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Type 1 Please help me with my TYPE 1 diabetes ??????

kevinmartinuk_

kevinmartinuk_

Member
Messages
11
Location
Majorca, Spain
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello Everybody,

I am new to this forum, so forgive me if I am going to sound badly educated in my diabetes. Hence I am here to try & improve my control.
When I have breakfast e.g. 4 Weetabix I (55g Carbs) I have to inject 18 units of Novarapid in order to have my BG between 4-7 two hours later.
I inject at a ratio of 1 unit for 5 grams normally, so do not understand why I have to inject 18 units rather than 11. But if I don't my sugars are sky high.
Anyway the problem I have is, although my sugars are perfect after 2 hours, if I do not eat another 40 grams of carbs I will have a bad hypo
& as a result am forced to eat again when I am not hungry & as a result I am putting on considerable weight.

My next more important problem is I am having hypos far too often, nearly every other day. As I am about to start a new job I am nervous & scared
about being able to hold onto this job with my control as it is. Please can you help me, I will be so happy to see any advise anybody has for me ?????
 
@kevinmartinuk_ , two thoughts about your breakfast - how much milk do you have? It also contains carbs and yo don't seem to be counting for those, and secondly, your ratios may differ in the morning from other times of the day.

With regard to your hypos. Have you ever checked whether your basal insulin is at the right level? A basal testing guide can be found here: http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

If you are having a lot of hypos and it's hard to manage the swings, it's usually a good idea to start again reassessing how much basal you actually need, then recalculate your I:C ratios once you know this is correct.
 
@kevinmartinuk_ Welcome to the forum. Its great to share experiences, so any question is not a wrong question. I've found so much useful information here.

It's a big learning curve and I found like Tim2000s has suggested that doing a basal test, did show me where I was going wrong and slowly corrected.

For the hypos, you test 2 hours after eating and all is good.Do you find you are having a bad hypo when you wake up or during the daytime?
 
My blood sugar normally drops further, more than 2 hours after a meal. If my blood sugar was only 4, two hours after a meal, I would expect to go hypo later.

Two hours after eating, I've been told to aim for my blood sugar not rising by more than 2 or 3 more than it was before a meal. This advice is given to all Type 1s, not just me.

As well as basal testing and checking carb ratios, maybe you could try a different cereal - my dietician didn't think much of weetabix and suggested using Branflakes instead.
 
I would say you inject too much for your breakfast and it results in going low after 3 or more hours. Carby breakfast will always give you a spike so don't expect to be within rrange 2 hours later and stay the same till your next meal.
I would suggest changing breakfast to mix of carbs and protein such as toast and sausages or fried eggs (if not to low carb but you will have to learn how to bolus for protein). Very important is also timing of your injection. How long before breakfast do you inject? For me 20 min is a must.
Also, morning ratios are usually higher than for the rest of the day. Mine is double to what I take in the evening
 
As Ewelina says, you may find that if you inject your insulin more in advance of your breakfast you can control that spike with less insulin and reduce your risk of going hypo later. It's a bit of a careful balancing act. For me, breakfast is the one meal I need to have my insulin earlier than normal.
 
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