How long before a meal do you take insulin?

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AceFace

AceFace

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Today I am about to be brave I have never taken my insulin before my meal, to scared, I am going to it at 11: 50 and eat at 12: 00, I know how many carbs which is 60 which works out at 12 units for me. Is ten minutes before Ok?
 
What insulin do you take @Ingressus ? 10 mins sounds fine unless your blood sugar is a bit low and then I’d just take the insulin and eat immediately. If you’re worried, you could even start with 5 mins in advance. There’s nothing wrong with being slow and cautious 🙂
 
Hi Inka I take Humalog and running at 10 BG by time 12:00 comes I will be at 8 BG slightly more than worried if I don't do it I will never get confident, I spike really quickly to 18 and the come down fast to approximately 6-7 before evening meal.
 
Depends on bg levels before eating, also what insulin your using & foods eaten. In range & for normal measI I bolus 15mins before using Fiasp, before on Novorapid it was slightly longer.
 
I wish there was a simple answer to the question but for me the answer is "it depends".
  • It depends what I am going to be eating - fatty foods digest slower so I don;t need to inject as early
  • It depends on the time of day - I am slightly insulin resistant in the morning so I inject earlier
  • It depends what I have been doing recently - if I have been exercising, my insulin works much faster
  • It depends what my levels are - my fast acting insulin (FIASP) works much faster when my levels are in the 4s and much slower when my levels are in double figures
  • It depends what is convenient - if I am at a restaurant for example, I do not know how much insulin I need until I have seen my dinner in front of me and I am not going to inject then wait 15 minutes for it to get cold before eating it. (Sometimes, I pre-bolus a little to overcome this but that means extra injections.)
 
nonethewiser said:
Depends on bg levels before eating, also what insulin your using & foods eaten. In range & for normal measI I bolus 15mins before using Fiasp, before on Novorapid it was slightly longer.
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Hi I use Humalog I was 8 took 12 units for 60 carbs I am now 2.5 hours in and I'm 15 it didn't work
 
helli said:
I wish there was a simple answer to the question but for me the answer is "it depends".
  • It depends what I am going to be eating - fatty foods digest slower so I don;t need to inject as early
  • It depends on the time of day - I am slightly insulin resistant in the morning so I inject earlier
  • It depends what I have been doing recently - if I have been exercising, my insulin works much faster
  • It depends what my levels are - my fast acting insulin (FIASP) works much faster when my levels are in the 4s and much slower when my levels are in double figures
  • It depends what is convenient - if I am at a restaurant for example, I do not know how much insulin I need until I have seen my dinner in front of me and I am not going to inject then wait 15 minutes for it to get cold before eating it. (Sometimes, I pre-bolus a little to overcome this but that means extra injections.)
Click to expand...
Wow it's complex can you do half before and half later
 
helli said:
I wish there was a simple answer to the question but for me the answer is "it depends".
  • It depends what I am going to be eating - fatty foods digest slower so I don;t need to inject as early
  • It depends on the time of day - I am slightly insulin resistant in the morning so I inject earlier
  • It depends what I have been doing recently - if I have been exercising, my insulin works much faster
  • It depends what my levels are - my fast acting insulin (FIASP) works much faster when my levels are in the 4s and much slower when my levels are in double figures
  • It depends what is convenient - if I am at a restaurant for example, I do not know how much insulin I need until I have seen my dinner in front of me and I am not going to inject then wait 15 minutes for it to get cold before eating it. (Sometimes, I pre-bolus a little to overcome this but that means extra injections.)
Click to expand...
This gives you some idea
 

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Ingressus said:
Wow it's complex can you do half before and half later
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Yes you can. This is a common approach when eating a meal with high carbs and high fat such as pizza or, as I mentioned, when you don't see the food until it is cooked, on your plate and ready to eat.
 
Ingressus said:
This gives you some idea
Click to expand...
As I mentioned the pre-bolus timing can depend on much more than your graphs.
We are all different but Libre doesn't help by exaggerating highs although, If you ate before the peaks, it suggests you should bolus earlier. It to work out when for meals and situations which are repeatable - so it is commonly advised to start with your breakfast. Take notes about what happens each day and move your bolus 5 minutes earlier each day until you are comfortable wit the spike (even people without diabetes get a spike and their insulin works much faster than the stuff we inject) or you are uncomfortable moving it any earlier.
 
