Help please

[caroleann]

Ok getting in a bit of a state here about take my first dose of levemir tonight the thing im worried about ,is there a risk of me having a hypo in the night i know its daft and the nurse probably did tell me but there is so much to take in im foregetting a lot of what she did say.
carole

 

[Pigeon]

Hi Carole, potentially yes, and it's good to be cautious about hypos while you're doses are still being worked out, although hopefully your nurse has been cautious to start with. I would suggest you keep some lucozade and biscuits by your bed just in case, and set an alarm to take a BG reading at 3am just to set your mind at rest. Have you ever had hypos before, and do you get symptoms?

 

[Dizzydi]

Ok getting in a bit of a state here about take my first dose of levemir tonight the thing im worried about ,is there a risk of me having a hypo in the night i know its daft and the nurse probably did tell me but there is so much to take in im foregetting a lot of what she did say.
carole

Hi Caroleann,
I have just recently switched to levemir and have not had any night time hypo's. I was having them when I was on insultard.

How many units will you be injecting ? Are you going to test before bed. If you do and you think you might be a little to low, have a piece of toast or a crumpet or something which is light. Ive been going to bed below 7 and been ok throughout the night.

Di x

 

[caroleann]

Hi Carole, potentially yes, and it's good to be cautious about hypos while you're doses are still being worked out, although hopefully your nurse has been cautious to start with. I would suggest you keep some lucozade and biscuits by your bed just in case, and set an alarm to take a BG reading at 3am just to set your mind at rest. Have you ever had hypos before, and do you get symptoms?

Thankyou for the quick reply,the nurse has started me on 10 ,i had hypo's when on the byetta lowest was 2.9 but i was'nt getting any awareness it was the time for me to test after my meal being the only reason i knew.

 

[caroleann]

Hi Caroleann,
I have just recently switched to levemir and have not had any night time hypo's. I was having them when I was on insultard.

How many units will you be injecting ? Are you going to test before bed. If you do and you think you might be a little to low, have a piece of toast or a crumpet or something which is light. Ive been going to bed below 7 and been ok throughout the night.

Di x

Thanks for advice, i am feeling better about it all now,thought i was being realy brave but its just hit me how scarey this all is.

 

[Pigeon]

Definitely check at 3am then. If you do that for a few nights you'll get a handle on how it affects your BG and hopefully get more confidence with it.

Some fairly subtle symptoms you might get at night are sweating or insomnia - you could check if you experience these at all too.

 

[Dizzydi]

Thanks for advice, i am feeling better about it all now,thought i was being realy brave but its just hit me how scarey this all is.

Hi Caroleann, it is a bit scary, i was like that with my first one, but once you have done your first one you will be fine. Take your time and relax.

I get everything ready and then relax and put the needle in very gentley and slowly, once I'm happy it is in a press the end.

Do you have / or have had night hypo's

Di x

 

[marke]

I would have thought ( and hoped) they would start you on a low dose and then slowly increase it to get it right. Since its background insulin it shouldn't really cause you a problem since its just supposed to keep you 'ticking over' not push your blood sugar down.
The advice about sweating and insomia are about right for me, if I get too low ( due to fast acting insulin NOT levemir) I find myself constantly 'thinking' about things which tells me immediately somethings not right, so I test. The 3am test is because that is typically when your blood sugar would be at its lowest and later would naturally rise as your body
gears itself up to wake up. Trouble is waking yourself up , might just stress you and so push up your BG anyway.
I know its easy to say after you have been pumping insulin for a few years but its really NOT something to worry about, honest. Hopefully it will have the opposite effect in that you won't have hypo's using it, I guess thats why they wanted you to try it. I have been on it for years and the only issue I have every had was having to split the dose to get it to last 24 hours.

 

[Copepod]

Caroleann - not good timing for this comment, but almost certainly you will be started on a low dose of Levemir, which will be increased gradually, on advice from DSN, usually in response to you phoning in your blood glucose levels. Typically increase by 1 unit every 3 days, but there are other patterns, and your DSN is the best one to advise. They should as keen to avoid night time hypos as you! As others have said, Levemir is background / long acting insulin, not fast acting, so chances of causing hypos are lower.

 

[Caroline]

Can't add to advice but just wanted to say good luck, I hope everything is OK for you.

 

[caroleann]

Thankyou for all your replies they were all a great help to me.
I got through the night just fine,realy dont know what i was worrying for now anyway i started the novorapid this morning and i seem to have taken to it like a duck to water although i am having huge problems with carb counting i just dont know where to start with it so i will probably be begging for help with taht later on.
thanks again for your help.
carole

 

[sofaraway]

Glad to hear you are getting on well so far. Maybe you could start by trying to work out how many carbs are in what you are eating and writing it down. Then you can go from there and start adjusting your doses. The most important dose to get right will be the basal and that will likely take a little while, once that is sorted you can concentrate on the bolus doses and carb counting.