hi everyone

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oneshot

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Type 2
having been put on insulin for my type 2 diabetes I have a few questions if thats ok?

regards Nigel.
 
Hi Nigel and a warm welcome to the forum, of course its ok to ask your questions why else are we all here but to pick each others gray matter :D
 
Welcome to the forums Nigel 🙂
 
oneshot said:
having been put on insulin for my type 2 diabetes I have a few questions if thats ok?

regards Nigel.
Click to expand...

Hi Nigel, welcome to the forum 🙂 What insulin have they put you on, and how long have you been diagnosed? Thought I'd get a couple of questions in myself - please ask whatever it is you'd like to know and we'll do our best to help! 🙂
 
Welcome to the forums oneshot - fire away with your questions. It may help others in answering if you tell us a little about your regimen.

What insulin (s) have you been put on, when are you injecting, has the DSN/GP given you a good supply of test strips.

Do you drive ? - if you do then you must ensure that you inform the DVLA about the change in treatment - you should also let your insurance company know as they may see it as a material fact.
 
margie said:
Welcome to the forums oneshot - fire away with your questions. It may help others in answering if you tell us a little about your regimen.

What insulin (s) have you been put on, when are you injecting, has the DSN/GP given you a good supply of test strips.

Do you drive ? - if you do then you must ensure that you inform the DVLA about the change in treatment - you should also let your insurance company know as they may see it as a material fact.
Click to expand...

Hi again,

Thanks for the welcomes it is appreciated cheers.

they have taken me off Gliclazide 180 mg twice a day and put me on Humulin M3 apparently 30% fast acting insulin and 70% slow acting.

i was terrified of injectiong myself when I went in to start On Monday the 11th of july but soon realised that it was easier than I thought.

I havent had an explannation as to how they calculate the dosage they have given me and because of this I don't really feel that I am in control with the dose being set by someone else, I would like to know how they calculate the doseages. does anyone know please or should,they have told me?

I know its early days as yet on Monday Mornning I took my last two 80 mg of Gliclazide and went to start insuln at 11am in the surgury I injected 6 units of insulin and that day was brilliant I had more energy than I had -had for the past 8 months at 11 in the mornning my sugars were 14.1 by the afternoon 3pm my sugars were 6.1 and I felt great.

I took 6 units of insulin 30 mins before my evenning meal and my sugars dropped nicely 2 hours later to 7.0 the following mornning (Tuesday) they were up again this time to 18.0 on taking 6 units 30 mins before a bowl of cereal my sugars steadily climbed for the rest of the day and it wasnt until the evenning that they dropped to 9.0 the nurse from my diebetes clinic phoned me on Tuesday at lunch time and increased my evenning dose to 10 units, which I took 30m mins befoe my evenning meal my sugars dropped in two hours to 4.1 now I felt the beginnings of a hypo or at least what I know to be a hypo pins and nedles in my tongue and up the side of my face and across my forehead, I have experienced this on the tablets but not for a very long time.
to be honest I am not to happy about taking another 10 units tonight and I am a little concerned about this. not wanting to keep bothering the Nurse at the clinic I telephoned the diebetes help line they assure me that what I was experiencing was not a hypo and it is just my body getting used to the insulin.

so any help with working out how units are calculated would be much appreciated, I already have the DIABIONLINE form to fill out for my driving license but I do want to give it a few days to see how I react to to insulin if I have frequent hypos or the hypos are less detectable than they were on gliclazide then hurriedly filling out the form with incorrect info will mean that I give the wrong information to DVLA. I have experienced hypos on tablets but apparently Not thus far on insulin so I am not to sure how to proceed with filling out the form which seems to be very outdated and answers confined o ticking boxes with no room for elaboration on any particular subject, this suggests that the form is scanned by a computer and the decision is made by a machine that reads ticks in boxes through a template.

regards Nigel.
 
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Welcome to the forum oneshot...........

I used to be on M3 back in the day, didn't really do me much good as a type 1.......with mixed insulin's like M3 the dose is calculated by the amount of carbohydrate you consume in a day and this still needs to be worked out accurately with blood sugar testing..... specifically before breakfast and dinner, the two times you would be taking the insulin.............for best results, sticking to the same amount of carbs and GI is best, so not very flexible..............however I dont know what effects or changes there would be for a type 2 patient as you may be producing some insulin of your own............
 
Hi Nigel, I think it is normal practice when you are first put on insulin to start with a lowish dose and then work from there, which it sounds like your nurse is doing. 4.1 is just the right side of a hypo, so it is cutting it fine, but it is easily dealt with by eating a small amount of carbs. At 4.1 I'd probably opt for a slice of toast, thinly spread with jam. Being on a mixed insulin is not as open to changing the dose according to what you want to eat as when you are on separate fast and slow insulins, so I would agree with novorapidboi that you need to be fairly consistent with the amount of carbs you eat. Also, you need to consider other factors, such as if you have been particularly active which may mean you need to top up with a few more carbs.

Don't worry, it will come with time and experience. And DON'T worry about 'bothering' your nurse - it's very important that you gain confidence in your treatment so that you can keep good control, and the nurse is there to help you achieve it! 🙂
 
Thanks everyone the dose is up to 16 units at night now and 10 in the mornings as my system starts to get used to the insulin, there is talk about a fast acting insulin to take before meals hopefully this will give me more control in the long run and enable my diet to be a bit more varied, thanks again for all the positive comments, they are very much appreciated, I have no surviving relatives left on insulin to talk to this about so your advice does help. thanks again regards Nigel.
 
Hi Nigel, sounds like you are making good progress. When you are ready, do push fr the fast insulin as it will really make things much more flexible and put you in control rather than having to 'eat to the insulin' 🙂
 
Hi Nigel.

Welcome to the forum 🙂

Heidi
xx🙂
 
Thanks Heidi, (you can choke me if you like)

Things have suddenly Moved on.

I have been waiting three months to see a diabetic specialist at the Hospital
because I couldn't tolerate a higher dose of Humalin M3 anything above 12 units had me Hypo-ing all day long I would eat and two hours later yet another hypo, then I would go through a week of fantastically high sugars during the day time before they settled down again in the evenings. 5.0 and below.
so I was referred to the specialist.
Today I have taken my last Humalin M3 injection of 10 units in the morning at teatime I shall be taking Humalog fast acting insulin 5 mins before food with my old pen and lantus long acting insulin before bed with a new click star pen. from tomorrow no more humalin M3 I hope 4 injections of Humalog and 1 of Lantus and hopefully a lot more control over my condition. the specialist said that I dont have to eat at dinner time if I dont feel hungry with this system, my other meds make me feel ill forcing myself to eat on the old insulin (M3). so much for insulin making you feel hungry I am loosing weight steadily at the rate of 1 and a 1/2 pounds a month. have lost 8 stone since type 2 discovered in 2004 but it never comes of my stomach, just imagine a skinny bloke with pot belly it's not funny at all. my mates keep asking me if I am pregnant.Grrrr

regards Nigel.
 
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Hi Nigel, I hope that the new insulin suits you much better. Have you been given fixed doses to inject, or have you been taught carb counting? If you haven't been taught then request instruction as soon as you can in order to take full advantage of the flexibility of the new regime.
 
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