Getting the hang of Novorapid - opinions on basal wanted please.

[Tezzz]

Hi everybody,

I have recently been put on Lantus and Novorapid to get my HBA1c down.
I have got the basal kind of right. No night hypos now. I wake between 4 and 6.
I have had no education on multiple daily injections.
To begin I was a bit over keen with the bolus and yo yo'd a few times, so I am backing it off.

I walk the dogs each day after lunch. My emergency coat pocket pack of Haribo is going out of date I haven't touched any.

I am not carb counting weighing stuff and looking in books. The other half went mad when I asked to weigh food. I rarely eat processed foods (except baked beans as a special treat) and every meal is cooked from scratch with fresh meat or vegetables. We make our own wholemeal bread. I rarely eat desserts.

I tried an experiment one day one slice of wholemeal toast and butter and after 2 hours I took 5 units of Novorapid to come back down to what I was before I ate it.

I'd like some opinions on the best way to go with Novorapid please.

Do I write down what I eat and do a before and after blood test and then correct to get the hang of what basal I need?
Do I just have 10 units of rapid and test later and then do a correction?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Do I write down what I eat and do a before and after blood test and then correct to get the hang of what basal I need?
Do I just have 10 units of rapid and test later and then do a correction?

To be honest carb counting is simpler in the end. Doesn't need to be precise (there's not much point since each day things work a bit differently anyway, so what's ~10g difference?), so if you tend to eat similar amounts of bread and the bread doesn't change, you only need to work it out once (with weighing where that's relevant). (Similarly for rice, potatoes, etc.)

Presuming you have Libre (or other CGM) you could try Sugar surfing which is a bit less emphasis on counting (and more about smoothing the graph), though the basis is still carb counting really.

 

[Inka]

Hi @Tezzz You say you’ve recently been put on these insulins. In your previous posts you seem to have been on Type 2 meds - can you just confirm whether you’re a Type 1 or a Type 2 on insulin?

Why are you injecting Novorapid after food? Is this something you’ve been told to do (some Type 2s are, it seems).

The best way to use Novorapid is to inject it in advance of eating and after you’ve calculated how much you’ll need by using your meal ratio (eg 1:10g, 1:7g, etc etc ) and counting the carbs in what you’re about to eat. You do this by checking packets, nutritional info and by weighing.

 

[Tezzz]

I am Type 2. I am not overweight.
I was on Metformin, Sitagliptin and Lantus.
The Sitagliptin was withdrawn because of cancer risks. I could no longer tolerate more Metformin (I tried every generic and slow release). The doctor said I can try Novorapid.
Thanks for the advice on taking Novorapid before food. I was waiting until I finished in case I did not eat all of it. I think I will try and get breakfast right first.
I will try the Sugar Surfing guide when I get a Libre. I can get boxes of 100 strips for £30 so I will test far more like each two hours during the day. I have loads of lancets.
Thanks for your help everybody.

 

[Leadinglights]

I am Type 2. I am not overweight.
I was on Metformin, Sitagliptin and Lantus.
The Sitagliptin was withdrawn because of cancer risks. I could no longer tolerate more Metformin (I tried every generic and slow release). The doctor said I can try Novorapid.
Thanks for the advice on taking Novorapid before food. I was waiting until I finished in case I did not eat all of it. I think I will try and get breakfast right first.
I will try the Sugar Surfing guide when I get a Libre. I can get boxes of 100 strips for £30 so I will test far more like each two hours during the day. I have loads of lancets.
Thanks for your help everybody.

Do you not get strips on prescription as you are on insulin.
Those are very pricy, the strips for the GlucoNavil are more like £13 for 100 if you have to pay for them yourself.

 

[Inka]

I am Type 2. I am not overweight.
I was on Metformin, Sitagliptin and Lantus.
The Sitagliptin was withdrawn because of cancer risks. I could no longer tolerate more Metformin (I tried every generic and slow release). The doctor said I can try Novorapid.
Thanks for the advice on taking Novorapid before food. I was waiting until I finished in case I did not eat all of it. I think I will try and get breakfast right first.
I will try the Sugar Surfing guide when I get a Libre. I can get boxes of 100 strips for £30 so I will test far more like each two hours during the day. I have loads of lancets.
Thanks for your help everybody.

Getting one meal right at a time is a good strategy 🙂 To avoid confusion, you might want to change the ‘type’ under your avatar as it’s showing you as Type 1. You can do that by clicking on your name top right corner of this page, then Account Details, then scroll down to Relationship to Diabetes and tick the Type 2 box🙂

 

[Totalwar]

You should get all meds free as you have diabetes