Need some advice

[Emmal31]

Hi

I finally got round to doing a 3 am test last night I went to bed on 7.2 my 3am test was 6.1 and then I woke up to a 7.1. I'm pretty happy with that really I'm going to do a couple more nights of 3am testing to check that it wasn't just one good night.

I've got a question though to all of you how long before you eat do you inject? and when if at all do you test after that do you test at 1 hour or 2 hours?

What are the acceptable levels 1 hour or 2 hours after a meal?

Thank you.

 

[Freddie99]

Hi Emma,

I try to give my bolus a little before I eat if I know exactly how many carbs I'm going to eat, if not I give it as soon as I know how much carbohydrate is in my meal.
The best time to test is two hours after the meal I find as that's the time when the insulin has reached peak efficiency if I recall correctly. As to what sort of levels I like to see after a meal I try not to be two or three millimoles per litre above what I was before hand. That said I generally try to be below ten after a meal.

Tom

 

[Emmal31]

Thank you Tom.

I've only just started injecting 15 minutes before a meal the last week or so again. Yesterday I left it 20 mins and ended up having a hypo a couple of hours later.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I find timing of injections needs to be slightly different for different meals.

30-60 minutes before breakfast (or lunch if I'm high before the meal)
10-20 minutes before lunch if in range
0 minutes before evening meal

1-hour or 2-hour tests are good to do, but you need to experiment to find the timing of your own usual bg peak after eating (which may vary slightly with different meals). You may find that 1-hour is your post-meal peak in which case you can use that to see what sort of spike you are getting. On the other hand it might be 1.5 or 2 hours. You might also benefit from an occasional 3 hour, 4 hour and 5 hour test (assuming you don't eat anything else) as these can give you an idea of your insulin activity profile (by doing this I found I have way more insulin activity between 4-5 hours than I would have expected).

Testy testy test test!

 

[Emmal31]

I find timing of injections needs to be slightly different for different meals.

30-60 minutes before breakfast (or lunch if I'm high before the meal)
10-20 minutes before lunch if in range
0 minutes before evening meal

1-hour or 2-hour tests are good to do, but you need to experiment to find the timing of your own usual bg peak after eating (which may vary slightly with different meals). You may find that 1-hour is your post-meal peak in which case you can use that to see what sort of spike you are getting. On the other hand it might be 1.5 or 2 hours. You might also benefit from an occasional 3 hour, 4 hour and 5 hour test (assuming you don't eat anything else) as these can give you an idea of your insulin activity profile (by doing this I found I have way more insulin activity between 4-5 hours than I would have expected).

Testy testy test test!

This morning I did 1 hour test after breaskfast it was 12.5 at 2 hours it was 13.1 and I started off at 7.1 so from that I now know that I need to inject ealier.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I know what you mean...

Tested at 7.01am (7.0)
Injected for breakfast waited 35 minutes
Ate measured qty of no-added sugar muesli at 7.35am
Tested 7.46am (15 minutes later) and was 11.4

Oh Come ON Humalog... Pull yer finger out! And as for muesli being low-GI? Hmmmmmmmm... 😡

 

[shiv]

I aim to do 20 mins before I eat, especially if I know the carb count or am happy to guess it. If I'm unsure how much I am going to eat, I'll put a 'down payment' of insulin in, so at least there is something to soak up the first whack of carbs - then I top it up as I go along.

They say to test 2 hours after you give your bolus, as that's the peak you're trying to match. It's usually when I test.

 

[Emmal31]

I aim to do 20 mins before I eat, especially if I know the carb count or am happy to guess it. If I'm unsure how much I am going to eat, I'll put a 'down payment' of insulin in, so at least there is something to soak up the first whack of carbs - then I top it up as I go along.

They say to test 2 hours after you give your bolus, as that's the peak you're trying to match. It's usually when I test.

Thanks shiv that's a very good idea 🙂