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Confused And Need Some Clarity

J

joeynomates1969

Well-Known Member
Messages
68
I'm type 2 and now take short and long acting insulin. The nurse at the docs has told me to increase my lantus by 2 every 3 days. I'm on 30 units at the moment. However I have noticed that my morning levels are creeping up in to the 13s on fasting. They were 10mmol. Yes, still high but I've only been in this for a month.

I was admitted in to hospital recently, hence why I'm now on insulin. I've finally spoken to the diabetic nurses there who are now telling me a different story Im now being told to split my lantus dose to morning and evening, having 20 units in the morning and 10 in the evening. Thismorning ive gone to check my fasting level and it was 20.1mmol. Obviously I am panicking now. Should I have just listened to my nurse at the docs and continued increase the dose every few days or was the hospital correct to say to go no higher than 30 units per day and split the dose instead?

Sorry for the not so short post.
 
Hi @joeynomates1969 ,

I appreciate that being type two yourself there are other possible things like insulin resistance happening?
Splitting the Lantus dose can be benificial in order to maintain a flatter/stable baseline for a 24 hour duration..

Here is a helpful link regarding basal testing.. https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/
Of course discuss this with your HCPs!

Having said all that.. & sorted out your basal. (Lantus.) You may need to work out your insulin to carb ratio.? That's the fast acting to what you eat.
What are you testing at before a meal & 2 hours after? Not enough novorapid for the carbs consumed, could leave you hanging high for prolonged periods...? (Regardless of how tight the basal rate is.)

Hope this helps?
 
Hi @joeynomates1969 ,
The first thing is DONT PANIC
I take it that you are only recently diagnosed and are now learning that diabetes is complicated, shifty and as such you are the only one to make decisions regarding it but not without help from your medical staff.
If you are taking such a large dose of lantus it makes sense to split it morning/evening so that you get a better spread over the day. As far as the total quantity the reason you should increase it every few days is to give it time to work and so avoid overshooting. Basal/Bolus schemes get even more tricky trying to determine what is working and when. I found the book "Think Like a Pancreas" to have everything you will need except the time to read it and understand / translate from US numbers to UK numbers which is also explained. The things that effect your blood sugar levels are many and now you have to learn what suits you and what doesn't. Every body has to go through the same process and the people here are always willing to help. Good luck in your future - it will get better.
 
Thank youfornyour reply...it is certainly tricky, that's for sure. I'm battling with an infection...an abcess, so this could be why I'm struggling with my blood sugars. I've been type 2 for a while but have burried my head in the sand for some time until I ended up in hospital a few weeks ago!! I. Behaving a bit now, but because of my recent scare, I. Just finding it all a bit overwhelming, and with all the different advice being thrown at me...it's just messed with my head!! I've been to see my GP this morning who has told me to stick with the once a day lantus for a bit as changing it has "messed my bloods up a bit"... when I told him I was low carbing his face lit up like it was Christmas! Found out that he's a low carber too but has to keep it "under the radar " because he doesn't follow NHS guidelines! I'm seeing my nurse at the docs next week so I'll ask her if I can split the dose . On a good note, my HBA1C is 9.9....the last one was 11.something so Ive been told that this is a good turn around...

(...and to keep on low carbing!)
 
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