Insulin before snacks?

[mwillamam]

Diagnosed in April with diabetes. Family Dr. has me taking 22 units of Lantus @ bedtime, 6 units of Humalog before 3 meals. The Dr. says he still isn't sure whether I'm Type 1 or Type 2.
My blood sugars have been all over the chart. Have read about morning phenomonen and morning readings are always over 200.
My question is am I supposed to inject humalog before regular meals only? Have not injected before snacks etc.
I am now scheduled to see a specialist and a dietician.

[Penny]

I know others do different, but I only inject before a snack if it has a bunch of carbs. My snacks are usually nuts or cheese or sometimes crackers with peanut butter. I might take a little Novolog for the crackers and peanut butter if my BS is already a little high.

[fgummett]

As Penny says... "it depends"...

the reason we use insulin to to manage the Blood Glucose (BG) levels... if what you eat raises your BG levels outside of the range discussed with your Doctor, then you may well require an additional injection.

Another factor to consider is Insulin On Board (IOB)... insulin tends to stay working in the system longer than we may expect... so, for example, if you had a bolus for a meal and then felt like a carby snack shortly after the meal, you would need to give consideration to the insulin already in your system from the mealtime bolus, thus you would probably give less insulin for the snack than you would have given if that snack were a few hours after the mealtime bolus

Best discussed with your Doctor... and a definitive diagnosis would go a long way to getting a better answer as well :)

Welcome to DF!

[notme]

Diagnosed in April with diabetes. Family Dr. has me taking 22 units of Lantus @ bedtime, 6 units of Humalog before 3 meals. The Dr. says he still isn't sure whether I'm Type 1 or Type 2.
My blood sugars have been all over the chart. Have read about morning phenomonen and morning readings are always over 200.
My question is am I supposed to inject humalog before regular meals only? Have not injected before snacks etc.
I am now scheduled to see a specialist and a dietician.

I think the static dose of Humalog could be an issue for you. Generally, most of us will change the dose of humalog depending on what we are eating. The more carbs, the more insulin. The more fat and carbs, the more correction later. As stated, you need to be careful not to stack too much insulin as you may still have active insulin in your system.

Talk to your doctor about doing a basal test. Figure out exactly how much Lantus you need to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. You may find, like some here, that you need to split your dose. Talk to your dietician about figuring out your insulin to carb ratio. That will determine how much insulin you need to take for your meals.

Welcome to Diabetes Forums. I am sure you will find lots of answers here and have lots of questions. We are glad your here. :wavey:

[inkvisitor]

Definitely consult your doctor, but Humalog doses are generally variable depending on what and how much carbohydrates you consume (and how certain carbs affect you).