forgetting to take basal at night?

[kt89]

:saint:

hahaha well i will confess i have forgotten to take my basal quite a few times. usually when im out with my friends and have had too much to drink. once my bf injected me with my basal himself because i wasn't able to take care of myself.

i've been so well behaved lately and not doing anything like this. but im 19 and this shouldnt stop me from going hard right?

what im curious about is how come i can wake up after many drinks/carbs the night before having forgotten my basal,with normal bgls. have i got some kind of super supply of insulin hidden somewhere that saves me?

once though i had one drink. woke up at 11 which was normal at the time. and then in my appointment with my educator an hour later i got a 26.3 !! eeek.

alcohol is too hard for me to figure out.

what is the worse that can happen if i forget my basal?

[DeusXM]

what im curious about is how come i can wake up after many drinks/carbs the night before having forgotten my basal,with normal bgls. have i got some kind of super supply of insulin hidden somewhere that saves me?

No. You're 'lucky' in that alcohol inhibits glucose release from your liver, which generally means that after a heavy drinking sessions, the next day you'll require less insulin over all.

I don't think you need me to tell you that this isn't something you should rely on.

what is the worse that can happen if i forget my basal?

Honestly? Death.

Well, more realistically you will feel atrocious, run high BGs and have DKA which can be offset through your bolus insulin but not reliably. DKA can kill you. Quickly. Also, hangovers are far, far worse without basal insulins since you'll be even more dehydrated. Voice of experience speaking here!

i will confess i have forgotten to take my basal quite a few times. usually when im out with my friends and have had too much to drink. once my bf injected me with my basal himself because i wasn't able to take care of myself.

I'm imagining a lot of people are going to pass judgement on this and say something negative. I'm not. Instead, I'm going to suggest something useful.

Like you, when I was 19 (which is only 6 years back), I was drinking as well because that's what we do. I still am. Before I was old enough, I used to take my basal at 11pm-ish (bedtime, basically). But once I was old enough to drink, I realised this would be a time when I would be out and probably drunk, and like you, forget to take my basal.

So here's what you do. Pick a time when you're not likely to be out drinking - say, 6pm. Pick an evening time - not a morning, unless you happen to like having to get up in the mornings when you've been drinking. I don't :D.

Now what you do is this. Whatever time you're currently taking your basal, take it two hours earlier. Then the next day, take it two hours earlier than that. Keep doing that until your basal time is at a good time for you.

That way, you'll be taking your basal when sober and won't forget, and you can still drink. Don't forget, if you are going to go out drinking, drop your basal down by a few units, and before going to bed, eat something with carbs.

[kt89]

thanks so much ^_^

i know it sounds terrible. but thanks for the honest advice ill definitely start doing that!

[Subby]

Yep, I've noticed the great BGs the day after - like a funny liitle perk the way it can dampen the liver release of glucose.

However, I have also seen those wild swings you talk about, as well, around alcohol. You'd make things a great deal better for yourself if you take that one step and make sure you have your basal every single day/night, no exceptions.

Look, even if that means changing your taking of Lantus to earlier in the evening, or even in the middle of the day, so that it's not a time you are off doing your thing in the evening, then think about that. You just don't want to skip basal. Complete absence of insulin is where bad, bad things happen.

But! If you do change your long acting dosage time, do it across the board - don't just do it on those nights - and be sure to watch your control for a while, as moving the dose might change things a little.

And as for the whole "you can get smashed"... well, yep, you can, we can't stop you. Some years ago, it took three very nasty experiences involving passing out, unbridled illness, hospitals, and that was when I was still trying to be relatively responsible - before it really sunk home to me that I do have very definite, specific limits and need to simply not go beyond them. The main one for me being, (as well as slowing my drinking down to stop from going unconscious quickly, a strange quirk I have) I need to always be aware enough to be able to check my BG and do something about it if it's possibly heading me for trouble.

[kt89]

hm yes, good advice.
i was very concerned the morning after that night when i realised i had completely put my life into the hands of my friends who don't fully know how to take care of me the way i do. notttt fair!!

so why is that we have to have our basal each day. i just read another thread from someone who pumps and they said they dont take long acting at all. does that mean that they have fast acting all the time but its in such small amounts it works the same way?

i guess i still dont fully understand the way insulin works in the body. would love to go to a lecture about it or something.. is there such thing ? haha

[Subby]

Hey kt89.... the reason we need basal insulin all the time is that your body generates and releases energy in the way of sugar, from the liver. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Etc. The reason it does this is so the body has fuel to function, to live!

So think if it this way, it's as if we had a drip of glucose solution into our bloodstream, but it all happens in the body. That's why the basal is so important.

As for pumps, instead of a long acting shot, which sits in your system and works over 24 hours, they drip-feed short acting. Think a drip feed watering system.

[soso]

No. You're 'lucky' in that alcohol inhibits glucose release from your liver, which generally means that after a heavy drinking sessions, the next day you'll require less insulin over all.

I don't think you need me to tell you that this isn't something you should rely on.



Honestly? Death.

Well, more realistically you will feel atrocious, run high BGs and have DKA which can be offset through your bolus insulin but not reliably. DKA can kill you. Quickly. Also, hangovers are far, far worse without basal insulins since you'll be even more dehydrated. Voice of experience speaking here!



I'm imagining a lot of people are going to pass judgement on this and say something negative. I'm not. Instead, I'm going to suggest something useful.

Like you, when I was 19 (which is only 6 years back), I was drinking as well because that's what we do. I still am. Before I was old enough, I used to take my basal at 11pm-ish (bedtime, basically). But once I was old enough to drink, I realised this would be a time when I would be out and probably drunk, and like you, forget to take my basal.

So here's what you do. Pick a time when you're not likely to be out drinking - say, 6pm. Pick an evening time - not a morning, unless you happen to like having to get up in the mornings when you've been drinking. I don't :D.

Now what you do is this. Whatever time you're currently taking your basal, take it two hours earlier. Then the next day, take it two hours earlier than that. Keep doing that until your basal time is at a good time for you.

That way, you'll be taking your basal when sober and won't forget, and you can still drink. Don't forget, if you are going to go out drinking, drop your basal down by a few units, and before going to bed, eat something with carbs.


Really really excellent post.... this should be put in a sticky so all teenage diabetics who come looking for advice on drinking and diabetes see it...

It is pointless to think that most teens (and some of us elders) are not going to drink and sometimes to excess... I don't even like to think back to my teen years.....