Type 1 Hypos before eating...what do you inject?

Hi there,
Newly diagnosed a year ago, but I've had a new dilemma with having a hypo before eating and knowing how much to inject for the meal? It happened today and i was about to eat a fairly big lunch: a roast dinner but blood glucose was down to 3.4 so i wasn't sure how much to inject for the meal? Does anyone else have these problems? It was so confusing because i was low, about to have a big meal and needed insulin for the meal but didn't want to stifle my appetite for the meal by eating Jelly Babies! I quickly drank a small amount of orange juice and waited a few minutes and gave a smaller amount of insulin but i wasn't sure if this is the normal thing to do? Especially it was a big meal! I don't know the repercussions of having such low BG and then eating with a smaller dose of insulin? Does anyone eat and then half way through inject? That sounds like a lot of hard work? Thanks x

Type1Bri said:

Hi ya

You have done more or less the right thing here.
I would have treated the hypo with orange juice, around 100ml which is about 10G carbs, waited 10 minutes, checked BS was going up then took normal insulin dose for my dinner. However taking a little less insulin would not hurt if you are prone top hypo, we are all different and all act differently to our insulins so proceed with caution

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Thanks, it's good to know i'm doing it right.

Aby

azure said:

Yes, we're all different and as the PP says you'll find what works for you

I'd have had some Lucozade (I find glucose tablets too much before a nice meal whereas liquid glucose slips down easier and works quicker). That would have got me up from that low very quickly. If I was about to eat something with a low GI or was out or at a big meal where I'd be eating more slowly (eg talking to friends and family) I'd have considered delaying my bolus injection so that I had a chance to get some food onboard before the insulin kicked in. That is, I'd have started eating before having my bolus. Of course, the concern here is that you might forget the bolus entirely! So I usually put something on the table to remind me or set an alarm on my phone.

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Thanks for sharing. Will try that next time.
Best wishes,
Aby

tim2000s said:

@abysimons, there are two things going on here. The first is that you were low before the meal. This suggests that something earlier was incorrect, either your basal is too high or an earlier bolus shot was too high. you should look at your earlier insulin injections to try and work out what caused the hypo in the first place.

Secondly, @Type1Bri has given you the strategies for dealing with it. Personally I'd use glucose tablets as they are faster acting than orange juice, but 10g of Carbs ahead of the meal is fine.

It does sound as though you may need to review your Insulin:Carb ratios though.

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Hiya, Yes something is going wrong definitely, it might have been my smaller than usual breakfast yesterday and that i gave too much insulin for it. Thanks for the advice, will go back to the drawing board.

Best wishes,
Aby