Novorapid... 50 minutes

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Jon-Manchester

Jon-Manchester

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Good morning all and merry Christmas! 🙂

I always bolus 15 minutes before any meal (when I can) using Novorapid
This morning I took my 2 units ahead of my porridge, then completely lost track of time and I realised it had been 50 minutes since I had my insulin but not eaten yet. I panicked and took a blood sugar immediately and I was expecting to see I was hypo... what I rather saw was that my blood sugar was exactly the same as it was 50 minutes ago!?
I obviously ate my porridge, but is it normal for Novorapid to be that slow?
 
It would normally have got started by then.
The only thing I can think is that you had a bit of Dawn Phenomenon and had already done a bit of a rise, and the insulin was now bringing you back down, and was also ready to deal with breakfast.
It can also depend on what level you were at when you injected. If I am higher the insulin takes longer to do it’s job, and in some cases I need a bit more to counteract this.
 
I was a bit higher than I normally am when I wake up, I was at 6.7. Probably because I couldn’t resist some of those chocolates the family was eating last night.
 
6.7 is an OK number to wake up with.........currently trying to stop waking up at 2.7 which I seem to be doing recently and yes working my way through the dark chocolate continental box.

However in response to your original post agree with @SB2015 sounds like you caught a dawn phenomenon which might explain what happened.

Take care.
 
Jon-Manchester said:
Good morning all and merry Christmas! 🙂

I always bolus 15 minutes before any meal (when I can) using Novorapid
This morning I took my 2 units ahead of my porridge, then completely lost track of time and I realised it had been 50 minutes since I had my insulin but not eaten yet. I panicked and took a blood sugar immediately and I was expecting to see I was hypo... what I rather saw was that my blood sugar was exactly the same as it was 50 minutes ago!?
I obviously ate my porridge, but is it normal for Novorapid to be that slow?
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Yes!!
For some people, and especially pre-breakfast.
I find about an hour before breakfast works for me, and if I am going out in a hurry and cannot wait that long, half an hour is not enough. If I am distracted, I only start to get slightly wobbly pre-hypo symptoms after 90+ minutes.
Almost certainly DP a factor, if you do not need such a long time later in the day. If I am up early, and not wanting to eat until much later, I would take 6 - 8 units just to deal with DP. (Type 2, much larger doses than you, usual total for breakfast 14 -20.)
Later meals I only leave 0 - 20 minutes before eating.
 
Schrodinger said:
6.7 is an OK number to wake up with.........currently trying to stop waking up at 2.7 which I seem to be doing recently and yes working my way through the dark chocolate continental box.

However in response to your original post agree with @SB2015 sounds like you caught a dawn phenomenon which might explain what happened.

Take care.
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In all honesty, I am very happy every morning I wake up between 5-7. 2.7 sounds scary
 
silentsquirrel said:
Yes!!
For some people, and especially pre-breakfast.
I find about an hour before breakfast works for me, and if I am going out in a hurry and cannot wait that long, half an hour is not enough. If I am distracted, I only start to get slightly wobbly pre-hypo symptoms after 90+ minutes.
Almost certainly DP a factor, if you do not need such a long time later in the day. If I am up early, and not wanting to eat until much later, I would take 6 - 8 units just to deal with DP. (Type 2, much larger doses than you, usual total for breakfast 14 -20.)
Later meals I only leave 0 - 20 minutes before eating.
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thank you silentsquirrel. Sounds like my 50 minutes perhaps wasn’t so unusual after all
Thank you for responding
 
My dawn phenomenon means I can bolus an hour before breakfast, and the insulin balances out my natural rise, then when I add breakfast, it’s just when the insulin has really got going, so mops up my muesli nicely. On the mornings I have 0 carbs, eg, scrambled eggs, I still need to take 2units of novorapid to mop up my dawn rise.
 
I experimented with bolus time quite a lot in the summer and I could regularly go 90mins in the morning before eating and the NR starting to work, even doing quite physical activity. As others have said it may be a Dawn Phenomenon thing. The problem with waiting that long is that you get distracted getting on with your day and forget, so it is a risky strategy to follow on a regular basis. I now try to give it at least 30 mins on a morning but my BG often still spikes up into double figures before it comes back down, even using Fiasp which is supposed to be quicker than NR.
 
