Hypo - before a meal

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mum2westiesGill

mum2westiesGill

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,

If you were hypo immediately before a meal ie 3.3, 3.6...then had a hypo treatment eg jelly babies 4 x then test 15 mins after and you are then 6.0, 6.4.....then you have your meal, would you then have your normal amount of QA?

Gill
 
Yes, I would, although if I was in the mid-3s before a meal I'd probably only have one jelly baby, as I know that that is sufficient to bring my levels up to around 5 in 15 mins, at which point I'd be happy to inject and eat as if I hadn't had the hypo 🙂
 
In a word, yes.

You correct the hypo. In theory, you then retest after 15 mins, as you have done and work out your bolus according to that 2nd test.

ie. if you would inject 10u at 5mmol/l, you might need to inect 11u at 6.5mmol/l depending on your ratios/corrections.

So always treat your 2nd test as if the hypo had never happened and you won't go wrong. The difficulty comes when your meal is ready 30 seconds after the 2nd test and you lose your waiting time, but hey ho.

ROb
 
I would also have the normal amount, but I might wait until I've started eating to give the insulin, just for my peace of mind so I know my body has 'caught up' 🙂
 
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Yes..................

DAFNE teach you to subtract a unit of insulin if low before a meal, but I prefer to treat the low then inject as normal, then eat...............

In fact I am having one right now, 3.2...........so treated it, so I can inject in time for my lunch..........🙂
 
shiv said:
I would also have the normal amount, but I might wait until I've started eating to give the insulin, just for my peace of mind so I know my body has 'caught up' 🙂
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Snap Shiv, that's exactly what I do 🙂
 
I'd treat myself and have a glass of orange juice as a starter. I'd include the 2 CPs in the carbs counted for the meal and on which the fast acting is calculated. I'd also wait until after the 15 minute check before injecting.
 
Have to say if K was hypo before meal would always wait til after the meal to inject for her peace of mind really (she once felt hypo DURING a meal and said it was the worst ever -because of feeling sick and shaky with some lovely food sitting there half eaten whilst she tested -also was early days and we couldn't work out whether she should have had glucose in the middle of the meal :confused:)
 
martindt1606 said:
I'd treat myself and have a glass of orange juice as a starter. I'd include the 2 CPs in the carbs counted for the meal and on which the fast acting is calculated. I'd also wait until after the 15 minute check before injecting.
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good idea 🙂 I had to laugh........I remember when you would get Orange juice as a starter on some menus years ago! :D
 
orange juice is also my fave way to sort this... sometimes wait until after i have eaten to take my insulin though if been fairly low prior
 
We were told to treat the hypo, wait and test after 15 mins, if level ok eat meal then inject straight afterwards, normal amount as per carb count. Seems everyone is told different things! We queried what to do when one happened before a meal. We had only initially been told to test again after 15 mins then have a cereal bar, so was never sure what to do at a mealtime. That is the advice we were given.
 
Well I wouldn't include the hypo treatment in the carb count and that's a certain fact. Otherwise I'd correct back to a hypo level! So I'd inject only what I needed for the meal, and I wouldn't inject it till 10-15 mins after I started eating.

If I need to make a correction bolus later then so be it but in any case I could have had a liver dump anyway .......
 
novorapidboi26 said:
Yes..................

DAFNE teach you to subtract a unit of insulin if low before a meal, but I prefer to treat the low then inject as normal, then eat...............

In fact I am having one right now, 3.2...........so treated it, so I can inject in time for my lunch..........🙂
Click to expand...
So you should always give one unit less?No wonder, I had another hypo after eating last week, cos I gave the normal of insulin
 
No, it depends @Isma1123 What I do sometimes is inject my bolus after eating. It’s whatever works for you. It depends on how low you were, how you treated it, what your meal was, whether you exercised, what you’re about to do, etc etc.
 
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Inka said:
No, it depends @Isma1123 What I do sometimes is inject my bolus after eating. It’s whatever works for you. It depends on how low you were, how you treated it, what your meal was, whether you exercised, what you’re about to do, etc etc.
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Well the factors to consider are, I left a big gap between my meal and last meal, due to other being busy, I was at 3.9 and started treating it straight away, with 15 sweets, then waited 15 mins and rechecked, it was within normal range. 6.8. I let it go up abit above the 7ml mark and gave myself insulin, 4 units, I don’t know, maybe I should have ate my carbs first, maybe I bolused too much, but the amount I gave myself is the usual amount I regularly do give for that meal and it works for me. Maybe I should have increased the amount of carbs, or probably cos I and only two tablespoons of rice and that wasn’t enough, but I’ve read somewhere that 2 tablespoons of rice is an acceptable portion amount for a diabetic. Had another hypo after eating, treated it the same and had two biscuits. Went I went to bed, blood sugar was still in range, but woke up with blood sugar over 12. I’ve been told that having slight high blood sugar after treating hypo is normal, from my diabetic team.I really need to do the Dafne course as I will learn more about portion sizes
 
It depends what caused the hypo, and that isn’t always obvious. Also, some hypos are a bit more stubborn and need more than one lot of glucose to correct. It sounds like you were doing the right things, but sometimes diabetes doesn’t want to follow the rules!
Definitely try to get on a DAFNE course as soon as you can, that will teach you loads of useful information to take some of the guesswork out of it.
 
Two tablespoons is a tiny amount of rice! You’re Type 1 so can have a normal portion as long as you calculate the carbs to inject the right amount of insulin 🙂

You should be able to leave big gaps between meals and even skip meals without going low as your basal insulin should hold you steady in the absence of food.

Had you exercised beforehand? Are you sure your basal is right?
 
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There’s an online version of DAFNE or similar here:


Note again - DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (my bold). It’s about calculating how much insulin to have, not prescribing maximum portions. The recommended diet for Type 1s is the same healthy diet recommended for people without diabetes and you should be eating normal portions.

Type 1 is all about getting the insulin right, not going on a diet. Beware of advice you read online as it’s mainly aimed at Type 2s. Type 2 is a very different condition.
 
This thread is 12 years old!
 
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