Mums t1d, currently in hospital with possible uti/back pain. Her blood sugars have been very high and not being managed very well in hospital, they give novamix after food and when her bloods go high they give an additional rapid acting insulin. I was told you cant give rapid acting with novamix 30, anyone advise/confirm?
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Novamix 30 query
- Thread starter adnil121
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Robin
Well-Known Member
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- Type 1
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- She/Her
Has she been seen by a diabetes specialist from the endocrinology department? I can’t advise on the type of insulin they are currently giving (is it her usual system?) but I believe everyone in hopsital with diabetes is supposed to be seen by a diabetes specialist, even if they are on a general or other ward, and you can ask for this to happen.
She's supposed to be on a 'diabetic ward' but i don't think they are specialists at all. I'll ask them if she can be seen by a specialist
Hi. I don't see any problem with her being given additional rapid insulin doses by the nurses if needed but you may want to discuss with the doctors having her insulin regime changed to Basal/Bolus (separate slow and fast acting insulins) which is now the norm for T1s. It does involve more injections per day (not so easy in hospital) but gives much better control. The fast-acting Bolus is taken shortly before meals.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
Sorry to hear your Mum is in hospital @adnil121
Novamix30 is a mixture of long acting and short acting insulins, and is slightly unusual for a person with T1 these days. It might be that your Mum has been on it for some time, and it is felt easier to leave her on the system she knows well - but one of its weaknesses is that you can’t vary the amount of short acting insulin independently.
Taking insulin after her meals is unlikely to give the short-acting part of the mix enough time to get going before the food begins to digest, but this is probably a precaution about the timing of food delivery, because leaving just an extra 5 minutes too much between insulin and food can see dramatic drops in blood glucose even when the food has already been eaten (because there’s a slight delay before it digests into available blood glucose). Can your Mum be given access to her own insulin to dose for meals when they arrive?
The timing of insulin and food digestion can feel a bit like playing crazy golf in a force 9 gale, and trying to get the ball through the windmill every time!
Adding the extra corrections will just be adding more of the same rapid insulin that’s already in the mix - so while it’s not a very common approach, I don’t think it will be a problem in and of itself as long as the ‘insulin on board’ is taken into account.
Novamix30 is a mixture of long acting and short acting insulins, and is slightly unusual for a person with T1 these days. It might be that your Mum has been on it for some time, and it is felt easier to leave her on the system she knows well - but one of its weaknesses is that you can’t vary the amount of short acting insulin independently.
Taking insulin after her meals is unlikely to give the short-acting part of the mix enough time to get going before the food begins to digest, but this is probably a precaution about the timing of food delivery, because leaving just an extra 5 minutes too much between insulin and food can see dramatic drops in blood glucose even when the food has already been eaten (because there’s a slight delay before it digests into available blood glucose). Can your Mum be given access to her own insulin to dose for meals when they arrive?
The timing of insulin and food digestion can feel a bit like playing crazy golf in a force 9 gale, and trying to get the ball through the windmill every time!
Adding the extra corrections will just be adding more of the same rapid insulin that’s already in the mix - so while it’s not a very common approach, I don’t think it will be a problem in and of itself as long as the ‘insulin on board’ is taken into account.
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