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Why do my blood sugar keep dropping

A

Amy2993

Active Member
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31
I was diagnosed type 1 in June and started on 12U in the morning and 12U at night, with 6U of novorapid with each meal. This has gradually decreased. I’ve been low carb eating now for 11 days (against the advice of my DN) I haven’t taken any rapid insulin with food in 10 days and use 3U morning and night now, however I keep hypoing still. Always hypo about 3 hours after going to bed and about 2 hours after eating my evening meal. Scared to tell my DN as I know she will say I should eat more carbs. But surely I should be injecting for what I eat not the other way around? My levels rarely go over 6 and will only be that high for an hour tops before going low. I’ve never gone over 8.

I realise I’m in the honeymoon stage and that taking insulin helps prolong it, should I just keep reducing my basal? Do I need any basal? Could I test not taking it one day? I have a libre so can track my levels easy enough. Will that end my honeymoon quicker by taking none?
 
Hi Amy,

Test your basal first. Find out what's happening there. https://www.mysugr.com/en/blog/basal-rate-testing/
The basal should be handling fasting levels.

Then work out with what you need to bolus for.

& you are quite correct, you shouldn't need to feed the insulin it should healthily assist your diet.

Edit; just noticed you use a libre. Have you checked these lows against a BG meter?
 
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It is not unusual for insulin required to decrease after starting insulin treatment. Sometimes it looks like the diabetes has gone away. Maybe you don't need any basal at the moment. Try skipping meals and testing hourly until the next meal. You will soon see whether you are getting the right amount of basal. People on honeymoon can often make all the basal insulin they need and can get away with a small amount of bolus insulin at mealtimes. The trick to avoiding hypos during honeymoon is using small amounts of insulin and only where it is needed. .
 
Thanks for always replying so promptly! :) Yes I do check them against my meter because my libre does run a bit lower than my actual levels so always check. My libre says I hypo about 6 times a day, in reality it’s more like 2 when I’ve checked against my BG meter.
 
Amy2993 said:
Thanks for always replying so promptly! :) Yes I do check them against my meter because my libre does run a bit lower than my actual levels so always check. My libre says I hypo about 6 times a day, in reality it’s more like 2 when I’ve checked against my BG meter.
Click to expand...

If you use Android on your phone?
You can use the Glimp app (free download.) which can be calibrated to your BG meter giving a more accurate trend graph.
But always back up anything strange regarding the Libre using the meter..
 
Amy2993 said:
I was diagnosed type 1 in June and started on 12U in the morning and 12U at night, with 6U of novorapid with each meal. This has gradually decreased. I’ve been low carb eating now for 11 days (against the advice of my DN) I haven’t taken any rapid insulin with food in 10 days and use 3U morning and night now, however I keep hypoing still. Always hypo about 3 hours after going to bed and about 2 hours after eating my evening meal. Scared to tell my DN as I know she will say I should eat more carbs. But surely I should be injecting for what I eat not the other way around? My levels rarely go over 6 and will only be that high for an hour tops before going low. I’ve never gone over 8.

I realise I’m in the honeymoon stage and that taking insulin helps prolong it, should I just keep reducing my basal? Do I need any basal? Could I test not taking it one day? I have a libre so can track my levels easy enough. Will that end my honeymoon quicker by taking none?
Click to expand...


Exactly what happened to me, so i cut out basal and lowered carb/insuline ratio on bolus, if not was always heading towards hypo and so far it seemed to have worked. Wanted a Omnipod with DIY loop but doctor said i should wait until my honeymoon period is over before i start pumping, he didn't know what DIY looping was though. From what i understand after you start using insulin it gives a break to pancreas and it will start producing insulin again, some people almost experience normal BG without using insulin shots or very few, this can last from weeks to months. Makes it pretty hard to be precise with insulin doses and get stable BG. (Diagnosed type 1 in july)
 
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I hope you get your dosage sorted with your DN. Persevere, they need to accept different lifestyle choices. You don't need the same basal dose morning and night. For example, I take 4 units in the morning and 1 at night. I've checked my basal by meal skipping.
 
Are you comfortable enough to count the carbs and give NovoRapid accordingly?

I know you are newly diagnosed and might not know yet but once you count your carbs and adjust your NovoRapid then you can eat whatever you want.

You say you are going low carb but how low is your low? What I find personally is that even if my basal insulin is at a correct dose if I don’t eat enough then my blood sugar goes down.

I’m on Lantus for my basal so I just give one shot of 14u in the morning but I suppose Levemir is a bit more difficult to manage. Your Levemir doses may overlap or you may need different amounts in the morning as opposed to the afternoon.

I’m sorry to say but you will need insulin for the rest of your life. You take 24 units of Levemir in total, if you didn’t need any basal insulin then that 24 units would’ve caused a severe hypo. Insulin is a powerful drug, when I change my basal by 1-2 units it massively increases the number of hypos I get. Speak with a Diabetic Specialist Nurse and they will guide you, they will mostly likely observe your Libre and determine how much your basal needs to be reduced.

Edit: Forgot to add, remember to add as much information on Libre as possible. The carbs you’re eating, insulin you’re taking, any additional notes and exercise. It will help your DSN determine the cause of hypos
 
TypeZero. said:
Are you comfortable enough to count the carbs and give NovoRapid accordingly?

I know you are newly diagnosed and might not know yet but once you count your carbs and adjust your NovoRapid then you can eat whatever you want.

You say you are going low carb but how low is your low? What I find personally is that even if my basal insulin is at a correct dose if I don’t eat enough then my blood sugar goes down.

