Looking For Advice

[Guest Vietnam Tanker]

I took my Blood Sugar tonight as usual, it was 62, now I am concerned as it is time for my Insulin injection and I am unsure if I should take it or not as it will only bring my blood sugar lower. any advice from someone who is on insulin would be of great help.

[Eric_M]

A lot depends on what type of insulin you are taking (NPH, R, Novolog-fast acting), and what you have eaten lately.

The best advice I ever heard was "you know your body best". If you feel low, and 62 is low for me, I would wait. If you have eaten recently, and are taking a long acting insulin, you could take your dose, then test in a few hours.

Your post is a great question for your doc, but he/she should have told you ahead of time.

Hope this helps....Eric

[Guest Vietnam Tanker]

Thanks for the reply. I decided not to take the Insulin last night (Novolin N, NPH Human Insulin) My sugar is still low this AM (51) I drank some OJ and ate a candy bar last night, cannot understand why it is still so low, so I am going to the ER in Tampa to find out what to do, which is what I should have done last night.

Edited December 28, 2008 by Vietnam Tanker

[Eric_M]

Tanker,

OJ is great for lows, but glucose tabs work best. 15 grams of carbs (2-3 glucose tabs) then wait 15 minutes. You should see a rise in sugar levels.

Candy bars, while very tasty, take longer to absorb, due to fat conttent.

NPH is a good insulin, I was on it for years, but sometimes what you ate 12 hours before is effecting your sugars now, and conversly the insulin is working to lower your sugars now, when what you ate, like pizza, is still trying to get into your system. So you end up low.

I would ask you doc for some type of formula for day to day sugar levels. If you sugars are X then you would take Y number of units of insulin. The docs should try and give you enough education, and guidelines so you can handle most low/high blood sugar situations.

I hope this helps. Being DMII hopefully you can get off insulin....Eric

[trailblazer]

Vietnam Tanker.This is my experience with diabetic meds. I take ACARBOSE 50Mg tablets 3 times a day before meals and a slow acting insulin called LANTUS at night just before bedtime. Lantus works for 24 hours and I take at the same time everyday The number of units I take depends on where my sugar is. If its high I take more units, if its low I take less and if its normal I don't take any.Sugar levels tend to go up at nite a little but if you keep a record of your sugar readings at nite and adjust your units according to the readings you can keep your sugar pretty well under control. This works for me. BTW under no circumstances would I take insulin with a sugar reading of 61. A sugar level of 70 or below can get you into big trouble as you can pass out, become confused and disoriented and argumentive with the person trying to help you. If my sugar level is low at bed time I eat some peanut butter and crackers. I hope this helps you out becuase I known for me its the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. Good luck.