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Hello
- Thread starter Kay64
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Robin
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If it were me, I’d count the 4 units you’ve just done as part of your night time dose, so reduce it to 7 units later, otherwise, the 4 you just did will still be active when you put your further 11 units in, and could make you hypo in the night.
Oh, and welcome to the forum, and you aren’t the first to mess up a dose,(I certainly have) and you definitely won’t be the last!
Oh, and welcome to the forum, and you aren’t the first to mess up a dose,(I certainly have) and you definitely won’t be the last!
rebrascora
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Hi Kay and welcome from me too
Are you newly diagnosed as well as being new to the forum? If so, we would be interested to know how your diagnosis came about and how you are managing ... apart from this minor mistake of course? I was diagnosed last year at the age of 55 so I am wondering how similar our experiences might be?
For the record, it is far better to accidentally do as you did and take the Levemir before your meal instead of bolus insulin(NovoRapid perhaps?) rather than the other way around and jab in a whole load of quick acting insulin at bedtime and then have to start eating loads of carbs to keep you from hypoing through the night.
Are you newly diagnosed as well as being new to the forum? If so, we would be interested to know how your diagnosis came about and how you are managing ... apart from this minor mistake of course? I was diagnosed last year at the age of 55 so I am wondering how similar our experiences might be?
For the record, it is far better to accidentally do as you did and take the Levemir before your meal instead of bolus insulin(NovoRapid perhaps?) rather than the other way around and jab in a whole load of quick acting insulin at bedtime and then have to start eating loads of carbs to keep you from hypoing through the night.
No not newly diagnosed I was diagnosed in 1991 at 27 I was in a coma and almost died I also had a son diagnosed with Autism he is non verbal I used to do my levemir 1 a day at night time until I went on a carb counting course in 2018 and they said I needed to do my levemir once in the morning and once at night so I do 12 units of levemir in the morning and 11 units of levemir at night it is the first time I have made a mistake with my levemir so was not sure what to do I am a Type 1 diabetic as of 31st Dec 2019 my Hba1c is 60 and as stayed that way since my carb counting course before that my Hba1c was 80.wishing you well Barbara nice hearing from you.Kay
rebrascora
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Hi Kay
Lovely to know bit more about you but sorry to hear you had a dramatic initiation into diabetes with such a nasty DKA. It sounds like you have your hands full with caring for your son and learning new skills with your diabetes management.
Using the wrong pen by mistake is such an easy error to make. Splitting the Levemir dose takes a bit of getting used to when you are have been in the habit of just using it once a day and I forgot a few times when I first changed and I had only been using it for 6 months when they split my dose. It sounds like you have benefitted from the course and splitting the levemir. Dropping 20 off your HbA1c is a very positive result.... well done!
Lovely to know bit more about you but sorry to hear you had a dramatic initiation into diabetes with such a nasty DKA. It sounds like you have your hands full with caring for your son and learning new skills with your diabetes management.
Using the wrong pen by mistake is such an easy error to make. Splitting the Levemir dose takes a bit of getting used to when you are have been in the habit of just using it once a day and I forgot a few times when I first changed and I had only been using it for 6 months when they split my dose. It sounds like you have benefitted from the course and splitting the levemir. Dropping 20 off your HbA1c is a very positive result.... well done!
rebrascora
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Thanks. Unfortunately I am struggling to bring it down much further despite eating very low carb and a DAFNE course (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) which is carb counting plus a whole load more info.... really great course but my lack of routine does not help me control things well. I am slowly learning to be more confident with my insulin usage and I sometimes get 3 or 4 days when I am mostly in range but then things go haywire again and I am back into mostly double figures with the occasional hypo when I get too ambitious with my corrections! Just seem to increase my basal insulin and get some good readings and then they go up and I need to increase it again and breakfast ratios have also suddenly altered and I need nearly double what I was using. Think I need to incorporate more exercise as the recent weather and now a cold has seen that reduce quite considerably in the past couple of months.
Hopefully the days will get longer and brighter soon and I will fit more in.
Hopefully the days will get longer and brighter soon and I will fit more in.
I was wondering what blood glucose meter you use I use a Accu-Chek Aviva Expert I do my blood sugar and then put my carbs in and it tell’s you how much insulin to take I am 1 unit for 10 carbs and I do 1 unit for 2 correction dose so I eat anything I like as long as I put the right carbohydrates in my meter I have got a carbs and cal app on my mobile which is really good for me as I weigh my food and put it in the dashboard on my app and it tell’s me how many carbs to how many grams of carbs I have weighed out.Kay
rebrascora
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I use a Caresens Duo because it does ketones as well as BG and the consultant wanted me to use it. It may have other functions but I am not really tech savvy so I just stick with using it for what I know. ie mostly BG readings.