I’m on Lantus for my basal so I just give one shot of 14u in the morning but I suppose Levemir is a bit more difficult to manage. Your Levemir doses may overlap or you may need different amounts in the morning as opposed to the afternoon.

I’m sorry to say but you will need insulin for the rest of your life. You take 24 units of Levemir in total, if you didn’t need any basal insulin then that 24 units would’ve caused a severe hypo. Insulin is a powerful drug, when I change my basal by 1-2 units it massively increases the number of hypos I get. Speak with a Diabetic Specialist Nurse and they will guide you, they will mostly likely observe your Libre and determine how much your basal needs to be reduced.

Edit: Forgot to add, remember to add as much information on Libre as possible. The carbs you’re eating, insulin you’re taking, any additional notes and exercise. It will help your DSN determine the cause of hypos
Click to expand...

I don’t have carbs in the day then will have a normal meal with carbs in the evening as my insulin seems to work better in the evening. I don’t take 24U of levemir anymore that was my original doses when I left hospital, which has gradually reduced over 2 months. I’ve taken 6U daily, 3 in the morning and 3 in the night. I have used 2U this morning instead.

I’ve heard that you can eat anything and inject for, but I have to be honest I’ve researched it so much I just don’t feel that is entirely true and will cause fluctuating BG levels which I don’t want.

My logic is if I can reduce my insulin intake safely whilst having a balanced healthy diet surely that’s the best thing to do? Really confused why the NHS don’t advise a low carb diet to type 1s. My DN told me you get a lot of your energy from carbs and that why she wouldn’t recommend it, but then why recommend it for type 2s?

My insulin needs has reduced so much since I’ve gone low carb, I do feel it’s a sustainable long term diet.
 
Amy2993 said:
I don’t have carbs in the day then will have a normal meal with carbs in the evening as my insulin seems to work better in the evening. I don’t take 24U of levemir anymore that was my original doses when I left hospital, which has gradually reduced over 2 months. I’ve taken 6U daily, 3 in the morning and 3 in the night. I have used 2U this morning instead.

I’ve heard that you can eat anything and inject for, but I have to be honest I’ve researched it so much I just don’t feel that is entirely true and will cause fluctuating BG levels which I don’t want.

My logic is if I can reduce my insulin intake safely whilst having a balanced healthy diet surely that’s the best thing to do? Really confused why the NHS don’t advise a low carb diet to type 1s. My DN told me you get a lot of your energy from carbs and that why she wouldn’t recommend it, but then why recommend it for type 2s?

My insulin needs has reduced so much since I’ve gone low carb, I do feel it’s a sustainable long term diet.
Click to expand...

For your basal to decrease that significantly you are definitely in a fairly good honeymoon period. Some people are completely off insulin while others have no noticeable honeymoon like myself (diagnosed April 2020).

The way basal insulin works is different to a normal pancreas as a normal pancreas would be able to vary the rate at which insulin is produced according to need but the insulin we inject doesn’t so if you don’t eat at least some carbs then you can go hypo so watch out for that.

The Libre would be good in learning about your metabolism and how your sugars respond to different foods. It’s all about trial and error. Not all carbs are the same: a doughnut and some spicy lentils will do very different things. Some foods might not even raise your blood sugars especially when I’m eating out, if I eat McDonalds I’m usually also walking around so my sugars don’t have a chance to rise and if it goes slightly low later then I just have 1-2 Dextro Energy tablets.

Maybe a lower carb diet yes but I do not personally think keto diets or anything of the sort are quite healthy for you to be honest. You just need to find a balance between meeting your carb needs and controlling your blood sugars. Sometimes I have had bean burgers (no bun) with 40g of carbs and if I inject my insulin before the meal I have gone low due to the fibre in the beans causing slow glucose release so the art of diabetes is knowing when to inject.

T2 and T1 are in essence completely different diseases that have been given a common name called diabetes because both is caused by an impaired glucose tolerance. The NHS advice is like that because T1 is not caused by yourself so you cannot fix it but T2 is lifestyle based and can be helped. Insulin resistance (cause of T2DM) can be reduced by losing weight, eating less carbs so you have less insulin spikes and exercising to make your body more sensitive to insulin).

The definition of low carb can change from person to person. When reading scientific publications generally I have seen <130g carbs to be classed as low carb and <50g carbs to be classed as very low carb. If you can do it while getting your 5 a day, your vitamins and minerals then do it
 
Amy2993 said:
I don’t have carbs in the day then will have a normal meal with carbs in the evening as my insulin seems to work better in the evening. I don’t take 24U of levemir anymore that was my original doses when I left hospital, which has gradually reduced over 2 months. I’ve taken 6U daily, 3 in the morning and 3 in the night. I have used 2U this morning instead.

I’ve heard that you can eat anything and inject for, but I have to be honest I’ve researched it so much I just don’t feel that is entirely true and will cause fluctuating BG levels which I don’t want.

My logic is if I can reduce my insulin intake safely whilst having a balanced healthy diet surely that’s the best thing to do? Really confused why the NHS don’t advise a low carb diet to type 1s. My DN told me you get a lot of your energy from carbs and that why she wouldn’t recommend it, but then why recommend it for type 2s?

My insulin needs has reduced so much since I’ve gone low carb, I do feel it’s a sustainable long term diet.
Click to expand...

They recommend low carb diet to type 2s because they are often overweight. Your BG wont fluctuate if you dont take too much refined sugar, the amount of carbs doesn't really matter as long as you bolus accordingly and avoid refined sugars because they boost your blood sugar really faster.
<------- Very informative video
 
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