I was going to anyway...cut a long story short I kept my pump on for the op too....I know it's slightly different but he does need to take his levemir!
 
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