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Type 1s: What Is/was Your Blood Sugar This Evening And This Morning ?

catapillar said:
When you bolus to correct high blood sugar, rather than with food. Although you can add a correction on to your food insulin too, if you have high blood sugar prior to eating.
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Umm. So you mean take bolus insulin if your not eating and say your bs are 17. How much would you have of the Bolus to correct say a bs of 17?
 
nessa1970 said:
Umm. So you mean take bolus insulin if your not eating and say your bs are 17. How much would you have of the Bolus to correct say a bs of 17?
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Yep. That would be a correction. I can't suggest a dose, everyone's correction factor is going to be different. It takes a bit of trial and error to work out how much 1 unit would bring you down, then how effective that is and how long it takes to work will vary, depending on lots of things, including how high your blood sugar is to start with.
 
catapillar said:
Yep. That would be a correction. I can't suggest a dose, everyone's correction factor is going to be different. It takes a bit of trial and error to work out how much 1 unit would bring you down, then how effective that is and how long it takes to work will vary, depending on lots of things, including how high your blood sugar is to start with.
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So if you wanted it to be 8 would you take 8 units say for example.ill talk to my dn about it today as I'm still a bit unsure of how much to take to start off with. Thank you for the help.
 
nessa1970 said:
So if you wanted it to be 8 would you take 8 units say for example.ill talk to my dn about it today as I'm still a bit unsure of how much to take to start off with. Thank you for the help.
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No there's no chance in hell I'd take 8 units to get me down from 17 to 8. 8 units is about 50% of my totally daily dose on most days and would, eventually, put me through the floor if I took it all in one go with no food. And to be honest I wouldn't really be aiming to be 8 as that is still above "normal".

For other people 8 might be the perfect correction dose in that situation. We are all different and we can only really know what works for us. That's why I'm loathe to suggest a dose. Discuss it with your DSN. If you are considering a correction dose, start off with no more than 2 units and see what that does to you. Don't stack your insulin, so leave it a few hours before you think about correcting again. Test frequently after a correction dose and keep hypo treatments handy.
 
6.2 before bed last night

6.1 this morning
 
catapillar said:
No there's no chance in hell I'd take 8 units to get me down from 17 to 8. 8 units is about 50% of my totally daily dose on most days and would, eventually, put me through the floor if I took it all in one go with no food. And to be honest I wouldn't really be aiming to be 8 as that is still above "normal".

For other people 8 might be the perfect correction dose in that situation. We are all different and we can only really know what works for us. That's why I'm loathe to suggest a dose. Discuss it with your DSN. If you are considering a correction dose, start off with no more than 2 units and see what that does to you. Don't stack your insulin, so leave it a few hours before you think about correcting again. Test frequently after a correction dose and keep hypo treatments handy.
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@nessa1970

A good way to figure out a rough correction factor is to use the 100 Rule (google it) which is based on someone's TDD .....total daily insulin, divided into 100. The TDD includes the basal plus bolus and correction bolus all added up. Most diabetics probably start with 1u to lower bg by 3mmol but this can change when the TDD increases or reduces, so the 1:3 is just a guide but we all have to start somewhere initially or we'd all be going round in circles.
So......17mmol back to 8mmol would be a difference of 9. Using 1:3 correction factor that would be 9mmol divided by 3 which would equal 3. So a correction dose of 3u would be needed and not 8u. It's true to say though that the higher the bg is, the harder it can be for insulin to lower it so it could be that a dose of 4u might be better
Hope this explains the basics of calculating the correction dose for you and that yr DSN will give you a target to aimfor before eating a meal and 2-3hrs later.
 
iHs said:
@nessa1970

A good way to figure out a rough correction factor is to use the 100 Rule (google it) which is based on someone's TDD .....total daily insulin, divided into 100. The TDD includes the basal plus bolus and correction bolus all added up. Most diabetics probably start with 1u to lower bg by 3mmol but this can change when the TDD increases or reduces, so the 1:3 is just a guide but we all have to start somewhere initially or we'd all be going round in circles.
So......17mmol back to 8mmol would be a difference of 9. Using 1:3 correction factor that would be 9mmol divided by 3 which would equal 3. So a correction dose of 3u would be needed and not 8u. It's true to say though that the higher the bg is, the harder it can be for insulin to lower it so it could be that a dose of 4u might be better
Hope this explains the basics of calculating the correction dose for you and that yr DSN will give you a target to aimfor before eating a meal and 2-3hrs later.
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Thank you that's ausom
 
