Gareth579

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi,

I've been diagnosed Type 1 and have been taking insulin for nearly a year now, my last HBA1C was 43 about 6 months ago.

I've recently taken up a new job where I wake up at 06:00 and start driving to work at 06:45 2 days a week. On these days when I eat my lunch if I stick at a 1:15 ratio I end up with BG of 15~ even with strict carb counting. After altering my ratios to about 1:12 for both breakfast and lunch I've stabilised the spike.
(The problem with the spike is that it also drops rapidly, no matter when I take the insulin. 2 hours post lunch I can be at 15, take 1 unit of novorapid and have a hypo 2 hours later, again without moving very much. This is especially annoying as it goes against my correction doses of roughly 1 unit to 4.5mmol/L and the hypo kicks in just when I need to get ready to drive home delaying me from getting home on time :( )

On the days that I work from home I wake up at about 07:00 my blood sugar is stable at a 1:15 ratio for both breakfast and lunch, despite me being sat down just as much as when I'm in the office.

I'm really confused as to why my body is doing this, does anyone have any thoughts?
(Yes, I will be speaking to my GP about this :) )

Cheers,
Gareth
 

Rokaab

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,157
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
The problem with the spike is that it also drops rapidly, no matter when I take the insulin. 2 hours post lunch I can be at 15, take 1 unit of novorapid and have a hypo 2 hours later, again without moving very much. This is especially annoying as it goes against my correction doses of roughly 1 unit to 4.5mmol/L and the hypo kicks in just when I need to get ready to drive home delaying me from getting home on time :(
I suspect it's just the lunchtime insulin taking its fine old time and kicking in after the two hours, so it finely takes effect and so does the correction.
Fast acting insulins don't stop working after 2 hours, for some people they can take a lot longer or be erratic - I know for myself I was on Novorapid and whilst sometimes it was mostly sorted with 3 hours, sometimes my blood sugar just didn't seem to start dropping til about 4-5 hours after talking it (helpful huh) - so it may be something similar to that and in effect because you're correcting before it's all kicked in you're giving yourself too much insulin thus causing the hypo.

Also note that your ratio at each different meal may be different, just cos its 1:12 for one doesn't mean it'll be 1:12 for one at a different time, many have different ratios for different meals.
 
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How do you find your drive to work?
I ask because stress could push your BG up so, if your drive stressful this could explain the difference between home and office insulin needs.
 

SamJB

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,857
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
If you’ve had a carby lunch, a correction dose 2 hours later is too soon. Wait at least 3-4 hours. Also sounds like you need to match your insulin profile curve with your carb profile curve. If you have something carby, you need to inject 15-30 mins before to get them to match