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Very Upset With Low And High

ivan 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
84
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Type 2 with Insulin

Injected usual dose (mixture of fast and long acting) around 7 pm, had only mozzarella and cucumber, then around 10 pm symptoms of hypoglycemia.
Bg was 2.3 !
Had two moderate slices of brown bread, a few sips of coke, handful of dried fruit and couple of biscuits, then again several small hard candies.
Around midnight bg was 9.1 !

What did I do wrong ?
Possibly not enough food after insulin and then too much sugar.
Shall I eat more after insulin to prevent hypos and avoid unnecessary sugar intake to combat low bg ?

The liver cannot manage this fluctuation, but this is what we have, right ?
Thank you.
 
You seem to have eaten what would be a week's worth of carbs for me to counteract the hypo.
I thought that there was some sort of relationship between the amount of fast acting insulin and the carbs to be eaten so that you need to have X amount of carbs if you have Y amount of insulin - and with the mix type there is no adjustment so you need to know the amount to eat. Cucumber is very low carb.
 
Your breakfast was virtually no carb. Which is fine for type2's (or for everyone else, for that matter), but you took fast acting insulin, which is used to process glucose in your blood. You didn't put glucose in by not eating carbs, hence the hypo.
Then when the hypo occurred, you overcompensated with carbs (happens to almost all of us), hence the high bg.

On mixed insulin you should follow an exact eating pattern with the same amount of carbs at the same time every day because you take the same amount of insulin at the same times every day.
Most type1's nowadays are on two separate insulins instead of having them pre-mixed. That way they can have their basal need of insulin covered by basal insulin, and take quick acting insulin depending on carbs. For instance, I could have two plates of mozzarella and cucumber without taking quick acting insulin. I'd still need my long acting, or basal insulin though.

I'm not sure how his works for type2's, but I'm not surprised you had a hypo after taking quick acting (in your mix) without eating carby food.
 



Thank you so much for confirming my mistake.Had practically no food after insulin which led to hypo and then had too much sugar scared of 2.3. Will have to be wiser with more food after insulin to prevent sharp drop of bg.
Thanks again
 
Last edited:
ivan 2 said:
Thank you so much for confirming my mistake.Had practically no food after insulin which led to hypo and then had too much sugar scared of 2.9. Will have to be wiser with more food after insulin to prevent sharp drop of bg.
Thanks again
Click to expand...

I take it you're relatively new to insulin? Speaking as a T1, so not new to insulin but not a T2 so your treatment may be slightly different, I'd expect your medical team to have explained about adapting your insulin to carbs. Though as @Antje77 said, if you're on a mixed dose then you're pretty well forced to have the same amount of carbs at the same time each day.
However, if it's any consolation, a rebound high for a T1 after a hypo tends to be in the teens rather than 9.1.

I expect you're already doing this, but make sure you always have some sort of emergency carbohydrate with you so that you can correct any lows/hypos. (You do not want to have a blood sugar of 2 if you're operating machinery eg a car...)
 
ivan 2 said:
Thank you so much for confirming my mistake.Had practically no food after insulin which led to hypo and then had too much sugar scared of 2.9. Will have to be wiser with more food after insulin to prevent sharp drop of bg.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Don't worry, we all do it. You have to remember that if you inject, you must eat carbs.
As for managing the hypo, the protocol is 15 g of sugar, jelly babies, dextrose, etc. All fast absorbing sugars. After 15 min a slice of bread or orange juice, or full glass of milk, etc. Then a bit later check your sugar.
I'm like you, make the mistake of over reacting.
Cheers.

Sent from my SGP611 using Diabetes Forum mobile app
 
Hi,
Don't be to hard on yourself, 2 is very low. 9 isn't too bad either after a hypo.
You'll learn from experience, hypos are scary.
Take care
 
Thank you all.
You are very helpful and I must say your advices and encouragement are even more valuable than what I get from professionals.
 
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