Safe levels at night and snacks.help..?

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D_G

D_G

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I was wondering is the safe level to go to bed on changes if you sleep more or if you sleep less and depending on what time you go to bed and get up.

Example: when im working i go to bed around midnight and get up for 7am breakfast at 8, but when im on holidays (as i am now) i dont go to bed until 1-2 am and dont get up till about midday! i know im lazy but i love my lay ins!

Also another q i was planning to ask a while ago and forgot 🙄 reguarding snacks.

when working i have brekie at 8 (usualy cereal and fruit or toast n fruit) and dont have lunch till 12:15, but i have a fairly active and hectic job and by the time its around half 10-11am i am starving, so i check levels and they are normal around 5-7mmols but i dont want to eat anything coz i dont want to mess up my levels before i have lunch :( but if im starving i have to eat right...??? this happends when im at home as well between lunch and dinner

thanks x

(moved this thread from the carb and food queries as more people look at this board i think) but dontknow how to delete previous thread!
 
I won't go to bed on less than 5, myself. If I'm below, I'll have a little snack before going to sleep.

If you're really hungry, maybe look into some low or no carb options if you don't want to mess up your levels. For instance, if you like seeds. For instance, I'm using boxes from Graze.com at the moment (have a look on the food board if you want a code for a free box), and today I got a pack of roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. There was LOADS more than I could eat, and the whole pack was just 5g of carb 🙂
 
I usually go to bed between 7-10, and that will see me through the night and wake up in range.

Ideally you will go to bed in rnage and wake up in range. That is if you have your basal dose set perfectly. It might be worth doing a few 2-3am tests so you can check that you don't drop too much overnight. I would concentrate on your normal working routine as you will be doing that more often.

Maybe you could try a non carb snack to get you through to lunch. I like to have a few chunks of cheese when i am starving and don't want to mess up levels.
 
Hi,
I always test before bed and if i'm less than 5 i have 10g of carbs.
However, it does depend on when i last injected etc.....
I always have my long-acting at the same time no matter what time i retire to bed.

Personally,i always need to have a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. My Novorapid is at its height about 2 hours after injecting, so, i always need between 10-30g of carbs at this time. If i reduced the Novorapid so i didn't require a snack anymore, i would probably stay too high for too long for my liking.
 
Hmm i like the cheese idea! love cheese but very fattening :( but i guess if i am hungry i will have to eat a little something and just correct for it before lunch?

I always check levels before bed and wont go to bed if im below 7 and will have a snack, but if im going to bed on 7mmols and waking up at 7am normal levels its fine but what if i go to bed on 7mmols but im not planning on getting up till midday?? do you think i should have an extra snack before going to bed if im waking up later ot does it not make a difference? sorry for all the questions im still getting my head around all these do's and dont's!
 
I tend to find if I'm having a lie in my levels go up - probably due to being less active, dawn phenomenon and not having any Novorapid to bring them down. So I wouldn't think you'd need to worry about having a larger snack if you're getting up late - but try it and see what works for you. Maybe try having 10g carbs one night and see if you wake up high then if you do don't have a snack next time?
 
If i get up late i will always have higher levels. I'm afraid my 25 year experience of type 1 has taught me that i need to be regular with my meals.

If i was going to lay-in i would get up, have my jab,eat and go back to bed, setting the alarm for 1.5 hrs later. I would then test again, snack if needed and then get up or go back to bed again. There's simply no way round it if you want to retain good control; at least not in my case.
 
usually graham goes to bed between 9 11 and wake ups 4 to 7 in normal days not holidays but i dont know if is different for children if is less then 9 i give him a digestive
 
Hmm getting up, eating, and going back to sleep kinda defeats the purpose of a lie in lol! well so far i have been getting on ok this week have been going to bed making sure im above 7 but below 10 just incase!

Thanks for your input its nice to have some support 🙂

Hopefully i will know where abouts i am as i have my first hba1c thingy coming up in june and anything below 10 will be happy with!
 
rawtalent said:
If i get up late i will always have higher levels. I'm afraid my 25 year experience of type 1 has taught me that i need to be regular with my meals.

