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Struggling to keep levels down

A

Adskibullus

Member
Messages
12
Hi

I was diagnosed with type 1 a year ago and its taken me a year to real get it into my head that I am diabetic and that I should starts to deal with it. For the past year I've never really bothered monitoring my insulin levels very well, ive just been injecting the fixed amount which the nurse set me. I recently had my 2nd 6 monthly review with the doctor and he just seemed to tell me off, my levels are always greater than 10 where as I thought as long as they were under 15 then I was ok? After dinner they are usually 15-20 which I know is bad.

Then he told me off for not adjusting my dosage, ive never been told how the do this accurately, am I just supposed to up my dosage myself? I felt like I was just rushed through the review and I left with more questions than answers, I had a blood and urine test and got the results through in the post but they mean nothing to me and I cant ever get through to my diabetic nurses, its all just driving me mad!!!

Ive started making a real effort to test and inject with every meal and monitor 2 hours after the meal, my question is if my levels start at 6ish in the morning then raise to about 8-9 at lunch then end up 10-15 at dinner which insulin should I be taking more of? my long lasting insulin is lantus and I take 16 of that and I take 4 of the fast acting novo rapid insulin?

What should I be aiming at for the levels? is the 4-7 range for ever meal a realistic goal or should I just aim for under 10?

Sorry for asking all these questions but I just feel that trying to get hold of help from the diabetes nurses and doctors is a nightmare. Thanks in advange
 
You've obviously discovered that medical fact. The doctors don't make mistakes, but the patients are non-compliant.
Even if not told to adjust your dose, you SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! :evil:
Hana
 
Hi. A reading of 6 at the start of the day seems about right according to my DN so your basal dose may be about right. It looks like you may need to increase your rapid insulin? Does your DN have an email address you could use? My DN offered me hers so I can email her if I have any question/problems.
 
I'm always told to alter the rapid insulin by 2 units and if it doesn't hit the mark then up it again by 2 units but give the upped insulin regime time to take effect
 
It also depends what your diet is like. Although you can count carbs and inject accordingly, you still need to modify your diet a little. I only recently discovered this myself. I just carb counted but I was advised to also look at GI of foods as there are slow release carbs and fast acting carbs. The fast acting ones will spike your levels high after eating. This may help a little. As you have suggested yourself though, you probably need to adjust your insulin/carb ratio. I would guess the average is around 1 unit per 10g of carbs.


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