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New To diabetes need some advice
- Thread starter Sjw1
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Hello lnka, I was diagnosed on the 24th of March the insulin I’m taking is Nova rapid and night abasaglar, this morning at 7 am I was at 4.1 had breakfast Tested myself at 10 o’clock and was 3.8, done my Second injection that’s around 12 o’clock and tested 5.5
Inka
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- Type 1
Ok, well you’re right - you definitely shouldn’t be waking up on a 4.1. Do you remember what your blood sugar was when you went to bed? You might need to reduce your abasaglar a little.
Are you carb-counting - that is, counting the carbs in your meal and adjusting your Novorapid dose to suit the carbs you’re about to eat? Or, if you’re on fixed doses of Novorapid for your meals, are you making sure you have the same amount of carbs each meal?
Are you carb-counting - that is, counting the carbs in your meal and adjusting your Novorapid dose to suit the carbs you’re about to eat? Or, if you’re on fixed doses of Novorapid for your meals, are you making sure you have the same amount of carbs each meal?
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
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Your Abasaglar is a basal/slow insulin. It’s job is to keep your blood sugar steady and in range in the absence of food. The Novorapid is a bolus/fast insulin and its job is to deal with your meals. If you’re going low a lot, your doses of one or both of those insulins might need reducing.
They have put me on 16 units morning and lunch. time and 20 units at tea time of the nova rapid and 40 units at bed time of abasaglar.
I haven’t started carb counting yet haven’t got my head round that on a Derek Course on the 5th of may
Inka
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- Type 1
Personally I’d give your nurse a call on Monday and tell them about your lows. I’d also make sure you have a good bedtime snack tonight and maybe set an alarm to test around 2 or 3am. You can then eat a little extra if needed.
With your meals, even if you’re not actually counting the carbs, if you can eat roughly the same carbs each meal, you’ll get more steady results. You could try eating slightly more carbs for breakfast tomorrow to avoid dropping low eg if you normally have two Weetabix (just an example) add a small piece of toast, etc, so you’re getting more carbs.
If you’re prone to going low, make sure you have hypo treatments around the house, and test lots so you can catch any drop.
With your meals, even if you’re not actually counting the carbs, if you can eat roughly the same carbs each meal, you’ll get more steady results. You could try eating slightly more carbs for breakfast tomorrow to avoid dropping low eg if you normally have two Weetabix (just an example) add a small piece of toast, etc, so you’re getting more carbs.
If you’re prone to going low, make sure you have hypo treatments around the house, and test lots so you can catch any drop.
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
You could also ask your nurse how many carbs you should be aiming at per meal eg 50g at breakfast, 50g at lunch, 70g evening meal (just example figures). Counting up your actual carb intake isn’t hard. It really helps keep things steady. It also makes it easier to move onto the next stage (adjusting your Novorapid rather than sticking to the same dose) if you’ve kept to a carb amount per meal.
If you’re going low, you need less insulin or/and more carbs basically.
If you’re going low, you need less insulin or/and more carbs basically.
SB2015
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Welcome to the forum @Sjw1
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It is a lot to take in at the start and takes time to settle as they work with you to bring your levels back in range. It is quite common to start in fixed doses and then adjust from there.
You are already looking for patterns in your results. This is the basis of the changes we make, along with carb counting in order to match the quick acting (Novorapid) insulin to what you want to eat. As @Inka has said if you are in fixed doses of insulin you will need fixed amounts of carbs to match then. For today eat a bigger meal where you have found you go too low a afterwards, and less if you find you go too high a few hours after the meal. Then contact your DSN on Monday and ask her to help you to start carb counting and adjusting doses.
Carb counting will be something that becomes a normal part of your life, and you will become an expert at the carb content of the common foods you eat pretty quickly. If you keep a record of the cabs you eat today along with your BG levels before each meal, this will help your DSN work out an appropriate carb ratio to start on.
It is also very early days since your diagnosis, so your pancreas will no doubt still have some working beta cells, which are now getting a bit of a rest, so they will decide to join in now and then and levels will be a bit wobbly in the early stages.
Keep in touch and keep the questions coming. No one minds.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It is a lot to take in at the start and takes time to settle as they work with you to bring your levels back in range. It is quite common to start in fixed doses and then adjust from there.
You are already looking for patterns in your results. This is the basis of the changes we make, along with carb counting in order to match the quick acting (Novorapid) insulin to what you want to eat. As @Inka has said if you are in fixed doses of insulin you will need fixed amounts of carbs to match then. For today eat a bigger meal where you have found you go too low a afterwards, and less if you find you go too high a few hours after the meal. Then contact your DSN on Monday and ask her to help you to start carb counting and adjusting doses.
Carb counting will be something that becomes a normal part of your life, and you will become an expert at the carb content of the common foods you eat pretty quickly. If you keep a record of the cabs you eat today along with your BG levels before each meal, this will help your DSN work out an appropriate carb ratio to start on.
It is also very early days since your diagnosis, so your pancreas will no doubt still have some working beta cells, which are now getting a bit of a rest, so they will decide to join in now and then and levels will be a bit wobbly in the early stages.
Keep in touch and keep the questions coming. No one minds.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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Welcome to the forum @Sjw1
Sorry to hear about your stubbornly low levels. It does sound like you need your nurse to make some adjustments, and hopefully to get to into a position where you are able to make the adjustments yourself fairly soon
If you’d like a little introduction to the concept of carb counting, you can find one here:
www.diabetes.org.uk
Sorry to hear about your stubbornly low levels. It does sound like you need your nurse to make some adjustments, and hopefully to get to into a position where you are able to make the adjustments yourself fairly soon
If you’d like a little introduction to the concept of carb counting, you can find one here:
The nuts and bolts of carb counting
When you live with type 1 diabetes, carb counting is a great way of managing your blood sugar or glucose levels. It can give you more freedom and flexibility in what you eat when you're preparing meals at home, grabbing food on the go or eating out. Carb counting does take some time and effort...
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