If i was going to lay-in i would get up, have my jab,eat and go back to bed, setting the alarm for 1.5 hrs later. I would then test again, snack if needed and then get up or go back to bed again. There's simply no way round it if you want to retain good control; at least not in my case.
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If Alex wakes up late without planning to he is always high (well he goes up to 9 or 10) - the great thing about him being on a pump is that we can set different patterns to accomodate this. So he can have a different pattern for weekends and half term than he does for schooldays.

The answer to your question about what is a safe level to go to bed on is a little hard to answer.🙂 If Alex has eaten over 4 hours before bed and he is on 5 then i would give a small drink or snack to get him through - but nothing more than about 12 carbs. If he has eaten 2 hours before bed and he is only 5 then it would depend on what food he has eaten. If it was a pizza for example i wouldnt give him anything at level 5 - because i know the pizza will kick in and send him higher anyway. I then check him at 12midnight and make a decision from there as to whether he has a snack or not. If he has gone too high with the pizza i will give him a correction and check at 3am. Hope this hasnt confused you more!🙂Bev
 
I've had a few lie-ins over the past couple of years and there doesn't really seem to be any consistent pattern to my levels when I get up. Sometimes I might be 4.x, sometimes 7.x! I think what might make a difference is if I actually wake up, but then stay lazing in bed - this is when my levels go higher, so perhaps it is to do with my liver 'waking up'? If I stay asleep my levels go lower, so I guess that's it - for me at least 🙂
 
Hi ...

This is a difficult one to answer .. as I think a lot depends on what each person is comfortable with ..

With regards to Nathan ... I like a 7 ... but he always has a slice of toast and a apple for supper ... and as a rule his levels are about 4-8 on waking

Heidi
xx:D
 
Hmm so there is no real answer to that one, i suppose we are all unique! 🙂

Well i have been goin to bed on about 7-8 and waking up midday 6-7 and feelin good so i gues its ok i do that time to time, tho only another week off work then im back :( thanks for all your replys 🙂
 
I've had a few lie-ins over the past couple of years and there doesn't really seem to be any consistent pattern to my levels when I get up. Sometimes I might be 4.x, sometimes 7.x! I think what might make a difference is if I actually wake up, but then stay lazing in bed - this is when my levels go higher, so perhaps it is to do with my liver 'waking up'? If I stay asleep my levels go lower, so I guess that's it - for me at least

I think you're absolutely right about this but what is waking up? Is it opening your eyes, turning off the alarm, noticing the sun rising through a curtain or hearing the birds singing their morning song?
Trouble is, the only way of knowing for sure is to do a test and then you really have woken up!
Even if i don't set my alarm at the weekend my 'body clock' still decides i'm getting up at the same time as a week day. Darn it.🙂
 
I am afraid I am with rawtalent on the lie-ins. I sleep in until about 9 at the weekends then get up have breakfast and go back to bed afterwards if I want. I also need reasonably regular eating times to keep my levels steady-ish.
 
My GP (who is Dutch) says 'Acht before Nacht' which is a bit of strange dutch humor that means 8 before night. So if I am below 8 I usually have a 34.5g back of tomato sauce crisps (this is probably all wrong for T1s). and if I'm lucky wake up (7:15) at below 6, which is nice.
 
Can I just state here that I'm a bit bummed that everyone seems to be waking up in range! Just for selfish reasons... We've had three weeks of morning highs (but not consistently so, eg the same amount high) that we can't seem to surmount. But then again he is fourteen and growing like a weed. Just so frustrating.

We aim to get E to sleep on about 7 mmols. What happens after that is fairly changeable at the moment, but that's what we aim for. We are also okay with 6 mmols, though he is less so and a bit nervous about it. If he's lower, we either run him on no insulin for a half an hour as a boost, or give a bit of a snack, no more than 10g. And no milk! (I'll start another thread for this...)
 
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