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CORRECTION AFTER EATING - HOW LONG

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mum2westiesGill

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
If you've eaten but forgot to do your carbs & insulin how long after can you do a correction?
 
Hi @mum2westiesGill Did you actually forget to bolus? If it’s still close to your meal, I’d calculate the carbs you had and bolus now.
 
This is just what I’d do @mum2westiesGill but if I remembered within 90 mins of the meal, I’d bolus as I would have done before the meal.

I’d then watch my blood sugar carefully for a number of hours after.
 
This is just what I’d do @mum2westiesGill but if I remembered within 90 mins of the meal, I’d bolus as I would have done before the meal.

I’d then watch my blood sugar carefully for a number of hours after.
So if it was over 90 mins would you test and correct?
 
90mins to two hours would be a grey area where I’d consider doing either. After two hours, I’d probably correct.
 
Your meal will still be digesting for a while. Sometimes for me, I find it’s easier to dose for the carbs I forgot to bolus for, rather than adding any extra for the correction, unless it’s a long time after the meal (2+ hours).
 
Your meal will still be digesting for a while. Sometimes for me, I find it’s easier to dose for the carbs I forgot to bolus for, rather than adding any extra for the correction, unless it’s a long time after the meal (2+ hours).

Hi @everydayupsanddowns and thank you for your kind words 🙂. By correction I wasn't meaning to add extra on - what I was going to do is have the meal then wait for 2 + hours then test and do an advised mysugr correction - if bg is over 10mmol which is most likely what it will be after all the food lol.

Ps I've gone back to finger pricking
 
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Thank you for your kind words. By correction I wasn't meaning to add extra on - what I was going to do is have the meal then wait for 2 + hours then test and do an advised correction - if bg is over 10mmol which is most likely what it will be after all the food lol

If you realise you have forgotten to bolus for carbs you have eaten I would dose as soon as possible. The food will already have a head start and the insulin will still be needed to deal with the carbs/raised glucose.

I think it will only get more confusing to forget to bolus, and then deliberately wait even longer. Additionally your levels will most likely have raised even higher, which may mean that your usual corrections may not work as effectively as you expect (I seem to need more insulin to correct higher levels.

If I realise during a meal that I have forgotten to bolus before I will pause eating and bolus straight away. If I realise I have forgotten to bolus for a meal after eating I will bolus for the carbs as soon as I can afterwards.

I wouldn’t deliberately delay delivering insulin that I know I have forgotten.
 
If you realise you have forgotten to bolus for carbs you have eaten I would dose as soon as possible. The food will already have a head start and the insulin will still be needed to deal with the carbs/raised glucose.

I think it will only get more confusing to forget to bolus, and then deliberately wait even longer. Additionally your levels will most likely have raised even higher, which may mean that your usual corrections may not work as effectively as you expect (I seem to need more insulin to correct higher levels.

If I realise during a meal that I have forgotten to bolus before I will pause eating and bolus straight away. If I realise I have forgotten to bolus for a meal after eating I will bolus for the carbs as soon as I can afterwards.

I wouldn’t deliberately delay delivering insulin that I know I have forgotten.

What would you do if you didn't really know the carb amount?
 
What would you do if you didn't really know the carb amount?

I would make my best guess, like I do when eating out.

Carbs and Cals (either the book or the app) can be helpful for people to estimate carb content by eye, but it’s always a bit uncertain.

So I would make my best guess, then (as your signature suggests) ‘test test test and act if I need to‘ 🙂
 
I would make my best guess, like I do when eating out.

Carbs and Cals (either the book or the app) can be helpful for people to estimate carb content by eye, but it’s always a bit uncertain.

So I would make my best guess, then (as your signature suggests) ‘test test test and act if I need to‘ 🙂

If I bolused a small amount then test after 2 hours and correct if mysugr advises it?
 
How long after?
 
So this last few days I've had all meals out 🙂
- breakfast in the hotel I just had toast which looked nothing like my usual hovis because it looked much thinner but hey ho I just went along with my best guess which I know was totally wrong and thought well I will either go hypo or hyper.

I had a couple of evening meals out - ate then tested and instead of entering the wrong carb amount in so too much or too little did a mysugr correction dose an hour after eating 🙂

When eating at home I always check packets for carbohydrate values
 
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