Very fast acting insulin

[megga]

I have always taken my insulin 20-30 mins before food, but for the past two weeks when I do I hypo, any one else find this???

 

[trophywench]

You shouldn't need it that far in advance unless you are going to eat something that will give you a spike almost immediately. to fill your face. We used to with things like Humulin and the previous mixes, but since Novorapid, Humalog and Apidra have been the usual choices, no. Apidra actually works quicker than the other two, and finishes sooner too.

Unless of course you are pregnant when different considerations apply !

 

[Sally71]

I've heard a lot of people saying that Novorapid is not as rapid as it says it is - but I don't find that at all! We always do the insulin immediately before eating, and if daughter is eating more than about 30g carbs we usually extend the bolus over about an hour, otherwise she will go hypo straight after the meal!

 

[Northerner]

Novorapid takes at least 20 minutes to start working in me - up to an hour in the mornings - and it lasts about 5 hours.

 

[Redkite]

This is quite an individual thing, for example my son would def go hypo if he bolused more than 5 minutes in advance, unless his BG was already over target and needed a correction, so generally he boluses when the food is in front of him. But it's strange that you used to be able to do this with no problems and now you're getting hypos. Have you lost some weight recently or taken up a new sport? Anything like that could have increased your insulin sensitivity. Also using new sites for your injections or pump cannula - fresh unscarred sites would absorb insulin faster. Same if you're injecting into muscle (e.g. using a site with not much subcutaneous fat, and/or too long a needle?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

My timings seem to vary from time to time (as well as from meal to meal).

Breakfast and lunch always need more of a head start (the bread perhaps? even though Burgen is allegedly low GI) so I would leave it around 30-45 mins then.

At eve meal time though that would be too much for me. Typically in the past I have just dosed and eaten in the evenings, but more recently I'm trying to give the insulin (or at least the first bit of insulin if splitting the dose) something like 10-15 minutes head start as I've been regularly in double figures by around an hour and a half after eating.

Have you tried dosing closer to the food? Would be interesting to see what that did to your 1-2 hour post meal readings.

 

[KookyCat]

I've never been able to do that it acts really quickly in me, unless I was unusually high before my meal. If you've lost weight that has an impact, also maybe if your control has improved and your pre meal readings are lower that might be it, you might not have noticed it was acting quicker if there was more glucose for it to play with.

 

[HOBIE]

Hi Megga. I always try to take it in advance, 10mins or so to give it a chance to start working. 😎

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I have always taken my insulin 20-30 mins before food, but for the past two weeks when I do I hypo, any one else find this???

Are you on a pump? if so check your basal, you might find it needs lowering in that time frame 🙂

 

[qwertyfan]

unless I had a sudden need to drink a can of coke without being hypo I'd go with taking novorapid at about the same time as food, maybe up to 10 minutes before.... given that food can take 20 mins or so to hit the blood stream, it's designed to work at the same rate I believe....
my own experimentations have found that I feel ok if I do it that way, but unless I'm quite high before taking it then with food arriving is fine for me....

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think we just have to keep checking and rechecking (as with everything else!). Establish a system (or systems) that seems to give you decent post-meal levels most of the time. Then use it until it stops working and then recheck (in this order) basal, timing, ratio for that time of day.

It's a pain, but it seems to be part of the game 🙄

 

[Highlander]

Being type 2 on insulin, I tend to take my Novomix 30 just before a meal. However, if I forget (rarely) I take it just after and am OK most of the time.

 

[trophywench]

Well Highlander, mixed insulins don't act as fast as any of the single fast ones so they can't really be compared especially for a Type 1 with no insulin resistance.

 

[chandler]

Novorapid takes at least 20 minutes to start working in me - up to an hour in the mornings - and it lasts about 5 hours.

I've also found I need to take Novorapid a lot earlier in the morning too. Usually about 30-45 minutes before breakfast to avoid a massive spike. Can bolus at the table for lunch/dinner though.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Looking back I see Megga is on a pump.
So Megga needs to test basal and see if that's the problem 🙂