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Too much insulin ??

M

Mad76

Well-Known Member
Messages
319
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,

A question I've often thought about .

Is there such a thing as taking too much insulin ?
Also
Is there a limit to the number of times to bolus in day ?

I ask this because sometimes I get the impression from posts here that it's better to low carb to take less insulin. Is this just to prevent too many highs and lows or are there any other negative effects of taking too much insulin

With regards to how often. When diagnosed I was told basal daily and bolus 3 times. Per meal basically. And if snack over 10g carb then bolus. I've done this but I read somewhere the other day that the working pancreas releases insulin 11 times a day. Or something like that. I , being quite into eating, took this as a green light to bolus as often as needed. So including corrections and basal I can sometimes have 7 injections a day. Is this normal / ok ???

Any input would be gratefully received
Thanks in advance as always
 
Hi @Mad76
Simple answer to both questions is no!
If your pancreas was working as it should then how ever much insulin you needed for food would be produced....
If you need to bolus 7 times a day to keep your bloods in line then that is fine....
 
Personally, i would say bolus as many times as you feel you need to. I've done 3 so far today.
I think insulin impedes weight loss and metabolism from what i've read on here. I might not be right in that but i know for a fact that the more insulin you take, the harder it is to lose weight. Sounds obvious as you take insulin when you eat which makes you gain weight, but i think it literally makes it harder for the body to metabolise fats.
Low carb obviously means less insulin. So, added to the fact that you're eating low carb, its a big metabolic boost.
 
Thanks guys
So multiple bolus fine

But the weight loss thing has got me thinking. .. I have got a couple stone that need shifting.
 
Mad76 said:
Thanks guys
So multiple bolus fine

But the weight loss thing has got me thinking. .. I have got a couple stone that need shifting.
Click to expand...
Me too ha!
Multiple bolus is fine, your sugars come first. Weight loss is a bonus but it will be slow, so if you're gonna try it make sure you balance things i might have asked already but do you use the Carbs n Cals app? It's great
 
I agree that you should take as much insulin as needed to maintain acceptable levels of blood glucose (not too high and definitely not too low).
As for the bolus and low carb thing, I found that eating low carb, associated with exercise (which seems to increase insulin sensitivity), reduced my doses. I think this is good, because, since there's always an error associated with guessing and dosing, the lower the dose (in units), the lower the associated error and the lesser the chances of hypers or hypos.
If you can maintain good blood glucose levels, it is not strictly necessary to keep low carb (although I highly recomend )
 
Less carbs, less insulin, LESS WEIGHT GAINING FOOD, more weight loss! Just done it to shift Christmas excess.
 
Shannon27 said:
Me too ha!
Multiple bolus is fine, your sugars come first. Weight loss is a bonus but it will be slow, so if you're gonna try it make sure you balance things i might have asked already but do you use the Carbs n Cals app? It's great
Click to expand...
No
I use the carbs and cals book
Sometimes
I'm usually glued to the glimp app looking at my bg glucose levels every 5 mins !
 
Use what you need to keep your levels healthy. Having said that, insulin is an anabolic steroid, so we’re more likely to store excess food.
 
Mad76 said:
Hi all,

A question I've often thought about .

Is there such a thing as taking too much insulin ?
Also
Is there a limit to the number of times to bolus in day ?
Click to expand...
It takes as much as it takes. Though, if your requirements have suddenly increased dramatically, and you can't explain why, I would start looking for a reason.
 
I'm not sure what a bolus is Mad76, but I can tell you that my insulin is low and getting lower and though my pharmacist encourages a higher dose, I am susceptible to chest pains even if it is increases a bit. I don't know why that is, so I try to stick to a low dose of insulin. Does anyone have this symptom?
 
Nope, not me.
 
Not me.
Bolus is just the short acting insulin that you take with food (eg Humalog, novorapid…..)
Basal is your long acting (eg lantus, Levemir, Tresiba)

Mad76 said:
Is there a limit to the number of times to bolus in day ?
Click to expand...

To answer the original question, the only disadvantage to frequent boluses that I can see is potential insulin stacking, where you hypo because you over bolus when you take extra insulin when the old bolus is still working through your system.
 
I think you'd better ask your question in a thread of your own. You'll get more answers that way, and your situation as a T2 is very different from the questions on this thread.
 
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