Injecting for food?

[kingleonidas]

If I read correctly, do you have to inject every single time you eat or drink anything?

Say I ate lunch, and then took my insulin, 2 hours later I decided to have a small snack, do I have to inject again:confused:

I am under the impression that every single time we eat food and snacks there would have to be insulin given at that time. Am I right?

Thanks.

[Joeprep4820]

Well, I have the pump so all I have to do is press a few buttons, but yes, you need to take insulin each time you eat depending on your BG level. If it is low, then less or no insulin is needed. If it is high or normal, then you need to shoot up to avoid those highs. I really don't "snack" unless it is simple proteins or greens, which don't require extra insulin (don't want to get fat) or if I really need to bring my BG up from a low, but when I did snack I typically took insulin.

[fgummett]

What instructions have you had from your Health Care Team in this regard? Do you have a confirmed diagnosis of Type 1 or 2 yet?

Too much insulin can send your BG too low... if you give additional insulin too soon after a previous dose you can get a cumulative effect of both injections -- because at least some of the previous dose can still be active in your system (AKA Insulin On Board). Some insulin pumps have a wizard for calculating this and will reduce the additional bolus to compensate.

[kingleonidas]

Still no diagnosis yet, waiting for antibody tests to come back.

C-Peptide 1.6 GAD65-AB <1 normal range.
micoralbumim 50

Waiting on islet cell screen and IGF binding proteins.

Doc wants current treatment as 9u lantus at night and obviously watching the diet, until we can fully diagnose.

[inkvisitor]

Injecting short-acting insulin before food is dependent on the amount of units of insulin your body needs to cancel out the amount of carbs you intake. For example, I take about 2 units of rapid acting for every 15 grams of carbs..

[fgummett]

Injecting short-acting insulin before food is dependent on the amount of units of insulin your body needs to cancel out the amount of carbs you intake. For example, I take about 2 units of rapid acting for every 15 grams of carbs..So if you ate 15g carbs at 1pm you'd inject 2u insulin, then if you ate another 15g carbs at 2pm would you inject another 2u insulin..?

[poodlebone]

Say I ate lunch, and then took my insulin, 2 hours later I decided to have a small snack, do I have to inject again:confused:


That depends. For most people, short acting insulins like Humalog & Novolog last longer than 2 hours, more like 4 hours. If you took insulin & ate and then 2 hours later wanted a small snack, I'd suggest testing your BG and depending on that number you may or may not need to inject again for the snack. Pumpers call the insulin that's still active & working "insulin on board" or IOB (or bolus on board/BOB). If I test my BG and it's low and I still have IOB, then I may just have a small snack and not worry about taking any more insulin.

[kingleonidas]

Thanks alot. Good info !

[jenb]

Pumpers call the insulin that's still active & working "insulin on board" or IOB (or bolus on board/BOB). If I test my BG and it's low and I still have IOB, then I may just have a small snack and not worry about taking any more insulin.

FYI, everyone who uses insulin, not just pumpers, needs to be aware of insulin on board ;)

Jen

[dbaratta]

If I read correctly, do you have to inject every single time you eat or drink anything?

Say I ate lunch, and then took my insulin, 2 hours later I decided to have a small snack, do I have to inject again:confused:

I am under the impression that every single time we eat food and snacks there would have to be insulin given at that time. Am I right?

Thanks.

You should ask your doc. Some people need to some do not. I would not just take more if I wasn't sure I needed it. For me if I have a snack I usually need a few units of insulin.

[shiftzor]

If you had a snack of say 15gs of carbs with 2units of insulin and then 15mins later had another 15gs of carbs you would need another 2 units of insulin assuming your ratios are correct. You should test your bg 2 hours after injecting, the reason for this is to find out if the insulin covered the carbs as expected. Bolus insulin such as Novorapid peaks at 1hour and at two hours most of the action will have completed. However Novorapid can stay in the blood stream for hours after this, really its activity length is dependent on the individual. I currently have my pump set to a bolus duration of 2.5 hours however this doesn't work for everyone.

If you ate a high fat and high carb meal you may find that you spike at the two hour mark and then drop at the three hour mark. Over bolusing or bolus stacking is easy to do if you are not sure on how long it lasts in your body or how the food will affect your body. Take it easy and test at 1 hour, 2hour 3hours and 4-6hours after you eat a meal. This will begin to indicate how long the bolus lasts and how food affects you.

The amount of insulin you inject will effect longevity, there was a test using regular insulin which basically showed that when injecting in very high doses it would have an action time similar to basal insulin such as Lantus.

[inkvisitor]

So if you ate 15g carbs at 1pm you'd inject 2u insulin, then if you ate another 15g carbs at 2pm would you inject another 2u insulin..?

Yes - that's how much it takes to cover the carbs...though I don't really eat that way. And it's also dependent on where my readings are at that moment. I still may have some insulin working an hour later but it's still just enough to sustain the original amount of carbs (which are still working an hour later, too).

[lorilei]

gosh..it's possible that i missed this above...but do you have at least a basic idea of how many carbs a unit of insulin covers for you? or when you do a correction shot, how much a unit brings your bg down?

again, i found the think Like a Pancreas book by Scheiner so very helpful in learning the basic building blocks for managing diabetes with insulin..and it can be read regardless of type...i know others equally rely on bernstein and all...