Help needed as I'm going back to work after being off since November

[Steverpayne]

Hi, I was wondering if I could get some help please
Here's what I take and when I usually take it.
I'm on metformin 3 times a day Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.
I'm also taking tresiba 20 units at night before bed which my diabetic nurse says as I'm going back to work to knock it down to 16 units.
I also have novarapid 3 times a day also before meals usually Breakfast 8am Lunch 1pm and Dinner 7pm

My blood readings are
Round about
Morning 6.2 Lunch 6.2 Dinner 6.6 before bed 8.0
These are just readings that are round about those numbers I've only really had about 4 hypos since starting the insulin regime.


The problem is when I go back next week I've been off work since having insulin

I work in a in unhygienic work place so I don't want to be having my injections at work

So the question really is

What will happen if I have a sandwich at work for my lunch without having my injection I am having snacks in between meals anyway so it would be just shifting my lunch injection to dinner time and then I would have my 3rd injection round about supper time with food then?

Hope you can help thank you

 

[Robin]

The Novorapid is there to mop up the carbs in the food you are about to eat, so skipping it and doing it later doesn’t work. You’ll just have high levels of Glucose all afternoon. I’d be asking myself, if I feel it’s too unhygienic to inject, isn’t it too unhygienic to be eating in that environment? If I'm happy to eat somewhere, and I can wash or wet wipe my hands, I’ve never felt I couldn’t do an injection in the same conditions.

 

[SuperBee]

You need to talk with your diabetic team about this change in your regime. I have had issues in hospital with their bizarre meal times - late breakfast and early evening meal.

I also feel for you with the unhygienic environment. Basically as an office worker I discreetly carried out blood tests under/behind my desk. Then one day some scumbag reported me saying the sight of a drop of blood made him feel ill. As he was teacher's pet I was told to carry things out in a toilet cubicle. The manager and he left not long afterwards. It turned out this fear of blood was a lie and that his mother was diabetic. What motivated his actions will forever remain a mystery - probably just an *rs*h*l*!

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hello,
if you are having to snack between meals then if it were me I would be looking at the amount of insulin you are taking as it's obviously too much 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

I happily inject at my stable yard which is certainly not "hygienic" and I don't have hand washing facilities. The needle is the only part going into me so as long as I don't drop the needle there is no concern over contamination. I always have the needle fitted to my insulin pen ready for use so you could do that after your breakfast injection and then it is ready just to dial up and jab and then leave it attached to the pen until you get home in the evening to dispose of in your sharpsafe box. As @Robin has said, it isn't really possible to catch up later with your NR injection unless you plan to skip lunch in which case you would not need it later anyway. If you plan to just have a small low carb snack at lunchtime like a boiled egg or some cooked sausages etc, that would be fine without insulin. It would not be a good idea to be having a substantial meal at suppertime as you would be going to bed with active insulin in your system which is always risky.

 

[Steverpayne]

I happily inject at my stable yard which is certainly not "hygienic" and I don't have hand washing facilities. The needle is the only part going into me so as long as I don't drop the needle there is no concern over contamination. I always have the needle fitted to my insulin pen ready for use so you could do that after your breakfast injection and then it is ready just to dial up and jab and then leave it attached to the pen until you get home in the evening to dispose of in your sharpsafe box. As @Robin has said, it isn't really possible to catch up later with your NR injection unless you plan to skip lunch in which case you would not need it later anyway. If you plan to just have a small low carb snack at lunchtime like a boiled egg or some cooked sausages etc, that would be fine without insulin. It would not be a good idea to be having a substantial meal at suppertime as you would be going to bed with active insulin in your system which is always risky.

Thank you for your help

 

[Steverpayne]

I always have the needle fitted to my insulin pen ready for use so you could do that after your breakfast injection and then it is ready just to dial up and jab and then leave it attached to the pen until you get home in the evening to dispose of in your sharpsafe box.

My injector won't shut with needle attached with shield aswell?

 

[Robin]

My injector won't shut with needle attached with shield aswell?

Ah, my needles come with an inner sheath round the actual needle, so I take the outer casing off when I've screwed the needle in, and leave the inner plastic tube bit round the needle. I know some needles don’t have this inner sheath, though.

 

[Steverpayne]

Ah, my needles come with an inner sheath round the actual needle, so I take the outer casing off when I've screwed the needle in, and leave the inner plastic tube bit round the needle. I know some needles don’t have this inner sheath, though.

Mine do also never thought of that I will try my pen tonight after my shot tonight thank you once again

 

[rebrascora]

I never used to bother leaving the needle sheath on although I have done that more recently and it definitely fits inside my pen lid just fine. It's not like anything is going to get inside my pen lid though so I'm ambivalent about it being necessary to keep the needle shielded. The skin on my stomach isn't sterile so I don't think I need to be too particular about the needle being kept completely sterile in all it's packaging, so long as it arrives to me sterile.

 

[Robin]

I never used to bother leaving the needle sheath on although I have done that more recently and it definitely fits inside my pen lid just fine. It's not like anything is going to get inside my pen lid though so I'm ambivalent about it being necessary to keep the needle shielded. The skin on my stomach isn't sterile so I don't think I need to be too particular about the needle being kept completely sterile in all it's packaging, so long as it arrives to me sterile.

It's more a question of whether I catch the rim of the pen lid on the unsheathed needle as I take it off, and bend the needle. It just seems a bit more protected from knocks with the inner sheath still on.