• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Skipping a Meal

J

JediMindTricksWS

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi im still all new to this...I have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 3 weeks ago. My DRs recommendation for insulin intake is 4units of Lispro 3 times a day 20mins before each meal with a 2unit sliding scale. And 10 units Lantus before bed.

My question is, if I skip a meal l, but check my blood sugar and it seems to be in range (within 20-30mg). Do I still take my recommeded 4 units of insulin if I dont eat?
 
Hi @JediMindTricksWS , welcome to the forum and to diabetes.

While @lovinglife is correct in that we can't give dosing advice, we definitely can share some basic principles on insulin dosing.

You're very new to this, so you're currently on set doses for basal insulin (Lantus), and bolus, or mealtime insulin (Lispro).
Part of the goal with this approach is to work out how much insulin you need for what you eat, especially the amount of carbs you eat. I expect your doctor has you keeping a bit of a food diary alongside your insulin doses and resulting blood glucose, is this correct?
Are you being treated by an endocrinologist or by a primary care doctor?
JediMindTricksWS said:
Hi im still all new to this...I have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 3 weeks ago. My DRs recommendation for insulin intake is 4units of Lispro 3 times a day 20mins before each meal with a 2unit sliding scale. And 10 units Lantus before bed.

My question is, if I skip a meal l, but check my blood sugar and it seems to be in range (within 20-30mg). Do I still take my recommeded 4 units of insulin if I dont eat?
Click to expand...

The basal (Lantus) is your basis, in an ideal world it should keep you stable and in range as long as you don't eat. More technically, it deals with the glucose your liver produces 24/7. Liver releses glucose as a constant drip, Lantus works about 24 hours, so that's that covered.

The bolus (Lispro) comes in with meals. It works much quicker and shorter and you take it before your meal to deal with the glucose derived from the carbs in your meal.
And, as you've already had instructions for corrections if your blood glucose is higher than it should be, you can also use it to correct a high.

You do not randomly take a dose of bolus insulin when there's no high to correct, and no incoming carbs to deal with, this would lead to a hypo.

In time, you'll learn to match your bolus to the carbs you eat. You can imagine how a 100 grams of carb meal will need more insulin than a 10 gram of carbs meal.
The more you read about managing type 1, the quicker you'll learn. ;)
 
Hi,

I take Lantus. Providing the basal insulin dose is correct the bolus insulin should just deal with the food eaten.
But I count carbs & ajust any meal dosage (in my case Novorapid.) accordingly.

I personally wouldn’t take a dose of my insulin unless eating a meal or snack.
But it’s much more nuanced than that…

Sometimes I need to take a correction dose if the Lantus isn’t quite doing it’s job?
MDI is designed to be more flexible than fixed mixed insulin regimes..

I’m adept at either moving mealtimes or even skipping a meal for whatever reason?
But it takes a little practice…
 
just to add to above: its will be very worth while writing any questions you have down and take that with with you to your next appt and mark them off as go through any. I found that the DSN didn't really want to information overload... wants to keep simple as possible especially directly after diagnosis. You may find that your doses change (as in general they appear to more conservative to start with). as type1 and on multiple injections per day would presume that you've been prescribed a CGM :)

One of the questions i'd be asking if what to do if your sugars are fairly high at what point would you try a correctional dosage to bring you back in range and how to work out that dosage. You may find that your dosage requirements will change over time. Your appointments should also be fairly frequent at the moment. Best wishes to the future.

(edit: added "and mark them off as go through any"
 
JediMindTricksWS said:
wow!!! thanks all for sharing information and experiences. while this is all alot to take in at the moment, I really do appreciate the replies!!!!
Click to expand...
This is a marathon, not a sprint!
And thankfully you do not have to learn everything at once.

Staying safe is your goal right now, so avoiding dangerous lows or prolonged highs at a risky level.

Take your time learning and taking in the information you get, you're not expected to get it right all at once. ;)
Go out and enjoy the weather, and always take your meter and something to treat a hypo with.
And slowly find the patterns in your blood glucose and food so you're able to adjust in the future. No hurry!
 
Hi @JediMindTricksWS and welcome to the DCUK forums. It looks like the other T1s have already covered your query.

And I second @grantg 's suggestion that you make a written note of queries before you next speak to your DSN.

It's very easy to suffer from information overload at the beginning but the technology to help us T1s is getting better and better and it should get much easier as you get used to things.

(And I 100% second @Antje77 's suggestion to always have hypo treatment with you. It makes it so much easier to treat one if you have carbs easily to hand.)
 
Back
Top