insulin

[olivk02]

could anyone give me a little advice for my boyfriend. he has started to use insulin today for the first time and when he has tested his blood sugars after injecting they have actually gone higher. are u suppossed to leave it a certain amount of time before testing your bloods or straight after the injection?

 

[timo2]

Hi olivk02,

Here's the profiles for two of the more common types of rapid insulin:

Novorapid : onset 10-20 mins, peak action 1-3 hours, duration 3-5 hours

Humalog (lispro) : onset <15 mins, peak action 30 mins-1.5 hours, duration 2-4 hours

It's usual to wait at least one hour after injecting (and eating) before you test sugars.
The more common advice from doctors is to test two hours after a meal.

All the best,
timo.

 

[lilibet]

Hi

Would be helpful if we knew what type insulin he was on?
He might be going higher anyway because he was 'due' an injection so likely nothing to do with the insulin causing it. Like Timo says, it depends on when it kicks in.

Also, if he is on basal(backgroung long acting stuff) insulin (Levemir/Lantus) then it might be tailing off before new injection.

If he is on a premix insulin (novomix, mixtard) then the same might be happening for the long acting bit. What matters is what his bg is before he takes the insulin as this will tell you more about whats going on likely

L