correction questions...

[grace girl]

I've been chasing highs for two days due to an infection. These are the most stubborn highs I've ever dealt with and it's brought some things that I'm not sure how to handle. I'm going to throw out a theoretical situation to explain myself so it doesn't take me 6 paragraphs to say the same thing:
Say I wake up and I'm at 200. I decide to eat right away, so I bolus for food and the correct. Let's say I ate at 8am.
Ok, I know from experience that I can safely correct again after 3 hours...two gets me into trouble almost always.
So lets say at 11am, I take a correction because I'm still high.
Okay, I decide to eat lunch at 1. Obviously, I can at this point only bolus for food. (or, since I'm eating, could I at this point simply caculate the iob factor and correct again anyway?)The shot from 8 is long gone, but the correction at 11 is only two hours old.
So, at what point could I again check my bs and be able to correct again? 2 would be three hours after the correction, but only 1 hour after I ate.
How can you really handle eating and correcting all day long in a safe way?
What I've done is simply eat and correct every 4 hours...but I keep thinking that there has to be another way. Help, please?

[shiftzor]

I've been chasing highs for two days due to an infection. These are the most stubborn highs I've ever dealt with and it's brought some things that I'm not sure how to handle. I'm going to throw out a theoretical situation to explain myself so it doesn't take me 6 paragraphs to say the same thing:
Say I wake up and I'm at 200. I decide to eat right away, so I bolus for food and the correct. Let's say I ate at 8am.
Ok, I know from experience that I can safely correct again after 3 hours...two gets me into trouble almost always.
So lets say at 11am, I take a correction because I'm still high.
Okay, I decide to eat lunch at 1. Obviously, I can at this point only bolus for food. (or, since I'm eating, could I at this point simply caculate the iob factor and correct again anyway?)The shot from 8 is long gone, but the correction at 11 is only two hours old.
So, at what point could I again check my bs and be able to correct again? 2 would be three hours after the correction, but only 1 hour after I ate.
How can you really handle eating and correcting all day long in a safe way?
What I've done is simply eat and correct every 4 hours...but I keep thinking that there has to be another way. Help, please?

Well if you test 2 hours (2 hours and a half to be sure) later after correction, the insulin should be have reached its peak activity and started to go down (it’s in your system for a good 4 hours+). Have you worked out a correction factor? How many insulin units per mg/dl? That might help you give the correction in the first place.

1800 Rule and Correction Factor (http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_control_tips/corr_factor.php)

Or the other thing you can do is to guess how many carbs you ate too many and correct accordingly. Assuming that your carb counting and have an insulin:carb ratio. Multiple corrections are difficult, but I simply repeat using either of the two methods 2 hours after the correction and so on. There is no 100% safe way of doing it and I’m not saying I’m an expert, but it might help. ;)

[UpNorth]

If i'm high and need to correct, i correct and deal with the lows when they come IF they come... But when i'm fighting an infection, i can inject ridiculously big amounts of insulin and still run high...

[Alice]

I try to give insulin the full 4 hours to cover a meal before I eat again. I really have to work hard at not "grazing" as I'm a total grazer at heart.

But, I often pretty much correct as you are describing...I just feel like sometimes we all get impatient and try to "help" the insulin along with additional corrections...this is a very dangerous thing to do.

I don't spend too much time trying to figure "insulin on board" due to the fact that I designated that insulin for a past reason...either carbs eaten or correction needed. Any future carbs would normally need to be covered with new insulin.

I just really try to avoid "stacking" too much.

[RLK]

When I'm stacking boluses like that due to lots of corrections (not lots of snacking), I usually check every 2 hours and keep the glucose tabs handy. Correcting every 4 hours is probably safe. I'm like UpNorth, when it's high BGs because of infection, it seems like no amount of corrections sends me low.

Have you increased your Lantus at all?

Hope you feel better soon!