Correction doses outside of meals

[TROUBR]

Do any of you correct at other times of the day other than lunch? I have just done the DAFNE course (or rather ALFFI our local name for it!) and we have been told to test and correct with snacks but if you are on the basal / bolus do you correct if you are higher than you would like at bed time.

Also if you do this do you have a snack as well - I know they (the DSN's etc) frown upon injecting fast acting without eating unless it is a "sick day"(but I don't know why).

I have often been tempted to do this (if it has been a while since I ate and I must have just mucked up my CHO intake / doses) but have never dared so I would like the advise of those more experienced.

Many Thanks

Louise

 

[chocoholic]

Well, I have recently had a few correction doses before bedtime. I am not happy going to bed on too high a figure. Having said that, I am trying to work things out pretty much by trial and error but I haven't heard anything about NOT doing a correction dose without food. It seems more sensible to me. If you've not had food for 3 hours or more and you are unhappy with reading being too high, it seems pefectly logical to correct then. I'd be interested in others opinions on this one.

 

[mikeyuk]

I correct whenever I need to. If you never want to get a low follow the never correct within 5 hours of insulin advice.

But Im comfortable with hypos and would rather deal with low levels than high ones.

 

[fergus]

Hi Louise,

I would certainly use a correction dose if my bs was higher than normal a couple of hours after eating. There are lots of things to take into account of course - exercise before and after, alcohol, the food last eaten, the insulin itself, blood glucose level, time of day etc. but once you know how you react to your insulin, it should be fairly straightforward.

All the best,

fergus

 

[LittleSue]

I was told at DAFNE to correct at mealtimes or bedtime. (Told not to correct with daytime snacks). I would correct a high at bedtime but don't overdo the correction, and consider how confident you are of carb content of dinner and whether bs has had time to return to baseline. No need for a snack just cos you're correcting a high, just be cautious with the dose. If in doubt (esp. if you tend to sleep through hypos) you could set an alarm for 2-3 hours later and test again.

 

[TROUBR]

Thanks for all your replies. Sorry regarding the snack I should have said that we were told to correct if we took our BG before a snack over 10 CHO.

I have still yet to determine why we were told not to correct without eating but I am willing to go for it as I hate to go to bed high if I have no idea why (ie would leave it if I had eaten shortly before etc)

Thanks for your comments,

Louise

 

[mikeyuk]

Its probably more so that your previous insulin has ran its course and the times you eat are more likely for this to be the case. For example if you test 2 hours after you eat and you're running high and you correct, you may have enough insulin onboard already to bring you down, it just hasn't ran its course yet and correcting early will lead you to an inevitable hypo.

OTOH like I said before I can deal with hypos after so many years, so this doesn't bother me and I correct anyway