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Correcting in the evening

R

Rich1889

Active Member
Messages
26
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone,

Over Christmas I've been able to control my morning and day sugars well but eating meals out at night has caused some high bedtime readings. I've obviously not calculated the carbs correctly so had bgs at 14 plus!

Still new to carb counting so sure I will get better at guessing restaurant carbs but in the meantime, what should I do?

I can't seem to find any guidance on correction bolus outside of meal times and nervous about doing so before bed. I have tried increasing my basal but this has little impact over night and I end up correcting with my breakfast instead.

Any thoughts appreciated
 
Here's some info on how to work out a correction dose - https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/PandV/PIL/P...ets/Correcting a high blood glucose level.pdf

The 100 rule doesn't really work for me. It's just a starting point. Like everything else you'll have to work out what works for you by trial and error.

If your starting off the trial and error with a correction dose before bed do set an alarm to test in the night and make sure you have hypo treatments to hand.
 
Hi @Rich1889 I always test two hours after my evening meal, so if there's any correction to do, I can do it then.

I would be wary of correcting at bedtime, and if I needed to (eg for your 14), I'd aim for a higher final number than I would do during the day. I would also set an alarm for the night to get up and test.

Has your DSN not given you a correction dose eg 1 unit drops you 3mmol or whatever?
 
The rule I use for corrections is "estimate where my sugar will eventually stabilise at, and correct based on that".

For instance, if I hit 14 two hours after dinner, I know that I will probably come back down maybe to 10. So I correct as if I were at 10.

But if I'm 14 four hours after dinner, then I will correct as if I am at 14.
 
Thanks all, some useful thoughts and ideas and obviously important to check during the night. Still a little worried about night time response and how it affects me so need to monitor closer.

I am aware only through research that it is circa 1 unit per 3mmol but will make sure I check with my dsn as think mine will be different.

Interesting yet simple thought @mentat thank you. Night reading is always skewed as you can easily forget about the 4 hours principal
 
Never hear of that 100 rule, seems OK though.....well, nearly, it works out at 1.5 for me......but over a 24 hour period I am between 1.8 and 2.0, so its very close......;)
 
I'm very wary of correcting at bedtime. Have you done a dafne or Bertie course about carb counting and ratios? I ask because it's the I learned about different ratios for different times of day made a big difference to my control. Good luck with it.
 
Based on those calculationa my ISF is 6.5 so based on the other night I would only have needed 0.7 of a unit. Given I'm on novo rapid, I can only do full units so that would have meant I'd have to go lower than I wanted.

Not done the Dafne yet @col101 as still only 3 months in but trying to read as much a possible
 
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