mum2westiesGill
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
How do you calculate how much insulin is still active or on board for mdi?
-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Mdi - how to calculate insulin on board
- Thread starter mum2westiesGill
- Start date
- Status
mum2westiesGill
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Thanks. I only do corrections with my mealtime bolus so it's all done in one go and obviously the correction is only if my bgl is over 10mmol.
Thebearcametoo
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
In terms of not insulin stacking or of being able to estimate future BG levels?
I’m not sure knowing exactly how much insulin is still on board is helpful either way FWIW. It can help you to know how your bolus insulin profile works in your body. We know that novorapid peaks about an hour after bolus but remains in the system for about 4 hours but we’ve found with my daughter that even though the amount still in her system after 4 hours is tiny it can still have an effect even for an hour or more after so we need to presume she will keep going down a bit afterwards. But it also depends on the foods she’s eaten as some foods have a delayed reaction which may mean she spikes later than the peak of the insulin which can mean she has a hypo an hour or so after her meal, we then treat the hypo and she goes up because of that AND the food and ends up high 4 hours after a meal and doesn’t come down significantly. So it’s not as simple as how much insulin is on board by a mathematical calculation but how it impacts on you on that particular day with the particular food you’ve eaten and the amount of activity you’ve had in the previous 24 hours.
For her pump it shows how much is on board based on their algorithm so that you are less likely to end up insulin stacking and going hypo later because of not accounting for the insulin currently on board but it’s of no help for guesstimating future BG.
The problem with type 1 management is there are so many variables that it’s not as simple as I’m putting data and getting the right result all the time.
I’m not sure knowing exactly how much insulin is still on board is helpful either way FWIW. It can help you to know how your bolus insulin profile works in your body. We know that novorapid peaks about an hour after bolus but remains in the system for about 4 hours but we’ve found with my daughter that even though the amount still in her system after 4 hours is tiny it can still have an effect even for an hour or more after so we need to presume she will keep going down a bit afterwards. But it also depends on the foods she’s eaten as some foods have a delayed reaction which may mean she spikes later than the peak of the insulin which can mean she has a hypo an hour or so after her meal, we then treat the hypo and she goes up because of that AND the food and ends up high 4 hours after a meal and doesn’t come down significantly. So it’s not as simple as how much insulin is on board by a mathematical calculation but how it impacts on you on that particular day with the particular food you’ve eaten and the amount of activity you’ve had in the previous 24 hours.
For her pump it shows how much is on board based on their algorithm so that you are less likely to end up insulin stacking and going hypo later because of not accounting for the insulin currently on board but it’s of no help for guesstimating future BG.
The problem with type 1 management is there are so many variables that it’s not as simple as I’m putting data and getting the right result all the time.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I don't see it as a calculation but as an "awareness". If I do a test between meals and having Libre enables me to do many, then I have to look at that reading and look at when my last injection of bolus insulin was and make an assessment of whether there may be sufficient insulin still active which will have an impact on that reading. So if I was on 10.3 and Libre showed that it was still rising and it was 3.5 hours since I injected my bolus insulin and I only injected 3 or 4 units then I would do a correction, especially if I wasn't going to be eating for another couple of hours because there isn't going to be enough active insulin left to bring me down into range from above 10 without adding some more and I don't want to spend another 2+ hours with my levels above 10.
If it was only an hour since I injected my bolus insulin and my level was above 10 and rising, I would wait because the active insulin on board may well bring me back down in the next hour and adding more insulin as a correction at that time may well cause me to hypo later.
I am not doing a calculation as such but just assessing the situation and taking into account all the factors which have an impact and making a decision based on that.
For you Gill, since you are using the MySugr app. it will do that assessment for you, so I wouldn't worry about it.
If it was only an hour since I injected my bolus insulin and my level was above 10 and rising, I would wait because the active insulin on board may well bring me back down in the next hour and adding more insulin as a correction at that time may well cause me to hypo later.
I am not doing a calculation as such but just assessing the situation and taking into account all the factors which have an impact and making a decision based on that.
For you Gill, since you are using the MySugr app. it will do that assessment for you, so I wouldn't worry about it.
- Status