Hi my name is Adam, and I have type one diabetes and have had for just over five years. Recently I have been having difficulties with my sugar control despite trying so hard. The diabetic nurses seem to think that I test my sugars too frequently and this may be one of my problems. However, despite the excessive testing my average sugar readings are high, recently got a HbA1C reading of 9.1, and have had test readings over 20 mmol. Alothugh my sugar levels will go up and down constantly especially in the mornings. I have one injection of back ground insulin per day (Glargin) and insulin with meals (Novarapid). My main question is to people on the same sort of insulin routine as myself. When is the best time to take these injections and has anyone suffered the same sort of experience?
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Hi - looking for someone who is experiencing the same problems as myself (lol)!
- Thread starter brycey
- Start date
- Status
Hi Brycey
Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you are having problems with your BS at the moment. I'm a parent of a type 1 teenage boy. He is on the same insulins as yourself, and sometimes he expierences the same probs as yourself. I personally dont think anyone can test to much, how are we to learn if we dont see what our BS is at various points in the day.. anyway the saying is if in doubt test.
When are you expierencing the main problems with bs, what insulin doses do you use.
Heidi
🙂
Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you are having problems with your BS at the moment. I'm a parent of a type 1 teenage boy. He is on the same insulins as yourself, and sometimes he expierences the same probs as yourself. I personally dont think anyone can test to much, how are we to learn if we dont see what our BS is at various points in the day.. anyway the saying is if in doubt test.
When are you expierencing the main problems with bs, what insulin doses do you use.
Heidi
🙂
Hi
Some things to consider:
Do you need to work different ratio of insulin:carbs for different meals/times of day?
Are you injecting in to lumps?
Does your background insulin need increasing?
I agree with Sasha1, do not think you can test too much, although perhaps you need to wait a little longer after injecting to let the fast acting insulin finish its job before checking.
🙂
Some things to consider:
Do you need to work different ratio of insulin:carbs for different meals/times of day?
Are you injecting in to lumps?
Does your background insulin need increasing?
I agree with Sasha1, do not think you can test too much, although perhaps you need to wait a little longer after injecting to let the fast acting insulin finish its job before checking.
🙂
aymes
Senior Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi and welcome
Are you carb counting? If not, ask about it and maybe about doing an education course such as dafne or bertie, going on various education courses has done wonders for many on here, myself included!
Regarding testing too frequently, it depends what you're doing with the readings I think, going back to pre-dafne I was testing about 12 times a day and I really do think that was too much, I either wasn't doing anything with the readings (not looking for patterns etc) or doing too much, correcting wildly without considering what insulin/food was still working on me. I had apalling control for quite a while and what it took for me was to wipe the spate clean and start from scratch.
Are you carb counting? If not, ask about it and maybe about doing an education course such as dafne or bertie, going on various education courses has done wonders for many on here, myself included!
Regarding testing too frequently, it depends what you're doing with the readings I think, going back to pre-dafne I was testing about 12 times a day and I really do think that was too much, I either wasn't doing anything with the readings (not looking for patterns etc) or doing too much, correcting wildly without considering what insulin/food was still working on me. I had apalling control for quite a while and what it took for me was to wipe the spate clean and start from scratch.
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Adam, welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear that you are having problems. How often are you testing? I test around 5-8 times a day, before meals and bed, and also before and after going for a run. I might also test if I am feeling low, or to see if it would be OK for me to have a snack without needing extra insulin.
I'm on the same insulin as you. Getting the glargine (lantus) right is very important - what sort of levels do you wake up to in the morning? Do you adjust your novorapid according to what you are about to eat? There is a course called DAFNE which you could ask about which teaches you how to 'count' carbs in food and match it to the correct insulin dose. I certainly find that my insulin:carb ratios change through the day, so there may be times of the day for you when you need more insulin than at other times. For example, I need around 8 units with my breakfast, but only about 12 with my evening meal which is much more substantial with double the carbs.
I'm on the same insulin as you. Getting the glargine (lantus) right is very important - what sort of levels do you wake up to in the morning? Do you adjust your novorapid according to what you are about to eat? There is a course called DAFNE which you could ask about which teaches you how to 'count' carbs in food and match it to the correct insulin dose. I certainly find that my insulin:carb ratios change through the day, so there may be times of the day for you when you need more insulin than at other times. For example, I need around 8 units with my breakfast, but only about 12 with my evening meal which is much more substantial with double the carbs.
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