Does anyone on basal/bolus ever wonder

[Kaylz]

What your post meal level would have been if you'd injected longer before your meal, last night as I was sitting at 4.8 I took my 2.5 units for tea then indulged in a square of chocolate 2 hour reading was 7.0, bed time 5 hours later was 5.5 so not bad x

 

[pottersusan]

I try to give myself my insulin at least 20 mins before eating, as it takes at least that long to start taking effect. I know some people inject after eating. We're all different.

 

[Kaylz]

I generally bolus 10 minutes before and never really have a problem with that apart from breakfast where I drop even if I inject just before eating so going to have to try adjusting ratio xx

 

[khskel]

Breakfast is generally 30 mins before eating. Lunch 10 mins and tea up to an hour after. All depending on starting levels and what the meal is.

 

[Northerner]

What your post meal level would have been if you'd injected longer before your meal, last night as I was sitting at 4.8 I took my 2.5 units for tea then indulged in a square of chocolate 2 hour reading was 7.0, bed time 5 hours later was 5.5 so not bad x

Timing of injections can be very important, and it's something that takes experience to work out. I inject up to an hour before breakfast and 30-40 mins before lunch, but immediately before my evening meal. This seems to work well to prevent post-meal spikes, and is also the happy medium of not going hypo before the food has started digesting properly 🙂 This is the key - working out how to get the peak of the insulin to match the peak of the food. Far from easy, but once you have it sorted you can get much better levels overall 🙂 The Libre is especially useful in this respect, I am finding 🙂

 

[Kaylz]

Timing of injections can be very important, and it's something that takes experience to work out. I inject up to an hour before breakfast and 30-40 mins before lunch, but immediately before my evening meal. This seems to work well to prevent post-meal spikes, and is also the happy medium of not going hypo before the food has started digesting properly 🙂 This is the key - working out how to get the peak of the insulin to match the peak of the food. Far from easy, but once you have it sorted you can get much better levels overall 🙂 The Libre is especially useful in this respect, I am finding 🙂

Wow I injected straight before breakfast yesterday and today, was 5.8 before yesterday and 6.4 today but both times 4.8 2 hours later so if I'd left it an hour I would have been well hypo, although I do suspect it's the ratio that needs tweaked and not the timing, I had great results with injecting 10 minutes before lunch with a tuna, mayo and onion roll and 100g strawberries went up by 1.9 the first day and the 2nd day I remained at 7.2 and down to 6.1 around 4 and a half hours later x

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Your numbers are amazing Kaylz. Barely a wobble!

There are two scenarios which have caused me to alter dose timings.

Slowly absorbed meals (you have to work out which these are for you, but things with a lot of fat along with lots of carbs are often tricky).
Symptom: Decent pre-meal BG... drop hypo 1-2 hours after eating... treat and OK for a while... then relentless BG rise 4-8 hours after eating.
Suggestion: Delay all or part of the dose. Eg split into a proportion up front, followed by the rest several hours later.

Post meal spikes
Symptom: Decent premeal BG... Spike up way over 3-4mmol/L into double figures 1-2 hours after eating... BG gradually reduces between hours 2-4 and finally reaches more or less pre-meal level.
Suggestion: Dose was OK, but insulin arrived too late for the meal carbs. Try taking 10 mins before eating, and move backwards 5 mins at a time until the spike is reduced to more acceptable level. Also note what carbs were involved and see if there was anything that might have hit really fast (eg for me breakfast cereal or mashed potato)

 

[trophywench]

I'm not saying anything - it's not something I've ever had the will to try and fathom out.

 

[Kaylz]

Your numbers are amazing Kaylz. Barely a wobble!

There are two scenarios which have caused me to alter dose timings.

Slowly absorbed meals (you have to work out which these are for you, but things with a lot of fat along with lots of carbs are often tricky).
Symptom: Decent pre-meal BG... drop hypo 1-2 hours after eating... treat and OK for a while... then relentless BG rise 4-8 hours after eating.
Suggestion: Delay all or part of the dose. Eg split into a proportion up front, followed by the rest several hours later.

Post meal spikes
Symptom: Decent premeal BG... Spike up way over 3-4mmol/L into double figures 1-2 hours after eating... BG gradually reduces between hours 2-4 and finally reaches more or less pre-meal level.
Suggestion: Dose was OK, but insulin arrived too late for the meal carbs. Try taking 10 mins before eating, and move backwards 5 mins at a time until the spike is reduced to more acceptable level. Also note what carbs were involved and see if there was anything that might have hit really fast (eg for me breakfast cereal or mashed potato)

Thanks for that Mike I will keep this to hand for future reference 🙂, think I could have given lunch and extra 5 minutes today, 6.7 pre meal, 8.9 2 hours later but 5.9 5 hours later so not too bad but haha, I'm still learning though 🙂 x

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for that Mike I will keep this to hand for future reference 🙂, think I could have given lunch and extra 5 minutes today, 6.7 pre meal, 8.9 2 hours later but 5.9 5 hours later so not too bad but haha, I'm still learning though 🙂 x

As long as it's under 9.0 at 2 hours you have cracked it as far as I'm concerned!

 

[Mini-Vicki]

I vary my timings based on many of the variables above 🙂 I did two Libre trials recently which helped me see which foods were spiking me. A few times I was at a normal level before eating, spikes up to 15/16 then dropped down to a normal level 2 and 4 hours post injecting. The Libre was very useful for things like this and I now avoid those foods or inject differently 🙂

 

[spiritfree]

What your post meal level would have been if you'd injected longer before your meal, last night as I was sitting at 4.8 I took my 2.5 units for tea then indulged in a square of chocolate 2 hour reading was 7.0, bed time 5 hours later was 5.5 so not bad x

Kaylz, you really are doing so well. You are putting my bg's to shame and I've been at this for 13 years. It's only just lately that I am having trouble. I don't feel well at the moment. I think it must be that. But well done you.

 

[Kaylz]

Kaylz, you really are doing so well. You are putting my bg's to shame and I've been at this for 13 years. It's only just lately that I am having trouble. I don't feel well at the moment. I think it must be that. But well done you.

Thanks spiritfree 🙂 I hope you start to feel better soon 🙂 x