Can I still take my insulin if no food is staying in my stomach?

[KleboldKlan]

I have severe IBS and everything I eat doesn't stay in (those with IBS know what im talking about), I am getting worried that I am taking my insulin for no reason. (Not trying to make excuses as I do really want to take it)

I wasn't really taught how insulin works (and i've been diagnosed almost 2 years), so I don't know if the insulin only works if there is food in the stomach. Help please?

Also, how long do lumps stay in the legs? I still have a lump on my left thigh.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about your IBS @KleboldKlan - it’s not a condition I know well but I am assuming that erm... ‘gut transit’ is quite rapid?

In times of sickness you would need to keep taking basal (background) insulin and monitor BG and use Sick Day Rules to calculate insulin doses.

So I would take your BG meter as your guide. If you are regularly going hypo after meals then it might indicate that your meal doses are over-reaching the food you are digesting.

You might need to adopt some of the dosing strategies of members here who live with gastroparesis, who have to spread insulin delivery over a longer period to account for delayed stomach emptying.

Hope you get some relief from the IBS soon, and speak to your clinic/DSN for their advice around insulin and IBS.