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Increasing insulin

lizdeluz

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,306
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I would like to decrease my average blood sugar by tweaking my basal insulin upwards by 1 unit. Is it likely to mean a weight increase?
My 7-day bs average us 7.6
My 7-day deviation is 1.9
My hypers/hypos ratio is 7/0
My carb intake is approximately 60g per day

So I feel I need to do something.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Have you done a basal test? When are your higher blood sugars happening?
 
The truth is I can't really answer your question. That fact is enough to tell me that I'm not doing the right or enough testing, so thank you.
 
If it was me, I think I'd do a basal test and then after I'd got my basal right, I'd then look at individual meals to spot highs and see if my insulin to carbs ratios needed adjusting.

Basal testing is a pain, but it provides the foundation on which to build, and then once you know that's ok, you can start tweaking other things.

It takes a while so don't worry
 

Thank you @azure, I did a couple of basal tests a short while ago, and there was no problem, so I think you're right about the carb to insulin ratio needing adjusting, at specific times of day, so I'll work on that. It makes me nervous, don't know why, like asking for an overdraft.
 
@lizdeluz, basal needs do change so it's always worth doing some more basal checks before looking at your I:C ratio's.

A increase in a unit or two won't lead to weight gain btw.
 
noblehead said:
@lizdeluz, basal needs do change so it's always worth doing some more basal checks before looking at your I:C ratio's.

A increase in a unit or two won't lead to weight gain btw.
Click to expand...

That's reassuring anyway. The lchf diet I adopted has been fantastic at helping me to get to a healthier weight, but now I want to get my blood sugar levels to a healthier place too: I don't want to be at sixes and sevens but at 5s and 6s!

When I woke at 06:00 my bs was 8.3, I had a breakfast of 8g carbs then went for a swim and at 10:00 I was at 12.1, dropped back to 5.6 at 11:24 and now I'm 4.4 at 13:05. Could be a basal problem, the post-exercise high tends to happen and affects my overall figures, though probably not as much as miscalculating insulin to carb ratios.
I will be doing lots of tests over the next 3 days, with the age-old problem of, 'Do I understand what I'm looking at?'
I recently got an echo pen that delivers half units which is great! though my meter doesn't register half units! I'm going to ask my DSN for a pen that delivers single units of basal, my current one only works in 2 unit shots.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Insulin does not cause weight gain.

It will only increase your weight if you were running high all the time and not processing the food you ate, or you start overeating to counter low BS.

If you don't change your food intake you wont gain weight. Go for it. Perhaps, look into a half unit Lantus pen this way you can tweak by 1/2 units rather then wholes and dial it in much better.
 

Thank you,@Diamattic , that's definitely reassuring too. I didn't know there was a 1/2 unit Lantus pen, it will be a good idea to work with one of those.
 
Lowering your blood sugar CAN cause weight gain. If your blood sugar is constantly high, you are peeing out calories, so when you stop that process you are storing or using those calories, depending on how active you are. However, in your case you are likely to see a negligible gain since your HbA1c is not crazy high.
 

Well, this is what I was wondering about. Balancing better blood sugar against possibility of (albeit marginal) weight gain. I agree my HbA1c isn't really high but could be better, though my DSN and consultant both say my control is good. I know it isn't. LCHF has helped a lot because it means my blood sugar swings are generally less, and losing 2+ stones in weight has helped the evening-out process too, and I feel much better too, so I don't have much to complain about. I just think about complications and how to reduce the risk as much as possible.
 
@lizdeluz, don't concern yourself too much with being in the 5's all the time as it will wear you down, have a look at the SD (standard deviation) feature on your meter and if its a third of your average bg readings then that signifies good bg control, if it's half or above then it means there's still some work to do in controlling the swings from high to low.
 

Wow! That's a really good rule of thumb which I can put to use straightaway. Many thanks, @noblehead !
 

My healthcare team told me that post-exercise highs can occur as a result of anaerobic (short-lasting but high intensity) exercise. I quote from a journal article (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769951/) 'Exercise causes profound changes in glucose homeostasis. For people with type 1 diabetes, aerobic exercise usually causes blood glucose concentration to drop rapidly, while anaerobic exercise may cause it to rise'

But from my experience if I do get post-exercise hypers, they'll drop very fast anyway like what you described so as my healthcare team also mentioned to me, not to worry about it! It may not be a basal problem but you might want to consult your doctors to be sure
 

Thank you very much @fern000 for this information! I don't do huge amounts of activity, but I love swimming and yoga. Swimming tends to make my blood sugar rise steeply for 2-3 hours and then drops later in the day. Yoga, whether it's the class I go to or the half hour each day at home always lowers my blood sugar with no initial rise. I'm not sure whether one is aerobic and the other anaerobic.

Welcome to the forum, by the way !
 
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