Jon-Manchester said:
In all honesty, I am very happy every morning I wake up between 5-7. 2.7 sounds scary
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It can be for some but I tend to run low alot so even at 2.7 (not recommended) I can function but would not recommend to defuse a bomb when that low.
 
I usually end up with a routine that leads to a gap of about 30 min between Bolus and breakfast. It may be that I could wait longer, but as @Robin and @rebrascora suggested, I would no doubt get distracted with stuff. In using the routine I have I just get a bit of a blip, which on lazier days may wander up to double figures, but otherwise on normal days the amount of activity I do keeps the blip within target. It is very much finding what works for you, but to answer your original question yes Novo’rapid’ can take a good while to get going and is also there to deal with the DAwn Phenomonon
 
Couldn't go 50 mins with bg in range, only if bg was exceptionally high, then novorapid behaves like water. General rule for morning porridge is 25 mins before eating, know this since using libre, before was 15 mins but was spiking above target.
 
Wow thanks for this post guys/gals.

Since going on Le Libre i have been trying to delay between injecting and eating. Previously i had been very slack eat then inject once guestimated intake and thought about what i am about to do. I haven't managed to reduce morning spike at all but i will now confidently increase to half hour or more.

Cheers,

Ross
 
rossi_mac said:
Wow thanks for this post guys/gals.

Since going on Le Libre i have been trying to delay between injecting and eating. Previously i had been very slack eat then inject once guestimated intake and thought about what i am about to do. I haven't managed to reduce morning spike at all but i will now confidently increase to half hour or more.

Cheers,

Ross
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how far in advance do you pre bolus at the minute? I wouldn't risk jumping in at 30 minutes, the general thing to follow is if you see no decrease in spike from one pre bolus timing is to increase by 5 minutes at a time until you hit your "sweet" spot, it also varies on injection site used etc so please be very careful xx
 
Cheers don't panic i wouldn't go crazy and jump straight there, but thanks for advice. Yesterday was best day ever and all meals i did a strict 20mins cheers

Ross.
 
rossi_mac said:
Cheers don't panic i wouldn't go crazy and jump straight there, but thanks for advice. Yesterday was best day ever and all meals i did a strict 20mins cheers

Ross.
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I think I remember that 20 minutes was the general guide that was suggested for kids (possibly by Gary ‘think like a pancreas’ Scheiner?)

30 minutes works well for me at breakfast and lunch, but it’s far too long in the evenings - so bear in mind you may have to adjust for time of day 🙂
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
30 minutes works well for me at breakfast and lunch, but it’s far too long in the evenings - so bear in mind you may have to adjust for time of day 🙂
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Precisely I need to eat tea immediately after I inject! xx
 
I waited 65mins this morning before eating my main breakfast carbs (low sugar granola with berries ad yoghurt), but had some very low carb options whilst I waited..... a boiled egg and some bacon. I still went up from 6.5 to 10.2, three and a half hours after the bolus but back down to 5.9 in time for lunch. Even on an evening I can go more than half an hour between bolus and food. I generally eat quite late so I have not experimented with leaving it any longer for that meal to see just how far I could actually leave it, but I try to give it a minimum of 20 mins. For some reason I am really slow to utilize the insulin.
Just shows how different we all are and how important experimenting to find what works best for us as an individual can be.
 
Kaylz said:
Precisely I need to eat tea immediately after I inject! xx
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Me too. 5-10 minutes tops, but only at certain phases of diabetes weirdness when I’m getting sudden spikes. Mostly for eve meal insulin and food need to arrive together.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Me too. 5-10 minutes tops, but only at certain phases of diabetes weirdness when I’m getting sudden spikes. Mostly for eve meal insulin and food need to arrive together.
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I was 5 minutes but last week was ending up just below 5 under 2 hours later so its a case of stab in the kitchen, pen back in case and room, grab tea and rush to the living room and eat lol xx
 
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