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How to tweak bolus for fatty food

S

Swankypants77

Well-Known Member
Messages
49
Location
Suffolk
I read in " think like a pancreas" that fatty food causes sugar level to rise in a gradual manner. Page 189.

Has anybody experienced that slow rise , and what sort of food did you have for that? And how did you manage to prevent it?

I'm curious to know. Sometimes I seem to have a little rise around 4 to six hours after evening meal.

My nurse said it can't be because of the food I had or because of my bolus amount, but she said I need to think about adjusting my basal amount. But I don't want to increase my basal because my afternoon and during night level is fine.

I suspect it is to do with that fatty food? I don't eat fried food, but cheese and olive oil I use quite a bit.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you very much.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
It's not just fatty food, I also get the same with high fibre/high complex carb foods like porridge and lentils/beans.

I've actually found my +2hr reading lower than the pre-meal on a few occaisions with that subsequent rise at the pre-bed reading. Discussion with my specialists was quite helpful as I tend to eat a fair amount of these slower acting carbs. The advice, and I'm going to try it with tonight's lentil chilli, is to take the bolus dose after eating instead of before, so that gives maybe a 30-45 minute difference depending on how quick you eat.

The other thing discussed was splitting the bolus dose to have part with the meal and part later, which is also an approach I've seen mentioned on various websites, but don't ask me for a reference.

Hope that helps

Dave
 
Thanks, Dave.
Yes, you're absolutely right. I tend to eat quite a lot of low GI food for evening meal, such as soya beans, whole meal pasta and so on. That could be the reason too.

I'll try injecting 30 minutes after meal tonight and see how it goes.

I'm also wondering how you would split the dose. So probably half a dose before eating, and the rest after eating.
Thanks, Dave for your advice.

Has Anybody else with fatty food not healthy low GI food experienced this?
Im interested to know for future reference when I eat out in restaurant or do take away with fatty food.

Thank you.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I get this if I eat tomato based sauces and also if I have a curry and suspect it's the oil in curry. Last night I intended to split my bolus and so took less before eating but didn't get the rise in had expected possibly as I had very little else with it. But was prepared to add more insulin an hour later and will try this again next time

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I see you're not far from me either - whereabouts in Suffolk?

There seem to be quite a few of us flatlanders on here
 
Really it's trial and error Swanky to get the bolus right for a fatty meal, when a meal is high in fat and carbs I split my insulin dose otherwise I'd be hypo within 90 mins of injecting, my Saturday night meals is prime example and I inject half just before eating and the rest 2-3 hours after, the second dose goes in either my bum or leg as it's slower to act and seems to work well with the delayed spike in bg.
 
Thanks, noblehead and dusty2000.
Yes, splitting dose seems good.

Do you check your sugar level before second dose if two does are two or three hours apart?
What if your level isn't too bad, say around 6 or 7? Do you still inject the second dose?

I tried once, and checked my level before second dose which was two hours after meal ,and it was around 6.5. Then I was scared of giving second dose as it might cause hypo, so in the end I didn't. But before going to bed which was about 4 hours after meal, it went up to 8... I should have given myself the leftover dose...

It's so annoying that there isn't a fixed rule for bolus.

Anyway, thanks for your reply.
I think I'll try one before meal and one after finishing my meal, and then adjust it from there.

Dave, yes I'm near bury. West Suffolk hospital is great and nurses are helpful, I found.



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I experience the same thing with fatty and high carb food such as pizza, fish&chips or burger with fries. When i have it I split the dose and test more often. I try to avoid it as much as possible beacuse amount of insulin i need is just scary. Not sure it is just me but i feel terrible when take massive doses of insulin
 
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