Type 1 from 2 injections to 4 jabs a day

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rossi_mac

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi

I have come across a couple of people recently who are on 2 injections a day and are considering going onto Basal Bolous therapy treatment.

Do any of you know of any good resources/links to explain this?

Thanks,

Rossi
 
I can suggest one of two books..

Using Insulin by John Walsh

Think Like A Pancreas, the authour escapes me..

Both go through carb counting, and the mdi regime easy to use etc well worth the investment in one of them..
 
Is the main consideration going from 2 to 4 carb counting??

Yes, I would say so Rossi. On two injections you are 'eating to the insulin' and have to eat amounts of carbs at certain times in order to suit the insulin you have injected. The primary reason for going onto MDI is so that you can inject fast-acting insulin to suit the food and times you want to eat. You therefore need to know how much to inject according to carbs and insulin/carb ratios, hence carb-counting being pretty fundamental. 🙂
 
Hello,

I moved from 2 injections (morning and evening) to 4 injections around 10 years ago. At the time it was a big decision for me as I had good control on 2 injections.

I was put on 4 injections long before I learned to carb count and at the time the main advantage for me was flexibility. I can now greatly vary my meal times and can even skip meals completely if I choose (not that I do that very often, if ever).

On 2 injections (I used Human Mixtard 30 - which is 70% slow and 30% fast mixed together) you had to be pretty strict with your timings to keep your basal covered 24 hours. If you left it too long between them you had a gap with no basal, if you took it too soon you could overlap them. You also had to eat within 30 minutes of taking it. A lot of people would also go high in the afternoon as the morning fast insulin had run out and you didn't inject again until evening. It was very difficult to manage snacks between meals.

On 4 injections the basal/bolus are separate so most people take one injection of basal every 24 hours (some split this into two), and bolus every time they eat - which is where the carb counting comes in as you only need to take enough bolus to cover what you've just eaten.

Personally I much prefer 4 injections now to 2 as I can eat at different times and can manage snacks etc far more easily.

NiVZ
 
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