Since I eat low carb it is not that difficult to assess the carbs in my food and often I don't eat a main carb portion at all. Pre diagnosis I was a sugar addict and was also eating a lot of bread, potatoes and pasta as well. I have given up sugar/sweets etc before to lose weight but always gone back to my addiction. Having learned to eat low carb and cut out most of the starchy stuff as well, when they originally assumed I was Type 2 and then discovered that eating more fat is beneficial, I now find I don't get the cravings for sugar like I used to and I enjoy what I eat. If I go back to eating normal portions of carbs, I am pretty sure I will put on weight but more concerning is that my body will start to crave them again and I will go back to eating sweet stuff and using more and more insulin. I now really relish eating something sweet like an apple more than I ever did before because I am not getting loads of sugar from other sources, but I know it could very easily get out of hand if I ate them routinely and went back to eating bread etc. I have suffered from stress and depression for a lot of years and misused to sugar/eating to deal with it but it really just created a roller coaster. Eating low carb and higher fat keeps things much more stable, I am just having problems running a bit high.... possibly because my body is breaking down proteins and fats instead of carbs but better a bit too high as having hypos all the time.
I will get there eventually. As you and also the Consultant say, it is early days yet and at least I do get some days when I get mostly in range readings.... I love those days!!
Since I eat low carb it is not that difficult to assess the carbs in my food and often I don't eat a main carb portion at all. Pre diagnosis I was a sugar addict and was also eating a lot of bread, potatoes and pasta as well. I have given up sugar/sweets etc before to lose weight but always gone back to my addiction. Having learned to eat low carb and cut out most of the starchy stuff as well, when they originally assumed I was Type 2 and then discovered that eating more fat is beneficial, I now find I don't get the cravings for sugar like I used to and I enjoy what I eat. If I go back to eating normal portions of carbs, I am pretty sure I will put on weight but more concerning is that my body will start to crave them again and I will go back to eating sweet stuff and using more and more insulin. I now really relish eating something sweet like an apple more than I ever did before because I am not getting loads of sugar from other sources, but I know it could very easily get out of hand if I ate them routinely and went back to eating bread etc. I have suffered from stress and depression for a lot of years and misused to sugar/eating to deal with it but it really just created a roller coaster. Eating low carb and higher fat keeps things much more stable, I am just having problems running a bit high.... possibly because my body is breaking down proteins and fats instead of carbs but better a bit too high as having hypos all the time.
I will get there eventually. As you and also the Consultant say, it is early days yet and at least I do get some days when I get mostly in range readings.... I love those days!!
Mine is normally a lot of hypos so always got my jelly babies and digestive with me but my days are up and down as some days not doing a lot others doing to much so no two days the same but my Hba1c has not changed the consultant is pleased so I am happy with that you are doing really well I feel the summer months are better than the winter as you can be out a lot more.
rebrascora
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Yes, roll on Spring!
I think the difficulty with diabetes is that you are tempted to compare yourself with other people and whilst most of us on my DAFNE course had various problems which meant we were often too high or too low, there was a young woman who had only been diagnosed 2 months. She had never had a hypo and her readings every day were absolutely perfectly in range and she had a ratio of 1 unit to 8g carbs and she ate whatever she liked and was often injecting more than 12 units of bolus insulin at a time and never getting it wrong!! I have only rarely injected more than 6 on special occasions like Christmas and even then I was very restrained about what I ate, but still went high. I think seeing someone managing it so well when you are struggling despite trying really hard, makes you feel a bit of a failure or perhaps tempts you to set unrealistic targets. My consultant says he is happy with my progress and I should be happy with that, but for some reason I am not. I need to go easier on myself and set more realistic goals.
I think the difficulty with diabetes is that you are tempted to compare yourself with other people and whilst most of us on my DAFNE course had various problems which meant we were often too high or too low, there was a young woman who had only been diagnosed 2 months. She had never had a hypo and her readings every day were absolutely perfectly in range and she had a ratio of 1 unit to 8g carbs and she ate whatever she liked and was often injecting more than 12 units of bolus insulin at a time and never getting it wrong!! I have only rarely injected more than 6 on special occasions like Christmas and even then I was very restrained about what I ate, but still went high. I think seeing someone managing it so well when you are struggling despite trying really hard, makes you feel a bit of a failure or perhaps tempts you to set unrealistic targets. My consultant says he is happy with my progress and I should be happy with that, but for some reason I am not. I need to go easier on myself and set more realistic goals.
It was funny before Christmas I was having quite a few hypos but over Christmas my sugar levels were in range my diabetic nurse said perhaps I should have Christmas every day I think it is because I was eating turkey roast potatoes pigs in blankets and veg so perhaps I should have a roast dinner every day.Kay
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Welcome to the forum @Kay64
I wonder if all that protein and fat filled you up so much that you reduced your carb intake - not easy to do at Christmas, but you might have managed it 😛
I found the Expert very helpful too. If you are having lots of hypos it makes it easy to adjust your carb ratios by smaller fractions along with reducing basal.
When I first stated my carb counting course it was suggested I used a pump as my Hba1c was 80 but by the time the course had finished my Hba1c came down to 60 I still have hypos but not as many has I use to I was wondering what it was like to use a pump and if they are hard or easy to use and how comfortable are they.
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I wold recommend it if you qualify under the NICE criteria. It's a bit of work to begin with, but the extra flexibility and precision really do offer me a level of BG management I could never have achieved on insulin pens. It has certainly MASSIVELY reduced the number of low level hypos I was having.
I wrote this after 6 months (I've now been using a pump for about 8 years!)...
https://www.everydayupsanddowns.co.uk/2012/05/face-off-mdi-vs-pump.html
Wirrallass
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