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Insulin correction

E

emily deacon

Well-Known Member
Messages
142
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hey guys,

Are you meant to only insulin correct when your eating? I had a Chinese tonight and my sugars raised quite a bit after, so I injected a little before bed with no food and I’ve hit a low at 6 this morning?
 
Have you been diagnosed long? With a little practice you can correct whenever you spot things getting out of range. But you need to be aware of how long insulin stays in your particular body, so you don’t overcorrect.
 
What information did you get when first given the insulin. It sounds like you've not got any as to its usage.
 
Do you mean you hit a low at 6am? If so, how low was low? Or that you've hit a low at 6mmol/l? 6mmol/l isn't low.

Yes, DAFNE advises only correcting at meal times. But obviously, if you're going to bed with a blood sugar that demands a correction, without a corrective dose you're going to spend 8 hours higher than you'd like to be. To be cautious about over correcting you could adjust your correction factor for corrections without food, so you're taking a corrective dose, but a smaller corrective dose, to avoid over correcting.
 
catapillar said:
Do you mean you hit a low at 6am? If so, how low was low? Or that you've hit a low at 6mmol/l? 6mmol/l isn't low.

Yes, DAFNE advises only correcting at meal times. But obviously, if you're going to bed with a blood sugar that demands a correction, without a corrective dose you're going to spend 8 hours higher than you'd like to be. To be cautious about over correcting you could adjust your correction factor for corrections without food, so you're taking a corrective dose, but a smaller corrective dose, to avoid over correcting.
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After my Chinese I was a high of 19. So I injected 2 units of novarapid insulin. By 6am I was 3.2
 
emily deacon said:
After my Chinese I was a high of 19. So I injected 2 units of novarapid insulin. By 6am I was 3.2
Click to expand...
Hi, I've not been on a DAFNE course yet, diagnosed T1 in Aug2017. So I use common sense and I correct sometimes without food and I would have done after a Chinese if I hadn't got the preprandial right. I'd have done 1 unit just be be on the safe side
 
emily deacon said:
After my Chinese I was a high of 19. So I injected 2 units of novarapid insulin. By 6am I was 3.2
Click to expand...
How long after the meal did you got to bed? Perhaps you didn't allow the 4-5 hours needed to ensure the meal-time insulin has been used up and the meter reading is valid. You can correct at any time but you must ensure your reading is late enough after the last insulin injection to give a valid measure.
 
I will normally give a little more or a little less insulin depending on what I am about to eat, I think experience more than anything else is the factor here in getting it right and personally would not advise anyone if in their early days to practice this unless they are totally sure they no what they are doing.

I will sometime correct without eating if a little high.

I am quite liberal with my management and do not carb count but as stated above I have been about for 36 years so experience helps greatly in my "guesstimating" dosage.
 
I have been type 1 for 43 yrs and have always guesstimated my carbs and do sometimes do a correction dose without eating, I was told several years to use a correction dose of half a unit for every one reading above what I would like to be I.E if I had a test showing 12 and I would like to be 8 thats 4 above my desired so would inject 2 units extra or on its own if it were a long time before mealtime, I know it's not going to work for everyone but it has for me so might be a starting point for some of you.
 
Hope it’s okay to jump on here as I’m in a similar situation tonight. Have eaten out at a friend’s for the first time since diagnosis 6 weeks ago. Have been up high these last few days as just changed from Lantus to Toujeo and trying to get correct basal dose and last week had some almighty hypos so have since been cautious with meal time bolus. HOWEVER I was a bit over cautious before tonight’s meal and am in very high teens 3 hour’s after meal. Should I try correcting my highs or ride it out til morning? I’ve never done corrective doses before. My instinct says leave it to lower itself. Thanks in advance.
 
If you think your basal is too high and will help bring you down then maybe ok.

But high teens are not a good place to be for a few hours while you sleep.

So maybe this is a chance to learn a bit about corrective doses!

Play it safe and just inject 1 unit now and test again in a couple of hours.
 
Draco16 said:
If you think your basal is too high and will help bring you down then maybe ok.

But high teens are not a good place to be for a few hours while you sleep.

So maybe this is a chance to learn a bit about corrective doses!

Play it safe and just inject 1 unit now and test again in a couple of hours.
Click to expand...

I’ve been lowering my basal over the last few days to avoid hypos - was having two a day, also lowered my bolus too. But tonight’s meal has really pushed me up!
How much damage could high teens through the night do me?
 
mountaintom said:
I’ve been lowering my basal over the last few days to avoid hypos - was having two a day, also lowered my bolus too. But tonight’s meal has really pushed me up!
How much damage could high teens through the night do me?
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Lots if it is a regular thing. As a one off a handful of times a year it sometimes can’t be helped. We all make a few mistakes, we get colds, our diabetes is erratic, etc.

Get a feel for corrective doses so next time you can address it confidently.

With no short acting onboard and running at a flattish say 9 take 1 unit then test test test in the following hours.

For me that might drop me to 5 (from 9). Do the same starting higher and the 1 unit is less effective for me, eg 12 would go to 9, 15 to 13 etc. Many people find similar - higher you start the larger the correction needs to be to get the same drop.

Then when you think you have it all figured out some variable will change like the weather, stress, hard or soft Brexit etc. That’s T1 life!

But you’ll get a feel for things and general patttrns.

Good luck!
 
Draco16 said:
Lots if it is a regular thing. As a one off a handful of times a year it sometimes can’t be helped. We all make a few mistakes, we get colds, our diabetes is erratic, etc.

Get a feel for corrective doses so next time you can address it confidently.

With no short acting onboard and running at a flattish say 9 take 1 unit then test test test in the following hours.

For me that might drop me to 5 (from 9). Do the same starting higher and the 1 unit is less effective for me, eg 12 would go to 9, 15 to 13 etc. Many people find similar - higher you start the larger the correction needs to be to get the same drop.

Then when you think you have it all figured out some variable will change like the weather, stress, hard or soft Brexit etc. That’s T1 life!

But you’ll get a feel for things and general patttrns.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I tried to sleep it off and woke at around 11.5. It should straighten out after breakfast. I’m alive!
I think last week’s hypo festival and subsequent hypo fear stopped me correcting last night. But after your advice I feel in a better place to do something about it next time. I appreciate that!
 
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