Hello sarah
from reading yr msgs..... I take it that you are using Humalog Mix which is a twice daily insulin and not Humalog bolus which is a fast acting insulin and needs to be injected before eating a main meal (3 times a day)?
With the twice daily insulin its important to eat 'little and often' to balance out the insulins action on controlling yr bg levels. If you bg test every 2-3hrs, you should be able to slowly reduce the insulin as you eat less food containing carbohydrate. At the moment, yr bg levels are a bit on the high side of being ideal but if you inject the current dose of insulin and dont eat any carb, although yr bg will go lower, you will also go a bit hypo as you have found out. So reduce the carb slowly and eat the small main meals and also a small snack to stop the low bg.....and unfortunately......test yr bg every 2hrs so that you can balance out the carb and insulin correctly. The more food we all eat, the more the pancreas gland has to produce insulin in type 2 diabdtics to get bg levels to lower but if too much food is eaten, the excess is stored on the body as fat leading to seight gain. With type 1s, we need to inject insulin but the weight gain issue is more or less the same and in the end, we start to need more and more insulin as we start to get resistant to its action.... So, lose some weight by eating less carb and at the same time, adjust the insulin slowly downward through the bg tests you do.
After my sermon..... welcom to this forum... you will find out loads of info about food and how we all manage our bg levels
Oh gosh Sarah, the carb intake varies from person to person. When I was a bit younger and at work, my daily carb intake on Humalog Mix was about 120-150g per day but this was calculated by me to keep my bodyweight ideal for my height and to keep my clothes size to be a size 10-12.
Before you became diabetic, what was your average clothes size before putting on weight? Nowadays, I'm not at work anymore so I tailor my carb intake according to the activity that I do and what dress size I want to be. I cant afford to go off buying new clothes too often so I make do as much as I can and still keep my dress size to be between 10-12 which is about right for my height.
At the moment I guess I would say start with eating 120g per day and just adjust the Humalog Mix to keep yr bg levels at a sensible level. For me, a sensible level is to be about 6mmol (give or take) before a main meal and then be about 8.5mmol 2.5hrs later as then the Mix should lower you back to be about 6mmol again over a period of 4hrs. You may or may not, need to eat a small snack mid morning or mid afternoon. If you want to leave eating a snack just to find out whether you will go towards being hypo, do so but keep testing and as soon as you feel a bit low, eat a 10g carb snack to offset the insulin's action. Obviously if your bg levels are below 8.5mmol at the 2.5hr mark, then definately eat a small snack. Io youve not eaten enough carb for the main meal, and you find yourself very low, then eat a jellybaby or have a cuppa with a tsp of sugar in it and then eat the biccie. A really good way to sort out bg results with the insulin injected and carb eaten is to log it all down in a bg monitoring diary and then through a bit of trial and error, you'll be able to adjust the carb to the action of the insulin.
Has your dsn or doctor given you any guidelines as to what bg you should aim to be at before eating a main meal and then 2.5hrs later? I say this because aiming to be at 6mmol before eating at the moment might not be too good especially as yr bg levels have been fairly high for a while. Probably best to adjust the insulin and carb to give a safer bg which you can then slowly adjust bit by bit over a month at a time so that yr bg levels go lower but do so safely and not quickly. The eating 'little and often' is a fairly good way to sort out bg levels.
Not sure what is causing yr swollen feet? Have a look on the internet for side effects of any of the tabs you have been taking. If the swelling is not going down and is causing you disclomfort, apart from raising the feet up on a pillow in bed or lying down during the day on a sofa with feet raised on a poufee or stool, I would advise you go back to the GP to find out what is causing the swelling.
Hope this helps you a bit and that you understand what I am saying.
Sarah....has this other doctor also prescribed Humalog bolus along with the Lantus basal? If so, then you will need some guidance a bit on creating an insulin to carb ratio for the food you want to eat. How often do you need to inject the Lantus?
LCh(enough)F is more accurate I think.Hi Sarah,
Easy to say, I know, but the main thing is not to let it get you down. Tell yourself repeatedly that you're going to beat this - or at least get it in a half Nelson it can't escape from.
I'm T2 on insulin - NovoMix30. Do not understand all this Lantus and stuff - thought that was just T1s. The thing that drove me mad for the first year was the conflicting information the health pros give out. Ask a good doctor what a 'normal' blood glucose reading should be and he'll know enough to duck the question. Ask a nurse and you'll get different answers. One I got on well with told me 11. One I liked just as much pinned a notice on my door telling night staff if my bloods were below 10 last thing they were to make me sandwiches and sweet tea. Perhaps an iced cake with marzipan would have helped. During the five weeks I was in hospital after they woke me up I had more sugar than I'd had for years!
One suggestion, take everything these health pros tell you with a pinch of salt. Not too much 'cos salt isn't good for you. On any issue, see what they say; troll the forum here; ask here, and make the best decision you can based on logic and the accumulated advice. You have more intrinsic knowledge of these matters than many of us - you're in the business.
Get to know your GP practice's routine. For example, I always make appointments mornings, latest 10am. I take two urine sample bottles. They dip one and if it's negative I ask them to send the other away for testing. The point? Bladder infections seem quite common and play merry hell with my blood glucose readings. And I happen to have learnt that their last time for sending samples for testing is 10:30. Several times their dips have said OK - testing away said otherwise.
Low carb is definitely the way to go. Not sure about high fat - I'm sort of medium fat. Reduced my Novomix30 from 32 units a day at the end of April to average 8-9 over the past couple of months while stabilizing blood sugars at about 6.5 av. I'm another fan of LCH?F and the diet Doctor.
J.
I don't go to the forum there, if you start your own thread here, I will gladly give my tuppence worth and might be better because it will be diabetics replyingI use fitness pal too. In fact I could do with more friends and support. At the moment the macros are 10% carb 20% protein and 70% fats. Just starting. It is difficult. My username claymic. Thank you
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Not sure on this Sarah but I think the GP should conzider referring you to see a D consultant at hospital or at least a qualified DSN. Tney should be able to sort you out with the correct insulin regime and give you correct dietary guidance. In the meantime test bg levels every 3nrs and eat a lowish carb diet as the action from Lantus is not that fast......its a lot slower than twice daily Humalog Mix. Adjust the carb to tne bg levels you want to be at with the amount of Lantus injected.
Hi thanks for the reply. To be honest I don't go on the forums there either. Would it be good if they had an app for their forums like this oneI don't go to the forum there, if you start your own thread here, I will gladly give my tuppence worth and might be better because it will be diabetics replying
You'r welcome to message me too
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