nothing eaten

[Stuboy]

Hi guys n gals,

Im confused... I had breakfast thing morning at about 10:30... i'd fallen asleep after taken my insulin at 9:15 so went for an hour and 15 minutes after insulin without food and i wasn't affected...

What's really confused me is... I haven't eaten anything sinse breakfast, and it's now 7pm!! shoudn't i have gone hypo at some point by now? All i've had today is two cans of diet coke! and a couple of grapes.

What's goin on??

[kiwi]

What were your numbers before breakfast?
How much insulin did you take?
Are you in the honeymoon stage?
Adjusting to this routine of insulin and food takes time and effort.
Not eating all day is not recommended as we need circulating insulin in our system. If you don't eat, your levels will rise as a result of counter regulatory hormones being released.
Don't stress your body, the long term results are not worth it!
You were lucky you didn't go low.
HAve you ever had a bad low?

[Stuboy]

not a bad low no..

i've just been busy all day doing web stuff and i've had my head stuck into that all day and realised i hadn't eaten... it wasn't on purpose.

My number before breakfast was 7.7,
then i took my insulin. 9units(mixtard),
then fell asleep, woke up an hour and 15 mins later,
took my levels again and it was 6.6, had breakfast
took my levels again 2 hours later and it was 9.5.
then haven't eaten anything sinse and at 6:15pm my levels were at 4.9.
still not eaten anything... and NOW (7:30pm) my level is 4.4

i dont get it! I ALWAYS hypo if i dont eat lunch!

[RLK]

Welcome to diabetes, where nothing ever makes sense :D I admit, I don't know much about the action profile of mixtard, so I can't help you there. The honeymoon stage is probably playing a role in all this. Like Kiwi said, skipping meals is probably not a good idea, especially since you have a history of going low before lunch. But we've all been there- your head gets into something and forgets about your stomach.
IMHO, I would call it a fluke, and not worry too much about why it happened. I still have days where the numbers don't make sense, even with a pump and super-predictable insulin action.

[BlueSky]

..... What's really confused me is... I haven't eaten anything sinse breakfast, and it's now 7pm!! shoudn't i have gone hypo at some point by now? All i've had today is two cans of diet coke! and a couple of grapes.

What's goin on??
A number of things could have happened to cause those unexpected results. For a start, the intraday variability of Mixtard action is over 30%. Which means that 9 units of it can have the effect of between 6 and 12 units, if that makes sense. And 6 units wasn't enough to make you go low. Level of activity (or lack of it) is another big factor. And stress hormones could have caused enough temporary insulin resistance to stop you going low (even a cup of coffee can cause this).

INMHO, Mixtard is a poor choice of insulin. Using it means that you have to "feed the insulin", and consume carbs to avoid going low. You really should be injecting insulin so that it is available only when it is needed. Which, in your case, is after meals. So Humalog/Novolog before meals would be much more appropriate. And at this stage of your honeymoon, you may be able to get away without any additional basal at all. :) The bottom line is that skipping a meal and the corresponding bolus should never make you go low.

[Stuboy]

INMHO, Mixtard is a poor choice of insulin.
Hey, i resent that! lol, I had no choice in the matter of my treatment at all! If it was my choice then i'd be on bolus and basal. Now that i know about B&B i will keep on asking for it when i see my nurses. unfortunatly by the time i see my nurse again she'll be on maternaty leave, and i wont see anyone untill february anyway after this "course" finishes.

...Can i just go to the diabetic nurse at my local doctors surgery and have my insulin treatment changed there?? Or do i have to stick with the nurses at the diabetes centre?

[BlueSky]

....... Can i just go to the diabetic nurse at my local doctors surgery and have my insulin treatment changed there?? Or do i have to stick with the nurses at the diabetes centre?
Don't know how the system works there. But normally, nurses can't change the treatment. And a GP wouldn't change a diabetes treatment regimen set up the diabetes clinic without consulting the clinic. So you may have to wait until your next visit with the endocrinolgist. You could try phoning the diabetes clinic and asking for an appointment ... :)

[Ailsa]

Sounds odd, but grapes are really high in sugar so maybe that,s helped.
It pays to be very careful about not going to sleep without eating. I know someone who did that & she was very lucky. Her husband came home from work unexpectedly to find her unconcious. If he hadn't come home it would have been lights out!!
If you change to a different regime you'll have to be careful not to do that.