Just using long acting insulin?

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digihat

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Good Morning Everyone 🙂

Was diagnosed with type 2 in summer had dka in December suspected type 1 now subject to tests being carried could be type 2 still which has been confusing but ive talked about that in another thread.

Ive been having trouble with rapid insulin plunging my levels and causing hypos or really low levels even just with one unit of my novarapid this is. Im currently on 32 units of Toujeo which seems to have sorted my main issue of overnight highs. But since going above 30 units have been struggling with the rapid insulin. I spoke with the nurses the other day they have asked me to stop using the novarapid unless it goes above a certain level untill they see me on Tuesday.

i have been tweaking my foods to lower carbs/lower glycemic index foods to reduce spikes anyway incase of type 2 and for better control which has seemed worked okay so far. Have only done breakfast and lunch for the moment

Ive found that the levels are rising but coming down slowly due to the Toujeo long acting I'm guessing? I had a 50 carb meal last night took 1 unit due to the amount of carbs to give myself a little something levels came down just about to a nice level if i had done what the bolus calculator had suggested would have likely gone low. Have been tweaking the insulin to carb ratio

I guess my main long winded question is can you just use long acting insulin with low amounts of rapid insulin? I know everybodys needs are different for what they require just wondered peoples experiences?
 
can you just use long acting insulin with low amounts of rapid insulin?
Definitely as the rapid insulin dose should be based on your BG and what you eat.
However, you may find your long acting insulin dose is too high and you end up "feeding" it to stop hypos. Although you may find your long acting is keeping you stable overnight, it is not uncommon to have different needs at different times of day.
A couple of questions to consider
- were you on fixed doses of rapid insulin or were you carb counting and calculating your insulin dose?
- you mentioned you were going low on one unit. I would recommend requesting (demanding) a half unit pen.
 
Definitely as the rapid insulin dose should be based on your BG and what you eat.
However, you may find your long acting insulin dose is too high and you end up "feeding" it to stop hypos. Although you may find your long acting is keeping you stable overnight, it is not uncommon to have different needs at different times of day.
A couple of questions to consider
- were you on fixed doses of rapid insulin or were you carb counting and calculating your insulin dose?
- you mentioned you were going low on one unit. I would recommend requesting (demanding) a half unit pen.

Yeah a few people have mentioned about having different needs at different times of the day. The main aim so far has been keeping me stable throughout the day and night getting my hba1c down from 107 in December.
In relation to your questions:
- They started me off on 2 units with every meal at first which wasn't enough. Then just after Christmas we started carb counting with 1:10 ratio which has been fine up until my Toujeo went above 28 went to 1:12 which just about stabilised things.

Thanks for the suggestion I wasn't aware that a half unit pen existed as a lot of the time my calculations end up on half units which ends up on me rounding them up
 
Yeah a few people have mentioned about having different needs at different times of the day. The main aim so far has been keeping me stable throughout the day and night getting my hba1c down from 107 in December.
In relation to your questions:
- They started me off on 2 units with every meal at first which wasn't enough. Then just after Christmas we started carb counting with 1:10 ratio which has been fine up until my Toujeo went above 28 went to 1:12 which just about stabilised things.

Thanks for the suggestion I wasn't aware that a half unit pen existed as a lot of the time my calculations end up on half units which ends up on me rounding them up
@helli thanks for the suggestion of the half unit pen they've given me one today to start using when I've finished up my other novarapid
 
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