My ratios are all screwed up!!!

[littlebuddy]

So as you can tell from my title my ratios are all screwed up. This afternoon I had BG of 215mg/dl. So I took 4 units of Novorapid and an hour and a half later I was at 31mg/dl. This is the second time this has happened to me in the span of a week. So now I currently don't know how much 1 unit of Novorapid covers. In addition to this I am on Lantus 21.5 unit a day. I just started taking Lantus about 2 months ago and I like it very much. But I am not sure if it is having any complications with Novorapid. I'm not sure what I should do to remedy this situation. I am very good with my diabetes and I test about 5 times a day. I keep everything in good control but these past 2 weeks have been really strange.

It seems to me that I need a lot less Novorapid than I needed previously. Any help would be much appreciated.

littlebuddy

[DeusXM]

This happens all the time. Basically your body's insulin requirements aren't set in stone - one week they might be one thing, the next they might be another. Sadly the only thing you can do is test regularly and adjust your insulin accordingly.

[KickStart101]

[QUOTE=littlebuddy]So as you can tell from my title my ratios are all screwed up. This afternoon I had BG of 215mg/dl. So I took 4 units of Novorapid and an hour and a half later I was at 31mg/dl. This is the second time this has happened to me in the span of a week. So now I currently don't know how much 1 unit of Novorapid covers. In addition to this I am on Lantus 21.5 unit a day. I just started taking Lantus about 2 months ago and I like it very much. But I am not sure if it is having any complications with Novorapid. I'm not sure what I should do to remedy this situation. I am very good with my diabetes and I test about 5 times a day. I keep everything in good control but these past 2 weeks have been really strange.
It seems to me that I need a lot less Novorapid than I needed previously. Any help would be much appreciated.

Well, I do not tell other people how much Insulin to take or when since
only you and your Doc should be involved in that. Everyone has different circumstances and do different things. Also i am on different Insulins than you.
I am female, 5' 2", 125 lbs. Compare to that. I take Lente not Lantus(I am glad to hear that it works good for you however, I've heard different, and I'm
changing to it next year sometime...:motz: ). I take Humalog not Novorapid.
In the afternoon(my Humalog would be gone) if I was 215(11.9 over here,may as well say 12.0), I would take 1 unit Humalog. I would take 2 units only if I was going to have a small snack soon after the shot. If I was going out to do some errands I would take nothing. I can't say how that would compare to you or your Insulins. :dontknow: Sorry, 'bout that.

[Shocked]

I'm currently experiencing a similar phenomenon. Not sure if it's a mild form of "honeymoon" or what. I started out at 5 units Humalog per meal plus 1 unit per 60 g carbs and 15 units of Lantus at night. Typical meal time dosage was 7-8 units and I slowly increased my nightime lantus (1 additional unit every 3 days) up to 23 units. 23 seemed to be the magic number because over the last week or so, my humalog requirements fell to 2-3 units if that.

My endo says that's why we call it sef-management. Test test test and make the appropriate adjustments.

[am1977]

If you were a pumper, I would suggest testing your basal rates... Actually, I think you can still do this on MDI. It would mean having to skip a meal and testing frequently, but it may be worth it. From there, you would be able to see if your Lantus needs to be adjusted or if it's a problem with your carb to insulin ratio. I would ask your doctor to advise you on how to do this, it could be enlightening :idea:.

[gettingby]

If you were a pumper, I would suggest testing your basal rates... Actually, I think you can still do this on MDI. It would mean having to skip a meal and testing frequently, but it may be worth it. From there, you would be able to see if your Lantus needs to be adjusted or if it's a problem with your carb to insulin ratio. I would ask your doctor to advise you on how to do this, it could be enlightening :idea:.
Yes, Am is right. This can be done by those on MDI. I have had to do it before to get things on an even keel.

[jen_slc]

I agree, test your basal level by skipping a meal and testing every hour to see if you're taking too much/little Lantus. Then if it seems right you can play around with your ratios. Also, my endo has told me that I should be taking approximately 50:50 Lantus:Humalog, though that won't always be spot on. So you take 21.5 units/day... how much Novorapid do you take in one day? I was having hypos a lot when I was taking 60:40 Lantus:Humalog and now that my doses have been altered to close to 50:50, they've disappeared. There's also a formula you can use to figure out roughly what total dose of insulin you should be taking based on your body weight, but I don't recall it off the top of my head. I know it's in threads in this forum somewhere so try searching for that.

[littlebuddy]

If anyone knows what amount of insulin you shoud be taking based on your body weight could you please post a link to a site. I did some Googling earlier today but was unable to find anything to that effect. If you can't find a web page then may be a formula. That would be very helpful for us all.

I was totally unaware that I should be taking around 50:50 of Rapid to Lantus. Currently I take 21.5 of lantus and around 15 to 12 to 18 of Rapid per day depending on what I eat.

littlebuddy.

[jen_slc]

If anyone knows what amount of insulin you shoud be taking based on your body weight could you please post a link to a site. I did some Googling earlier today but was unable to find anything to that effect. If you can't find a web page then may be a formula. That would be very helpful for us all. The Total Daily Dose (TDD) calculator formula was posted in this thread:
http://www.diabetesforums.com/showthread.php?t=5788

Remember, TDD is a rough estimate/starting point and will vary for everyone based on food intake, diet, exercise, general metabolism, etc, etc.

I was totally unaware that I should be taking around 50:50 of Rapid to Lantus. Currently I take 21.5 of lantus and around 15 to 12 to 18 of Rapid per day depending on what I eat. I was too, after being on Lantus for 3 years. I don't know if that's the general rule, it's just what my new endo has told me (diabetic himself and has helped me a lot!), but other docs might disagree. I think it's a good guideline though. I used to be on 26 Lantus and 15 Humalog with horrible nighttime hypos. Now I am on 14 Lantus and 14-18 Humalog with no nighttime hypos. I don't want to say how much should be taking, everyone is different, but maybe you are taking a wee bit too much Lantus? You won't know until you do a fasting and test every hour to see what your BG is doing in the absence of food.