The main thing is: You have to test more often, and, under the supervision of your physician, adjust your insulin appropriately.
As a diabetic who takes insulin, you have two methods of controlling your blood sugar levels.
- Changing sugar intake.
- Changing insulin intake.
When your glucose levels are high, lowering glucose levels is usually just done with reducing your sugar intake, with your doctor's recommendation for your NPH insulin. If your sugar levels are too varying, you may have a fast acting insulin you adjust to your intake of sugars. If you are on insulin, this should be not be news to you, if you didn't know this, get more educated about your program.
When dieting, especially one as hard as I am working at, you are more concerned with keeping your glucose levels above 75 than you are with them being high. I have had only one reading above 150 in the last month, four below 55. When on a restricted calorie diet, such as I am using, correcting a low glucose level can add 300 calories to what you were hoping was a 1,500 calorie day. The best way to prevent this is by adjusting your insulin over the course of the day and checking your glucose levels when appropriate.
For different insulin types there are different time ranges. The two I use are:
- NPH
- Intermediate acting.
- Onset in 1-2 hours.
- Peak in 4-12 hours.
- Lasts up to 24 hours.
- Lispro
- Rapid acting.
- Onset in 15-30 minutes.
- Peak in 30-90 minutes.
- Lasts 3-5 hours.
(charts are from https://sites.google.com/site/diabetesmapp/insulin-action-curves)
I take the NPH twice a day, morning and evening, to maintain a consistent level of available insulin in my body. I am now reducing my dosage to 40 units, down from 50, on the advise of my physician based on my glucose levels. Per my doctor, if after a week, my glucose levels are stable, or a little low in the mornings, I will reduce it more. The up side to this is that, with the lowered insulin levels, I will not have to be as concerned with dropping too low during the overnight.
The Lispro, on the other hand was initially prescribed at 10 units after dinner. This seems to have been the culprit in my recent low glucose crashes at night. so, now I test about an hour after eating, before taking the Lispro. If my glucose levels are acceptable, I have been told to not take it. If they are a little high, I am taking 5 units, if really high, I take 10. The real trick here is to re-test 2 hours later and see what the levels are at. If I end up dropping too far, I have to change my program, maybe reduce the dose, maybe increase the glucose threshold.
I have found an app that helps me remember to test my glucose. I am still learning it, and it doesn't have the best interface. But if you are determined, you can get some good use out of it. It is called Diabetic Insulin Log/Alert. It is free, but they also have a $2 version that I cannot seem to find. Support the author if you find it useful. When you use it, you enter your glucose level and press the "Log Glucose" button. When you take insulin, enter the dose and press the type of insulin. That's it. a reminder is automatically set for your next test.
Another app I encountered was Diabetes diary. I much preferred the interface on this one, but it is set for mmol/l instead of mg/dl, so not as useful to me for logging my glucose levels. It also wanted a lot more permissions for just a log.
On a side note. I am finally free of the pepperoni sticks I was consuming on my drive. I worked the last ones into my plan and they are now gone. I also took advantage of a shorter than normal commute and cleaned out the car of my non-appropriate snacks. If it isn't there, I cannot eat it right?
No comments:
Post a Comment