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Jack_Dunks

Jack_Dunks

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum. I was diagnosed last year with Type 1 at 30 (my brother and mum also both have Type 1). I'm just starting to come out of the honeymoon phase and I'm on Levemir and Novorapid.

Control is pretty good but I've really struggled with hypos, I get them the same time everyday just before I leave work. Does anyone have any tips?

A bit annoyed that Lucozade cut the sugar as I haven't found anything as fast acting, accurate or widely available. I was thinking of doing a survey to find out if anyone else was in the same boat? What are people's thoughts?

Are there any other threads on this?

Cheers,
Jack
 
Welcome Jack. I always use Dextrose tablets, you can get little plastic containers which hold 4 tablets & there is always one in my pocket. Good luck 🙂
 
Welcome Jack..... Humble T2 here on diet/exercise only so I can't comment on the insulin,but I'm with Hobie, I used to carry glucose tablets when I was prone to getting hypo's.
 
Hi Jack

How long after lunchtime insulin is 'leaving work'? This matters - because you need to establish whether it's a bit too much Novorapid for whatever lunch consists of - or whether the Levemir is just a bit too active at that time of day. Then you can try changing one of them - but never do both at once otherwise you won't know which did the trick!

The important thing about hypos is to identify what caused them - so you can avoid doing 'that' again in future.

Temporarily - grab a small carby snack (10 to 15g) about half an hour before hypo time.

I still use Lucozade (has to be orange) and just drink more of it!
 
A warm welcome to our supportive forum Jack. Plenty of knowledgeable and experienced folk here so if there's anything you want to know then do please ask. Take care.


Dx Type2 April 2016
Diet control and exercise only
 
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Thanks everyone.

trophywench said:
Hi Jack

How long after lunchtime insulin is 'leaving work'? This matters - because you need to establish whether it's a bit too much Novorapid for whatever lunch consists of - or whether the Levemir is just a bit too active at that time of day. Then you can try changing one of them - but never do both at once otherwise you won't know which did the trick!

The important thing about hypos is to identify what caused them - so you can avoid doing 'that' again in future.

Temporarily - grab a small carby snack (10 to 15g) about half an hour before hypo time.

I still use Lucozade (has to be orange) and just drink more of it!
Click to expand...


Thanks trophywench, I'm pretty sure it is the Levemir as it happens even if I forget to take Novorapid with my lunch. I have played around with the amount of Levemir I take but whenever I've reduced it by a small amount, I find that my blood sugar starts to go through the roof at other points in the day. The amount I take now is pretty perfect for keeping my blood sugar really stable - it is just that one point in the day! I I'm going to try eating that carby snack 30 mins before I leave work!
 
Hi Jack, welcome to the forum.
 
Hi and welcome 🙂
Has your dsn discussed splitting your Levermir into 2 doses? This works for me.
 
Hi Jack
You are already analysing what is happening and considering the different causes. As TW says it is useful to change just one thing at a time so you know if that worked.

One thing that I found helpful was to split my Levemir so that I did some in the night and another jab in the morning. That way I was able to adjust the day time one without effecting the night time one. That may be worth talking to your DSN/Consultant about.
 
Snap Lucy
 
Thanks guys - I already split my Levemir into two doses a day. My excellent diabetes nurse did explain that the Levemir had more time of a 12 hour cycle.

I'm going to play around with a snack in the afternoon and see if I can stop the dip. Be a bit preventative rather than just reacting to when I start to feel the hypo creeping in.

Plus I get to treat myself
 
I find that my split dose of Levemir causes a dip between 16:30 and 17:30 so I always have a belvita biscuit so I can drive home safely.
 
I had to fiddle with jab timings quite a bit, to avoid hypos but eventually it was 14u when I got up in the morning - so usually between 7 and 7.30 (I was at work then!) an a further 4u at 9.30-ish at night. Neither an equal split in dose nor timing - but it worked for me better than any combination of brands timings or doses ever had for the previous 35 years.

This led me to assume that I don't need all that much insulin overnight- which I always thought was a bit odd really - I mean I know that when we're asleep our bodies are as busy as hell, and especially sorting our brains out for us so you'd think we'd need just as much basal insulin, wouldn't you? Well - turned out after I got my first pump, that I actually need just as much overnight as I do in the daytime. It's a bit dangerous to make any assumptions - whether you are a patient or a medic !

There is a gremlin at large in our router today - being dong some really weird things to both our computers, and I can't get to the website I wanted to post a link to - the Levemir graph on the DSF website. It's very illuminating!
 
Hi Jack, and welcome 🙂
Jack Dunkerley said:
whenever I've reduced it by a small amount, I find that my blood sugar starts to go through the roof at other points in the day
Click to expand...
I'm not on Levemir, but I find I have the same problem if I adjust my basal a small amount - I can't put mine up or down even the tiniest amount without setting off a load of spikes or hypos. Given that adjustments don't work for you, I think the idea of having a snack in the afternoon is a sensible one. I usually have a Hobnob if I think I'm likely to hypo, or a piece of dried fruit if I'm borderline hypo already and want something which will make my bgl go up a bit faster.
 
Meant to say, in terms of fast-acting hypo treatment, I have GSF-syrup on prescription. It's revoltingly sweet, but it works faster for me than anything else (I also have glucose powder in the cupboard and grape juice in the fridge - I get a lot of hypos!).
 
I’m like kshlel. The split dose Levemir works fine, apart from that late afternoon dip, which I can’t get rid of. I’ve systematically tweaked doses, but it just sits there like an uninvited guest. I just eat a snack around that time, and that seems to do the job. As you’ve discovered on this forum, whatever you ask, someone has been there already. 🙂
 
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