peaks after eating?

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lo123

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Type 1
guys - just wondering how high ye're blood raises after eating? sometimes mine would rise to 14 after eating but would come down with a correction bolus. should i try and keep it under a certain level? sorry if this was asked before.
 
It should idealy stay below 10, but I have the same problem, seem to peak after eating anything! You may need more insulin. How are your levels 2 hours after eating? If they are fine it may just help if you take your insulin 15 minutes before you eat.
 
its just lately my levels are a bit off - and i dont know why. Ive been advised i might have bad insulin so im going to throw it away and get a new batch. Usually my levels are not too bad - i have to correct alot though. Like this eveing i ate a sandwich - my blood was 9 before hand so i took 6 units of insulin. About an hour later my blood was 12. I took another 4 units to bring it down and now its 9. Normally i wouldnt need 10 units for one sandwich - normally 6 units! I dont understand it - maybe its a bad batch????
 
That's one possibility! How long have you been diabetic?

It's possible your insulin requirements have increased a bit.
 
i have diabetes with about 3 years now. yeah maybe i need more insulin now - i guess i should ask doc how to figure it out....
 
yeah maybe first try a new batch of insulin and if that doesnt work, ask you dsn how to work ot new ratios 🙂
 
Can I ask a stupid question: isn't one hour so soon to be testing? Or do you know from that the dose won't be enough? The pump would never correct within an hour...
 
im trying to keep it under 10 all the time so i check after one hour and if its over say 12 i correct.
 
Gosh. I can see the reasoning, but am scratching my head trying to imagine how to do this without constantly risking a hypo? Because of the timing of the food and the peak of insulin... it's so hard to predict. I can so imagine giving a correction before the peak of the insulin, and the peak of the food has happened (eg in the high number) and then you've got *two* lots of insulin to deal with?

This makes me see so clearly how pre-dosing could be such a good idea. Never really followed through the thought. But as you say, what really matters for amount of insulin is level after a few hours...then you know I guess whether ratios etc are okay or not...

Thanks for this.
 
i do get hypos from doing this :( today i tried something different - i took my insulin about 10-15 mins before eating and i changed the insulin pen incase the last was a dodgy pen with those highs i was getting the last few weeks - guess what - perfect sugars all day - highest i went was 7.7 after eating dinner 🙂 hope im doing it right now.
 
Wow, fantastic! Well done you. Today we've had numbers kind of all over the shop... Just one of those times...

Good job, you.
 
Sounds like you got it right, but as i'm type2 & diet controlled i don't know anything about the injections.
but well done anyway. 🙂
 
I have this problem too. My blood sugar can be 7 before lunch and about 6.5 before dinner but if I do a test inbetween in can be up to 16!!! I dont know what to do to try and correct this. If I have a correction when it is 16 I then end up hypo later on. Any suggestions? I am hoping to be pregnant soon and the recommendations for pregnancy are that you should be below 6 at meal times and no more than 8 between meals - so I am v worried about this.
 
rachel what that seems to suggest is that your doses are pretty much right but you need to look at the timing of the doses. Do you inject before or after you eat?
You could also look at foods that have a lower GI so that they don't spike your blood sugar so quickly. So that the digestion fits better with the action of the insulin.
 
Sofaraway - thanks for the advice - I have injections before meals already. I may have to look at lower GI foods, I think I eat pretty healthily as it is, but whether it is low GI I am not sure. I am on quite low doses of background (levemir 10u 8am and 5u 8pm) I am not sure if this may be part of the problem. I am going to try a carb free lunch today and see what happens.
 
rachelha said:
Sofaraway - thanks for the advice - I have injections before meals already. I may have to look at lower GI foods, I think I eat pretty healthily as it is, but whether it is low GI I am not sure. I am on quite low doses of background (levemir 10u 8am and 5u 8pm) I am not sure if this may be part of the problem. I am going to try a carb free lunch today and see what happens.
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Hi rachel, sometimes you might find that you need to inject 20 mins before for some foods - the only way to find out is to test at regular intervals to try and find the digestion profile of the food you've just eaten. I'm like you, I get the doses right but occasionally get high peaks - taking more insulin to correct would then send me hypo unless I eat something else! It can get very complicated!😱

Try to look out for a book about Glycaemic Load/Glycaemic Factor, also called GL diets. This is more advanced and practical than just using the GI of a food. Try 'GL Diet for Dummies' currently ?5.99 at amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-Diet-Dummies-Nigel-Denby/dp/0470027533

Also, having carb-free meals will help you to assess whether your basal doses are correct. Good luck!🙂
 
rachelha said:
northerner - thanks for the link - I have just ordered it
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Hi Rachel, I have to take my breakfast insulin 20 minutes before I eat to avoid that spike, it seems to be working though 🙂

Low GL will definitely help too, goodluck!
 
So if we are peaking after meals but all good by next meal our profile of insulin isn't matching that of the grub but amount okay, so we need to adjust the timing of them, by the sounds of it by injecting say 20mins or so before meal is working for a lot of you. Is this delay needed at every meal, or is it to do with the food type and time of day or both? God there's a lot to deal with ain't there. I stopped injecting before meals a while ago coz I never knew how hungry I will be till I sit down and start munching. Still thanks for this one, I'll have a look and if peaking a lot I will consider injecting before.🙂
 
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