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New Job. Adjusting Injections.

T

three1ne

Active Member
Messages
43
Hi everyone.

I've got a few questions/looking for some advice.

I've recently got a new job and my injections are now further apart.

Before - (Aprx Time) - Novarapid/Levemir
Breakfast - 10am - 12/3
Lunch - 1pm - 7/0
Dinner - 6pm - 18/12

Now - (Aprx Time)
Breakfast - 7.45am - 12/4
Lunch - 1.20am - 16/4
Dinner - 6.45pm - 18/12


My diabetes is generally very well controlled and my ranges in BL 'before' were 4-7ml.
I am now having issues with high sugar levels after lunch. Around the 12-18ml mark an hour after lunch. I've only been at this job for 3 weeks and I am adjusting my levels to get it right. If my levels are high I then inject 3-5ml Novarapid. Usually this results in a crash within 2 hours and I need a sizeable snack to readjust.

My eating habits are the same, although I've lost a couple of pounds from being slightly more active over the last 3 weeks. The job itself is essentially a desk job with very little exercise involved. This is the same as my previous job.

I just read in another post that Novarapid lasts around 4 hours in the body so I am guessing that before my current job - my meals were close enough together that I was using insulin from the meal before so my lunch injection could be far less than what I am finding I need now.

I have just found myself slightly surprised by how much additional insulin I am requiring at lunch and wanted some opinions from the forum.
 
Depends what you are having for lunch. If it's a high GI food, you'll spike and if you're only testing an hour after this will reflect it. Try a week eating lunch with lower GI foods. The carbs can be the same, just slower releasing.


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am I reading this right you are injecting 2 insulins at the same time each meal time?

novorapid takes 2 hours to kick in its obvious you should spike between an hour to 2 after eating in preperation for insulin to kick in! are you then correcting an hour after eating? Im not surprized you would have a hypo after, 'corrections' between meals are a Massive no-no!
 
Before - (Aprx Time) - Novarapid/Levemir
Breakfast - 10am - 12/3
Lunch - 1pm - 7/0
Dinner - 6pm - 18/12

Now - (Aprx Time)
Breakfast - 7.45am - 12/4
Lunch - 1.20am - 16/4
Dinner - 6.45pm - 18/12
Click to expand...
That reads to me as if you were taking 2 in injections of levemir; breakfast 3 units and dinner 12 units (total 15u) and are now taking it 3 times a day 4u,4u,12u (20u a day)
Have I got that right ?
 
Sorry I haven't been back to reply.

All I had to do was up my level of Levemir at breakfast to 7 units. Because of my earlier start time (7.45) I was relying more on Levemir and my previous dosage wasnt covering it.

Now my blood levels are back to my usual of 4 - 7ml after lunch.

Engineer88, Novorapid doesnt take 2 hours to kick in. Also corrections are never a "massive no-no". Obviously you need to be careful but you should always look to correct, if you know what you're doing.
 
Hi three - have you done a DAFNE course yet ?

Ideally correcting in between meal times isn't recommended, simply because novorapid takes up to 4 hours to reach its peak so on DAFNE it's not recommended to either test again within this time frame or to take a correction dose as your not getting an accurate reading. This would explain why you are crashing and then having to take a snack. As long as you test before your next mealtime then correct along with your carb ratio dose this is fine.

I used to do what you did and ended up in a vicious circle of going high hand low so unless I'm driving and need to test I don't bother now, also using less test strips and also more confident with my diabetes, takes some getting used to but will also help you stabilise and if your moods are affected then will help to steady you.

I took this one step further to get better control and now low carb too so take less insulin and less room for error with doses, takes some getting used to but again helps stabilise and promote better moods, I also don't hypo at work anymore (or very rarely now).

Good luck it's work in progress as I always say !!
 
Hi Juicyj,

You definitely could end up in a vicious circle injecting between meals although I've always been cautious and not had much room for concern as I'm always careful. This issue I recently had was completely new to me as I rarely had to inject so early in the morning before. I didn't realise quite how strong a difference a few more units of Levemir makes.

I am no longer crashing in the afternoon.
 
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