How many times can I inject?

[Michele01]

I apologise if this seems a silly question but I was diagnosed as a Type 2 in March of this year and put on Metformin and in June on Forxiga. I ended up in hospital with exceptionally bad ketone acidosis (caused they think by the Forxiga). I was put on insulin injections after coming out of hospital but then last month was diagnosed as Type 1. Nobody is sure whether this has been caused by the Forxiga or not but anyway, I'm a Type 1 now. My question is about insulin injections please?

I never eat breakfast (a medical issue not a choice issue) and I was therefore told to inject before lunch and then again before dinner. However, I've noticed that when I wake up my levels may be ok but by the time I get to lunchtime and injecting they're sky high. I'm assuming that's because the long acting part of the Novomix 30 I'm on has worn off from the previous nights injection before dinner.

I was wondering if I could take a small dose of insulin on waking and reduce my lunch time dose so that I'm having the same number of units but have just spread it out more. I would then keep the dinner time injection the same.

Would this work please? Thanks for any help you can give. I'm between two consultants at the moment and therefore don't have access to a diabetic nurse to ask the question. I'm going to get that sorted out quickly but thought I'd ask you, the experts. x

 

[TorqPenderloin]

I'd definitely look into seeing if it makes sense to switch to a basal/bolus insulin rather than the novomix. Most people find they have more control as you may know.


As far as how many times you can inject? We can't answer that. However, I get 240 needles a month so in my case, it's 8. Two of those are for my basal (levemir) and up to six for my Novolog.

There are times when I wake up with slightly elevated blood sugar and will give myself as little as .5 units of insulin. It's not a requirement I inject with food, but in a perfect world that's when you'd normally inject.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I agree with the previous poster that you probably need to go onto the Basal/Bolus regime which most T1s are on (or a pump). This consists of two insulins i.e. 24 hour Basal e.g. Levemir and a meal time Bolus e.g. NovoRapid or similar. Although it means 4 to 5 injections rather than 2, the control is much better. Some T2s can use a twice-a-day mixed insulin with no problems if their pancreas isn't too far gone, but for most T1s it isn't adequate.