Strange reading

[sas77]

So yesterday, in my usual rushed morning fashion, I ran out of the house and put the empty Novorapid pen in my bag (typical of my morning brain!) and did not realise until I had finished my round of toast at work. I decided to troop on regardless and wait until I got home to catch up. I know, I know, not very sensible but I can be very stubborn. Anyway, it gets to lunchtime and I am waaay too hungry for a no carb salad with water, etc, so I opt for the sweetcorn chowder, a small tartlet with cheese and chives and (eek) a packet of crisps. Sorry, I can hear the cringing from here. Anyway, the thing that I am asking about is that as soon as I got home, I tested and I was 12.2. Considering I am usually between 6 and 7 and take 2 units per CP, I am a bit confused.

Does anyone have an idea of why I was not off the scale? I was expecting in the 20's.

By the way, I promise never ever to do this again - that was a seriously stressful day not managing my insulin injections!

Thanks

Sarah

 

[Jacqui]

Not so strange

Hi Sarah
I would suspect you answer your own question; you say it was a really stressful day. I suspect stress lowers your levels somewhat. Marry that with a lower carb and higher fat meal and I think being twice your usual level was pretty good going and understandable.
It also shows that your basal insulin is doing a bit of the work for your ratios for meals during the day. This can be very useful if you use a 'looser' form of carb counting as it mops up the additional carbs you may have missed in your estimate etc. Many people aim for a 50/50 split with basal but not everyone can actually tolerate that and have much lower basal to bolus insulin split.
It would also have been a good opportunity to see how well your correction factor worked for you when back at home. Did you get your usual levels in the evening or did you stay a little higher?
I think you handled it very well all told.

 

[sas77]

Thanks for explaining that. That makes sense.

My levels were perfect after I adjusted. I ate dinner as soon as I got in so that I could do the adjustment and dinner insulin at the same time. My levels have also been normal since then with no seeming after effects. I never realised that basal was so effective.

On another note, it felt great to be normal and just eat without injecting. I felt like I used to. I did not even count the carbs in my meal like I usually do. I wish it was like that every day🙂!!

 

[Copepod]

s long as you didn't get too high, then physical activity (not sure what sort of work you do?) would also have played a role in keeping your levels reasonable. Stress, whether cause by forgetting insulin or anything else, tends to push up levels. Agreed, it's a pleasure to "wing it" and eat without injecting sometimes. I can usually only avoid midday or evening insulin by exensive running / mountain walking etc, like mountain marathon 2 weekends ago, canoeing on Sunday or cycling and foot orienteering last night.