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nurse gave 2 insulins can anyone explain !!! please help
- Thread starter Gauri
- Start Date
RichardJ
Well-Known Member
Hi
Your one before bed will be a basal insulin (long acting), and your other one will be a bolus (quick acting).
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Your one before bed will be a basal insulin (long acting), and your other one will be a bolus (quick acting).
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Daibell
Master
Sounds like the nurse is doing the right thing if you need to have your blood sugar brought under control. The Bolus (3 x a day) should be adjusted to the food carb content you are having at that meal.
phoenix
Expert
- Messages
- 5,671
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
As already said, the most probable answer is that you will be using a rapid insulin and a long term insulin (there are people on a few other regimes using 2 insulins but they are much less common)
People with normal functioning pancreases don't switch off their insulin between meals. Insulin and another hormone glucagon act together like a sort of see-saw to control the release of enough glucose for your body and also to enable the glucose to be used by your cells.
If you had absolutely no insulin in your body between meal times then your liver would 'think ' that you were starving and continuously pour out glucose and your glucose levels would rise.
A long term or basal insulin injection is used to provide the necessary background cover (this could be lantus or levimir or possibly an alternative older insulin such as insulatard.
Basal insulins normally last for up to 24 hours in the body.
The second insulin is to deal with the glucose from your meals. The insulin used for this injection starts to work fast and is out of the body 4-5 hours later. You normally take it just before eating and eventually you will learn to adjust it according to what you eat. Most people use a rapid action such as Novorapid, Humalog or Apidra (again there are less used older alternatives)
This graph shows the 2 insulins
People with normal functioning pancreases don't switch off their insulin between meals. Insulin and another hormone glucagon act together like a sort of see-saw to control the release of enough glucose for your body and also to enable the glucose to be used by your cells.
If you had absolutely no insulin in your body between meal times then your liver would 'think ' that you were starving and continuously pour out glucose and your glucose levels would rise.
A long term or basal insulin injection is used to provide the necessary background cover (this could be lantus or levimir or possibly an alternative older insulin such as insulatard.
Basal insulins normally last for up to 24 hours in the body.
The second insulin is to deal with the glucose from your meals. The insulin used for this injection starts to work fast and is out of the body 4-5 hours later. You normally take it just before eating and eventually you will learn to adjust it according to what you eat. Most people use a rapid action such as Novorapid, Humalog or Apidra (again there are less used older alternatives)
This graph shows the 2 insulins
