Stupid question…

[julieking]

I’m new to all this. I have a basal insulin. I was told to check bg before dinner and then give insulin.
My stupid question is…. if I have a later dinner than normal, do I stick with check before dinner and give or do I try and give around the same time??

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Basal insulin has nothing to do with food. 🙂
Basal is solely there to keep your blood sugars stable whilst no food is consumed, i.e., attempting to mimic your own pancreas.
What basal insulin have you been given?

 

[julieking]

Abasaglar. So should I try and keep to around the same administration time? So, I’ll check my bg before, regardless if I’m going to have my dinner or not.

 

[Lucyr]

So, I’ll check my bg before, regardless if I’m going to have my dinner or not.

Seems completely pointless to test bg if you’re doing nothing with the information, you’re not adjusting insulin or food for it. So it’s up to you whether you test with the basal or just before tea

 

[rebrascora]

You need to take the basal regardless of what your BG is and you should take it pretty much the same time every day.
Testing before your meal is more relevant to your diabetes management, so inject the basal at the usual time and test before your meal whenever you have it, would be my advice.
Are you using bolus insulin as well as basal or are you just on the one for now?

 

[rebrascora]

PS. No questions are stupid here!

 

[SB2015]

As @rebrascora has said, there are no silly questions on here. Just ask.

How new to this are you. In the early weeks after diagnosis, your levels will be a bit weird as they help you to bring them down. Then they work with you to take on the adjustments that you learn to make. With LADA you may still be making some of your own insulin which does not always make things straight forward.

The basal insulin (Absalgar in your case) will deal with the glucose dribbled out by your liver to keep your body ticking over whether you eat or not. You meals, whenever you choose to eat them are managed using your quick acting insulin (bolus insulin/quick acting).

Testing before your meals helps you to adjust the dose to deal with highs and lows along with matching the insulin to the amount of carbs that you are eating. In the ea,Ray days the Diabetes Nurses sometimes start people on fixed doses of bolus and ask that you test before meals. They use this information to help you to work out your ratios of insulin and carbs. These vary for different people and will change over time.

Keep the questions coming. There is plenty of experience to tap into.

 

[julieking]

You need to take the basal regardless of what your BG is and you should take it pretty much the same time every day.
Testing before your meal is more relevant to your diabetes management, so inject the basal at the usual time and test before your meal whenever you have it, would be my advice.
Are you using bolus insulin as well as basal or are you just on the one for now?

Just the basal for now. I’ll try and stick to around the same time. Thanks for everyone’s support!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Just the basal for now. I’ll try and stick to around the same time. Thanks for everyone’s support!

Glad it’s helped @julieking

Taking your basal at the same time each day helps, because it has a long profile and gradually begins to tail off at the end, and then has an ‘onset time’ over which it ramps up to full level of activity.

So keeping the timing consistent helps keep the level of basal insulin active in your body more consistent, rather than leaving a gap if doses are spaced further apart, or slightly overlapping if taken closer together.

It doesn't need to be all that precise - give or take an hour is probably plenty accurate enough 🙂