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testing tonight

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bev

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hi all,

Tonight Alex was 4.5 before bed - so he had 2 biscuits and some milk. Am i right in thinking that as he had his novorapid at 6.30 with his meal - that will have run out at about 10.30 - so if i test him he should be that level all through the night? Bev
 
hi bev, i should prob know but i dont, sorry!! i will be looking out for the advice though as i want to know for myself!!
 
Bev, I don't think Nova Rapid lasts 4 hours to be honest I thought it was just 2 hours, but don't quote me on that. The Levamir should deal with snacks like the biscuits before bed, well thats what I've been lead to believe!
 
bev said:
Hi all,

Tonight Alex was 4.5 before bed - so he had 2 biscuits and some milk. Am i right in thinking that as he had his novorapid at 6.30 with his meal - that will have run out at about 10.30 - so if i test him he should be that level all through the night? Bev
Click to expand...

Hi bev, as is so often said, everyone is diffferent. Novorapid should have lost about 80-90% of its potency after the first couple of hours and in theory will have been fully spent by 4 hours, but it's probably a bit longer with me.

I was 4.1 before bed just now, so I've had a peanut butter sandwich to see me through. I've found that things like biscuits and milk or cereal get digested too quickly for me, and I can still go low during the night. I think I have a bit of a peak with the lantus which causes the drop. Last night I was 7.0 before bed, didn't eat and woke up at 2 am to a low of 3.2. I ate something, then woke in the morning to 4.2. It's so tricky!
 
4-5 hours for Novorapid a piece of paper from my hospital says. 🙂
 
Thanks all!

I will test him at 11 and if its ok then in theory he should stay the same throughout the night? If he is low i will give him some more milk! Fingers crossed. Bev🙂
 
hi bev et al

I have to confess that we've never found levemir to be particularly good at holding a level, esp if E eats something before bed. He does seem to have a small 'peak', and hits his lowest whatever the case at about 3-4am, then rises slightly before morning.

Find it incredibly difficult to negotiate. Last night he went to bed on 14 (huh? so much for a good day!). We thought we must have under-dosed dinner, but then woke up this morning on 5.2: so in hindsight it was probably the butter on the leeks and baked potato which digested slowly (2.5 hours after eating is when we took the reading) and kept him high longer. Sigh.
 
Hi All,

Just an update - i tested Alex at 11 last night and he was 14! So i dont have a clue what was happening - other than he had 1 hour playing in the garden which i think attributed to his low before bed - and then i think i may have overdone the milk and biscuits to bring him back up?
This morning he was 7 - which i was happy about - but slightly confused with the 14!:confused:Bev

p.s. but if i had sent him to bed on 4.5 then i think he would have plummeted through the night - so did i do the right thing with the milk etc?
 
bev said:
Hi all,

Tonight Alex was 4.5 before bed - so he had 2 biscuits and some milk. Am i right in thinking that as he had his novorapid at 6.30 with his meal - that will have run out at about 10.30 - so if i test him he should be that level all through the night? Bev
Click to expand...
Hi Bev,
We are all different but if I had had 2 biscuits and a glass of milk i would have been 14+. When im low before bed I have 3 crackers and it usually sees me through night and gets my levels to acceptable level for bed. Its just trial and error which is unfortunately very frustrating. Last night I had pizza and garlic bread at 7, very carby I know! At 8:30 I was 4.2 but it came up itself and was fine before I went to bed. I was still full so didnt want to eat anything else, just kept checking my levels.
 
Please be aware you cannot compare children's levels to adult levels - the reactions to food can be quite different, as are their insulin requirements.
 
Children are different

And children tend to go to bed earlier than adults and some prefer different foods... And teenagers' diurnal cycles are different to all other humans... No-one under age 17 years needs to consider blood sugar levels when driving (well, actually, people in Higher Rate Mobility of Disability Living Allwance can start learning to drive at age 16 years, but that's a rare exception - children with diabetes are generally on Lower Rate Mobility, which doesn't have any effect on dribving age, and it usually stops at age 16 years) That's why there are paediatric specialists in medicine, nursing, dietetics, physiotherapy, education etc.
 
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Admin said:
Please be aware you cannot compare children's levels to adult levels - the reactions to food can be quite different, as are their insulin requirements.
Click to expand...
Admin,
Its hard enough for me to reply on here as i feel so inexperienced about the whole thing without bein highlighted and reply in bold colour makin me feel bad. As u will see i put 'we are all different' and was just sharin my experiences not comparing. Dont think i'll be doin that again.
 
Janine,
Please dont take offence at the comment - i think it was aimed at me rather than you sweetheart! Also, i think it was in red so it highlighted it to me - not you! Please keep posting - i value your opinions very much!:DBev
 
Bev, I think this really highlights the need for Alex to split his Levemir dose.
He wont have so many wild swings in his blood sugar if this is done.
You need to take his numbers in to the DSN and get it sorted asp.
 
Sue,
Yes i think i am coming round to that idea too! Patricia's son splits his levemir and it seems to work quite well for him - so i will ask as Alex is only 1 month behind Patricia's son in diagnosis terms.🙂Bev
 
I have now taken your quote out of my post - the post is not 'aimed' at anyone - just a reminder. The whole point of this is board to share experiences - to anyone unitinitiated they should never change their diet or medication without consulting a doctor/diaberic nurse/consultant. Childrens treatment of diabetes and adults does vary tremendously. I do not want anyone changing their child's treatment based on how an adult reacts to insulin/carb ratio.
As we all agree - everyone's treatment is individual.
 
Thanks Admin - but just to clarify things - i would never change any of Alex's medication etc unless i had checked it with his DN. But i do understand why you have to remind us. Bev
 
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