Manage Hypos with low carb diet

[Rachel_H]

Hi everyone,
I am following low carb and finding it positive for me. I find that I am getting hypos (2 or 3 per day). I have reduced my basal insulin but my bolts insulin is very low (4 units am/pm and 2 units with lunch.
How do I manage hypos without resorting to jelly babies and cola/ toast which undoes all my good low carb work?

Thanks
Rachel

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi everyone,
I am following low carb and finding it positive for me. I find that I am getting hypos (2 or 3 per day). I have reduced my basal insulin but my bolts insulin is very low (4 units am/pm and 2 units with lunch.
How do I manage hypos without resorting to jelly babies and cola/ toast which undoes all my good low carb work?

Thanks
Rachel

Hello Rachel - are you using fixed doses for your bonus, or are you adjusting the amount of insulin you need, per specific meal?

Do you carb count at the moment?

 

[Jollymon]

I like that you’ve basal tested to see exactly what need, but are you carb counting for those bolus amounts? If no, you need to learn that skill.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi everyone,
I am following low carb and finding it positive for me. I find that I am getting hypos (2 or 3 per day). I have reduced my basal insulin but my bolts insulin is very low (4 units am/pm and 2 units with lunch.
How do I manage hypos without resorting to jelly babies and cola/ toast which undoes all my good low carb work?

Thanks
Rachel

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Where/when are you finding the hypos happening.?
What basal are you prescribed?
Are you using Novorapid? If so, are the hypos happening in or around the 4th hour after injecting for the meal?

I'll tag @michita , who may have some ideas too?

 

[Ian DP]

I am low carb. Depending on how low the carb content is, I take 3 or 4 units prior to meal, if my sugar level is around 5. If higher than 5 I might take a little more, if less than 5 definitely less, maybe 2. Often at lunch I take nothing, especially if exercising after a meal. Same thing in the morning, less insulin if exercising after. But every now and then, maybe once a month, for some unknown reason, I get it wrong (or maybe my body reacts differently). In my opinion it’s not an exact science. Quantity of fat also makes a difference, eg lean meat and less quantity means less insulin. Fatty meat and greater quantity will need more insulin. But we are all different, so everybodies insulin intake will be different.

 

[michita]

having hypo 2 or 3 times per day sounds too many to me.. how long have you been diabetic, how long have you been low carbing and how many grams of carbs a day do you eat on average ?

I eat less than 50g carbs a day pretty much all from veggies. Like Ian DP above i adjust my bolus depending on pre-meal reading but inject normally 1.5 unit to 3.0 per meal. Hypo is rare, though I do make mistakes sometimes, it happens normally when I inject more to cover the carbs I don’t normally eat. I stick to glucose tablets for corrections because I know exactly how many grams I’m eating. It could be your basal giving the hypos ?