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Am I taking enough Insulin......

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
rossi_mac

rossi_mac

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I know I should see my nurse, and I will, but would appreciate some views from the educated public on this here forum.

Recently a few times I've been up and down levels wise without much reasoning. I think maybe I haven't been very good at carb counting as I haven't truely worked out a ratio, more half it round it up or down depending on my impending activities are.

Today I woke at 7.6, 3 hrs later 6.1, before lunch 8.7, 2 hrs later 7.9.
I then snacked on some pitta bread and chick pea moosh, within 20 mins my eyes felt like I was high as a kite (I hate that feeling), I tested 11.8. Low carb tea and injected for correction mainly (still working that out too)

So why did I jump to 11.8 after 20 mins after a pitta snack?
Should I have injected an extra amount if I was snacking so?

One thought was I don't have enough long term in me?
But as I wake between 6 and 8 generally so I think that's fine?
If I had anymore levemir in me would I hypo more often.

sorry for going on but I wanted to give you all the whole picture.

Thanks

Rossi.
 
rossi_mac said:
I know I should see my nurse, and I will, but would appreciate some views from the educated public on this here forum.

Recently a few times I've been up and down levels wise without much reasoning. I think maybe I haven't been very good at carb counting as I haven't truely worked out a ratio, more half it round it up or down depending on my impending activities are.

Today I woke at 7.6, 3 hrs later 6.1, before lunch 8.7, 2 hrs later 7.9.
I then snacked on some pitta bread and chick pea moosh, within 20 mins my eyes felt like I was high as a kite (I hate that feeling), I tested 11.8. Low carb tea and injected for correction mainly (still working that out too)

So why did I jump to 11.8 after 20 mins after a pitta snack?
Should I have injected an extra amount if I was snacking so?

One thought was I don't have enough long term in me?
But as I wake between 6 and 8 generally so I think that's fine?
If I had anymore levemir in me would I hypo more often.

sorry for going on but I wanted to give you all the whole picture.

Thanks

Rossi.
Click to expand...


It is something you should discuss with your nurse but to me it sounds like you're not too far off, maybe just need to do a little bit of fine tuning with your ratio.

If the 11.8 was after the pitta I really wouldn't be too concerned, you would expect to spike up a bit after food and at 20 mins the insulin you took with it would only have just started working, to me the important reading on that would be about 3 hrs after. Or did you mean you didn't inject for the pitta?

Your background insulin shouldn't be having to act on your food so if that's at the right level it's probably not the problem. But you may want to do some basal testing to check that out, again, best to go with your nurse's guidence.
 
Hmmm...possibly your basal is a little on the low side, so you are rising before lunch (form 6.1 to 8.7) - might indicate that, since your breakfast bolus should be 'spent' by then, your basal is not quite keeping the low level glucose produced by your liver at a good level.

Your snack would have been eaten after the peak of your evening meal bolus, so might account for the rise to 11.8, although it has hit your system pretty quickly (but can happen!).

Just some observations that you might want to consider when you see your nurse!🙂
 
Cheers

I was just amazed the pitta spiked me up to 11.8 so quickly!
Also to confirm I didn't inject for the pitta snack, and it was about an hour before my tea.

Thanks again.

I'll look into that basal testin, I think there was a thread about it earlier.
 
rossi_mac said:
Cheers

I was just amazed the pitta spiked me up to 11.8 so quickly!
Also to confirm I didn't inject for the pitta snack, and it was about an hour before my tea.
Click to expand...

White pitta bread is surprisingly high in carbohydrates - have a look at the label next time you feel like a snack! It might be better to switch to the brown variety which will be lower G.I. and so shouldn't spike your blood sugars quite as bad as the white ones.
 
If I snacked on pitta and humous my blood sugars would quickly raise to that kind of level too.
 
Most pitta bread pieces weigh about 60g, and contain approx 30g carbohydrate each, so even 1 piece is a large amount of CHO for a snack.
 
rossi_mac said:
I know I should see my nurse, and I will, but would appreciate some views from the educated public on this here forum.

Recently a few times I've been up and down levels wise without much reasoning. I think maybe I haven't been very good at carb counting as I haven't truely worked out a ratio, more half it round it up or down depending on my impending activities are.

Today I woke at 7.6, 3 hrs later 6.1, before lunch 8.7, 2 hrs later 7.9.
I then snacked on some pitta bread and chick pea moosh, within 20 mins my eyes felt like I was high as a kite (I hate that feeling), I tested 11.8. Low carb tea and injected for correction mainly (still working that out too)

So why did I jump to 11.8 after 20 mins after a pitta snack?
Should I have injected an extra amount if I was snacking so?

One thought was I don't have enough long term in me?
But as I wake between 6 and 8 generally so I think that's fine?
If I had anymore levemir in me would I hypo more often.

sorry for going on but I wanted to give you all the whole picture.

Thanks

Rossi.
Click to expand...

A spike after a snack isn't really expected, but really a snack should be no more than 10g of carbs. Pittas alone have more than that and then the chickpeas also have carb in too. Maybe next time just take a unit to cover a snack like this. And if you still spike a bit take 2 the next time? May i say thought, a very healthy snack 🙂
 
Cheers everyone, it was a wholemeal pitta, and yeah I think next time I'll inject when I have such a snack, I just didn't expect such a spike! And yeah maybe I forgot how many carbs pitta have!
 
cheers peeps,

I guess the answer is see nursey! and inject when the snack is more than a crumb!
 
Hi yep everyone is right. Unfortunately you can't snack on carbs without covering it with insulin.

Your levels are fab, well if my daughter had those levels I would be very pleased but they are a tiny bit on the high side.

I can see you are confused with your carb counting and ratios etc. The rule of thumb is to start at 1 unit to 15 carbs. You will soon see you need to change them and if you have normal patterns then you will need more insulin at breakfast maybe even something like 1 unit to 8 carbs. You may need slightly more insulin at lunch than at breakfast and then again at tea time.

Sounds like you are overall doing ok though.
 
Cheers Adrienne.

Yeah I think there a little high and am trying to be brave enough to get them down a bit.

Ratios I started at 1:10g but after about 3 months it changed to 1:20g now it's picked up a bit, but I haven't tied it down yet, hence to halfing and rounding up.

My day to day activities vary quite a bit so I find it hard to pin things down, I'm thinking of starting a detailed diary/log for a while to try and understand things!

Thanks again to you all.
 
Adrienne said:
Hi yep everyone is right. Unfortunately you can't snack on carbs without covering it with insulin.

Your levels are fab, well if my daughter had those levels I would be very pleased but they are a tiny bit on the high side.

I can see you are confused with your carb counting and ratios etc. The rule of thumb is to start at 1 unit to 15 carbs. You will soon see you need to change them and if you have normal patterns then you will need more insulin at breakfast maybe even something like 1 unit to 8 carbs. You may need slightly more insulin at lunch than at breakfast and then again at tea time.

Sounds like you are overall doing ok though.
Click to expand...

This is something else I have just learned 1 unit of insulin to 15 carbs. I had no idea. I realise its just a starting point and gets tweaked but at least I have somewhere to start now. thank you and the post wasn't even mine.😉
 
Lorraine said:
This is something else I have just learned 1 unit of insulin to 15 carbs. I had no idea. I realise its just a starting point and gets tweaked but at least I have somewhere to start now. thank you and the post wasn't even mine.😉
Click to expand...

Lorraine, there a lot of us that are learning! and a lot of people who are teaching us!! Hats of to them!
 
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