Insulin advice quickly please!

[smidge]

Hi,

I took my usual Apidra with my tea, but 2 hours later, my reading is 13.1. Should I take another unit to try to bring it down, or should I just leave it?

I took 2 units Insuman Basal at 10.00am this morning (a little bit late because i forgot it)
I was 5.1 before tea and ate about 25g carb.
I took 2 units Apidra rapid acting to cover this (1:12 is usually about right for me)
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Smidge

 

[smidge]

Hiya again!

Well, I've just taken another unit as it was still rising, so hopefully it will start to drop soon. I think something might have gone wrong with my earlier injection. I only use 4mm needles, but this time, it felt like maybe the needle wasn't in properly as i got bad stinging when i injected and when I took the needle out, two large blobs of insulin came out of the pen, so maybe i didn't get any/enough into me. Is that possible? :?

Smidge

 

[ebony321]

Hi,

clearly a bit late to reply now! but i will anyway

Could have been that you hit a little bit of scar tissue to it wasnt absorbed properly, i've had a few 'leaks' in the days of injecting which sometimes led me to rise a little as i didnt get all the insulin.

I personally would have waited 3-4 hours to take a correction. as if you did get enough insulin you may have gone low. but i used to use novorapid so i'm not sure how long apridra lasts in your system.

I hope your got it sorted anyway

 

[smidge]

Hi Ebony,

Thanks for the reply! I did manage to sort myself out - I only took one extra unit of Apidra and it very quickly got me back down to single figures - still high, but I was a bit scared to take any more! It was only when my BG went that high that I realised I hadn't been told when and how to correct - and I'd never thought to ask I've only been on rapid-acting for a month, so I've still got plenty to learn!

It was strange really because I've had the same meal tonight (boring but I wanted to test!) and my BGs were 5.1 at the two-hour mark. So either I didn't manage to get the insulin into me yesterday for some reason, or my pancreas has decided to have a better day today - it could be either :lol:

Incidentally, the Registrar I saw the other day told me that Apidra is identical in its action to Novorapid - apparently he has published papers on the topic and done several trials. However, several people on here have stated that Novorapid has a slower onset and lasts longer, so I don't know really! Apidra seems to work pretty quickly and can be a tad aggressive at times - i have noticed that it works so quickly and tails off so quickly that it can miss the slower-acting carbs altogether if I'm not careful. When I eat egg noodles, it keeps my BG nice and low for the two hours after eating them, but I start to rise around the 3 hour mark. Other than that, it seems pretty good.

Smidge

 

[ebony321]

Hi Ebony,

Thanks for the reply! I did manage to sort myself out - I only took one extra unit of Apidra and it very quickly got me back down to single figures - still high, but I was a bit scared to take any more! It was only when my BG went that high that I realised I hadn't been told when and how to correct - and I'd never thought to ask I've only been on rapid-acting for a month, so I've still got plenty to learn!

It was strange really because I've had the same meal tonight (boring but I wanted to test!) and my BGs were 5.1 at the two-hour mark. So either I didn't manage to get the insulin into me yesterday for some reason, or my pancreas has decided to have a better day today - it could be either :lol:

Incidentally, the Registrar I saw the other day told me that Apidra is identical in its action to Novorapid - apparently he has published papers on the topic and done several trials. However, several people on here have stated that Novorapid has a slower onset and lasts longer, so I don't know really! Apidra seems to work pretty quickly and can be a tad aggressive at times - i have noticed that it works so quickly and tails off so quickly that it can miss the slower-acting carbs altogether if I'm not careful. When I eat egg noodles, it keeps my BG nice and low for the two hours after eating them, but I start to rise around the 3 hour mark. Other than that, it seems pretty good.

Smidge

Hi,

i personally work on a basis that 1 unit of insulin will reduce my BG by 2-3mmol which is what your taught on the DAFNE carb counting course.

I think it's quite common but there will be people who are more sensitive to insulin which could reduce them more or people who are resistant and would need more insulin to reduce that much.

Just like carb counting it's trial and error.

Seems like you have your ratio's worked out pretty well as having the same meal and the same insulin gave you a good result so my guess would be that you didnt get that insulin!

I've only ever used novorapid as fast acting insulin, so i can't comment on whether apidra is similar.

When i was injecting if i had pizza i would split my dose about 70/30 1-2 hours apart, and do the same with lots of pasta or rice as that would affect my BG's like you say a few hours later.

You could experiment the same to find if anything works for you, but if you do make sure you test a good few times over that period so you know whats going on

Glad it went back down though, can be pretty worrying at times i know!