• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Forgetting if I took insulin?

Chloesnavy

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone.
Just wondering if this happens to anyone else. Tonight I have some how forgotten if I've taken my night time insulin (levemir). I've had type one diabetes for 18 years now, and I've barely ever forgotten, but sometimes it just happens. Wondering what to do? I don't want to obviously give myself too much in case I've already had some, but also don't wanna not take any because I wake up with sky high blood sugars!
Are there any pens out there that can prevent this? Thanks! Bad diabetic alert ‍‍
 
After so many years of injecting it does get difficult to remember whether you have or not. The Novopen Echo is great for my bolus but with my basal I also have a set time of 11 pm.
 
The Novopen 5 has a memory function, you pull the plunger/twisty bit out and in again, on the end the LCD screen displays the number of units last dosed and a circular bar graph showing how long ago it was, up to 12 hours - I did 13 units 3hours ago just looking at mine. The echo pen is the same but has half unit measures for dosing. A life saver for those times when your mind goes blank and you can't remember! Comes in a selection of colours to avoid confusion over basal and bolus pens - ask your clinic for 3, in different colours, bolus and basal and a spare!
 
These gadgets are great for the future.
However, if I forget if I have taken my basal tonight, what is the best thing to do?
Stay up with regular BG checks and measure whether fasting BG rises?
If it does, I guess you can assume you definitely forgot your basal. Do you take it later? I guess if you do, you need to take into consideration that Lantus lasts 24 hours so don't take it too early tomorrow?
Or is there another approach?
 

Agree. If I forget my Lantus basal I take it as soon as I remember and just continue my normal times for injections the next day - it does mean I need to monitor my sugars more to prevent sugars falling within the next day. However I think I would prefer monitoring it more than try to calculate to take less or try to keep pushing my sugars low with continuous bolus until it's time for basal again
 
I use the sugar app and it's great and you can see your whole history and also print it out when you have an appointment with your doctor or nurse
 
I use the novopen 5 in both colours plus a spare set and the way I remember is via setting alarms on my phone and on my blood meter so that I can remember and the dose I took which is a lot better than the novopen 4 which I have in blue and silver and are around £62 -£63 on ebay
 
I had that same problem so i told my consultant and he prescribed me a novopen 5 with a memory
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…