I have this awful, imposed rule [by OCDEM hospital], that at bedtime I should only inject a correction if my bedtime number is over 9. I don't know if number 9 [or indeed any number] is going up or down. So my following morning number is often over 12. Plus I have to get up at 4am to urinate. Any offers of a solution would be very welcome!
 
Had you been suffering nighttime hypos @william thomast1 ? Why were you given this rule?

If it was me, I'd set an alarm to get up and test during the night to make sure I'm not going too high? Do you test when you have to get up at 4am?
 
azure said:
Had you been suffering nighttime hypos @william thomast1 ? Why were you given this rule?

If it was me, I'd set an alarm to get up and test during the night to make sure I'm not going too high? Do you test when you have to get up at 4am?
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set the rule of minimum nine to avoid night hypos AND to wake up with a single digit bs number. Incompatible I would think? I never set my alarm for 4am. I never get up at night unless forced to urinate [happens quite often now].
 
william thomast1 said:
set the rule of minimum nine to avoid night hypos AND to wake up with a single digit bs number. Incompatible I would think? I never set my alarm for 4am. I never get up at night unless forced to urinate [happens quite often now].
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My DSN is now always very careful to say that when she makes suggestions like try not to correct unless you are over 9, they are just that, suggestions, not rules. Because they are not the ones who have to implement the suggestions and live with the consequences.

I think they learned I don't respond very well to being told what to do when I implemented what were set out as rules on not correcting etc to the letter and then went back into show them how poorly it had panned out for me and my control. But that was a rule imposed to prove I was safe using insulin before they would let me have pump, so I would have cartwheeled naked down the street for a pump at that point!

It could be that you have been advised this to avoid night time hypos. But if you don't think it's working for you, discuss with your DSN and make changes.
 
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william thomast1 said:
set the rule of minimum nine to avoid night hypos AND to wake up with a single digit bs number. Incompatible I would think? I never set my alarm for 4am. I never get up at night unless forced to urinate [happens quite often now].
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I understand you're woken by the need to urinate so don't choose to get up then, but I wondered if you tested your blood sugar. You said that you could be 9 at bedtime, but coukd go either up or down, so I thought that testing during the night might allow you to correct if you're going too high : )

As @catapillar says, have a word with your team and explain that you're not really happy with the suggestion they've given you as it doesn't seem to be working.
 
catapillar said:
My DSN is now always very careful to say that when she makes suggestions like try not to correct unless you are over 9, they are just that, suggestions, not rules. Because they are not the ones who have to implement the suggestions and live with the consequences.

I think they learned I don't respond very well to being told what to do when I implemented what were set out as rules on not correcting etc to the letter and then went back into show them how poorly it had panned out for me and my control. But that was a rule imposed to prove I was safe using insulin before they would let me have pump, so I would have cartwheeled naked down the street for a pump at that point!

It could be that you have been advised this to avoid night time hypos. But if you don't think it's working for you, discuss with your DSN and make changes.
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Thank you for your interesting replies. I really don't want to set my alarm for 4am and/or urinate to excess.
 
william thomast1 said:
Thank you for your interesting replies. I really don't want to set my alarm for 4am and/or urinate to excess.
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If you're getting up to urinate anyway you might as well test your blood sugar to see if it's high and causing the urination or if the urination is caused by something else.

Sometimes highs in the morning can be caused by the Dawn Phenomenon. Knowledge is power. The more you can find out about what your blood sugar is doing, the easier it will be to sort it, and the more information you'll have to be able to,give your DSN when you speak to them.

Many people on MDI have a 'safe' number that they aim to be at when they go to bed so that they can avoid hypos. You could start a thread here asking what number others aim for then, if you think it would be of help :)
 
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