It might be useful to do a basal test to check your foundations are correct.
The graph only shows 3 hours but there appears to be a slow trend upwards which may suggest your basal is too low ... but only suggestion, a basal test will confirm.
Also, be aware of insulin resistance when your levels get into double figures so you may be needing more bolus and your reaction time maybe longer because your levels are higher.
 
helli said:
As I mentioned the pre-bolus timing can depend on much more than your graphs.
We are all different but Libre doesn't help by exaggerating highs although, If you ate before the peaks, it suggests you should bolus earlier. It to work out when for meals and situations which are repeatable - so it is commonly advised to start with your breakfast. Take notes about what happens each day and move your bolus 5 minutes earlier each day until you are comfortable wit the spike (even people without diabetes get a spike and their insulin works much faster than the stuff we inject) or you are uncomfortable moving it any earlier.
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Breakfast is not an issue as I have never eaten it, I eat the same lunch every day I know the carbs is 60 I have always been too scared to do it I keep thinking it will rush in before my food and I will have to fight a hypo thanks for this it's useful
 
Ingressus said:
Hi I use Humalog I was 8 took 12 units for 60 carbs I am now 2.5 hours in and I'm 15 it didn't work
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That is because you need to give the insulin more time to work. When you start getting to the timing that works for you then the height of the peak will come down, but from the information then you need to keep working on it.
Did your levels drop below 8 at all during that 10 mins wait?
 
As you know from another thread, I need 45 mins at breakfast time and for me it is really important to inject that before I set foot out of bed otherwise my levels start to head into orbit and the insulin is fighting a losing battle. If I wake up in the 4s, I might need slightly less, maybe 30 mins. If my levels are high when I wake up, above 7, I will need to wait longer before injecting and eating.
At lunchtime it is usually 15-20 mins, but if I am eating something low carb then I can get away with injecting and eating in 5-10 mins unless my levels are already high. I simply do not eat if my levels are above 8, so I inject and wait for them to come down, even if it means a couple of hours and sometimes if things have gone wrong and my levels are 12 when I wake up, it can take a couple of hours for them to come down after I have injected my insulin.
Evening meal is usually about the same 15-20 mins unless it is high fat and then I inject maybe 5 mins before but split the dose.

In your situation above, there would be no point in splitting the dose because you didn't drop low during the meal. You need to inject earlier to give the insulin more of a head start, with that meal.
 
rebrascora said:
That is because you need to give the insulin more time to work. When you start getting to the timing that works for you then the height of the peak will come down, but from the information then you need to keep working on it.
Did your levels drop below 8 at all during that 10 mins wait?
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Yes it came down to 7 then I ate so 3.5 hours in and I am 13 and dropping to be honest the peak at 15 is quite good I am normally at 18
 
rebrascora said:
As you know from another thread, I need 45 mins at breakfast time and for me it is really important to inject that before I set foot out of bed otherwise my levels start to head into orbit and the insulin is fighting a losing battle. If I wake up in the 4s, I might need slightly less, maybe 30 mins. If my levels are high when I wake up, above 7, I will need to wait longer before injecting and eating.
At lunchtime it is usually 15-20 mins, but if I am eating something low carb then I can get away with injecting and eating in 5-10 mins unless my levels are already high. I simply do not eat if my levels are above 8, so I inject and wait for them to come down, even if it means a couple of hours and sometimes if things have gone wrong and my levels are 12 when I wake up, it can take a couple of hours for them to come down after I have injected my insulin.
Evening meal is usually about the same 15-20 mins unless it is high fat and then I inject maybe 5 mins before but split the dose.

In your situation above, there would be no point in splitting the dose because you didn't drop low during the meal. You need to inject earlier to give the insulin more of a head start, with that meal.
Click to expand...
If I ever got to 4 I would have a panic attack :rofl: how do you know what units to inject if you are at 8 and waiting for it to come down, ok so normal I will come down from 18 peak lunch very fast and get a alarm at 6pm mind you it's set to 5.8
 
Ingressus said:
Yes it came down to 7 then I ate so 3.5 hours in and I am 13 and dropping to be honest the peak at 15 is quite good I am normally at 18
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There you go then, it has worked, but maybe another 5 mins might make all the difference.
 
4 is a normal BG level, so you shouldn't be frightened of it, but on insulin levels in the 5s are probably a bit safer. Personally I think fear of hypos can be more debilitating than actual hypos. I used to lose sleep over the worry of having a hypo at night. Now I go to bed and sleep straight away and have really sound sleep. If my levels drop too low, I wake up chew a JB or two and I am back to sleep within a minute. Gaining the confidence to deal with hypos has been key in being able to manage them well although obviously preventing them is best wherever possible. I mostly live on my own, so I am pretty independent and for me that means learning to manage my diabetes in all situations and experimenting on myself in order to learn how to manage things well.
 
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