Hello,
I'm wondering how you deal with post-meal spikes? Lately, I've been having some substantial highs 2 hours after breakfast. I count carbs diligently and eat balanced meals. Plus, I usually have some flax seeds for fibre (which is supposed to help with reducing post-meal spikes). I'm not sure what else might be worth trying and I'm starting to get frustrated! Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Laura
I pay attention to what I eat and set my bolus to square wave for foods that are high on the glycemic index.
Are you drinking milk with breakfast? If so you may want to switch to soy. Milk tends keeps sugars up high for a long while.
oh, one last thing, you may want to talk to your doctor about raising your insulin dose in the morning for a higher insulin to carb ratio if these other things don't work.
It really depends on what you eat. I had been experiencing post-meal spikes following the initial "good" numbers 2-3 hours after eating, but 4-5 hours later and I was in the mid-300's. A meal that is high in protein or fat is digested slower than a meal with lower protein/fat levels.
Take a pizza (or pieces thereof) for example. The fats in the cheese are going to be digested slower than the carbs from the bread. The response about the square wave bolus is the correct course of action on this matter. The normal bolus will take care of the carb factor while setting the square wave to deliver X units of insulin over a period of 3-4 hours will definitely reduce, if not remove, the post-meal spikes.
Mind you the square wave can only be done if you're using an insulin pump. If you are relying solely on injections, I would say try changing what you're eating (to lower fat/protein content foods) in order to see if that makes the spiking happen less frequently.
Hope that helps :o)
Pat
Is it just breakfast? I have the same problem. I take 3 times as much insulin for breakfast as I would if I ate the same amount of carbs for lunch or dinner. It doesn't seem to make a difference what I eat in the morning. It seemed like it just kind of happened one day. Since I increased my insulin so much they went away, so maybe increasing your ratio just for this meal might help too?
[quote user="Heather Cole"]
Is it just breakfast? I have the same problem. I take 3 times as much insulin for breakfast as I would if I ate the same amount of carbs for lunch or dinner. It doesn't seem to make a difference what I eat in the morning. It seemed like it just kind of happened one day. Since I increased my insulin so much they went away, so maybe increasing your ratio just for this meal might help too?
[/quote]
Yes, it does tend to happen after breakfast. I increased my insulin:carb ratio since initially posting this question and it definitely helped. I just started pumping and am tweaking a number of different values right now so I'm hoping to figure all this out soon.
I agree with you tweeking. My son runs real high in the monring and real low at night. For example - he is on a 1:20 in the morning and lunch, but then for dinner he is on a 1:35. I actually set his ratio for the 1:35 ratio in the late afternoon because that is when it seems to be when he needs less right now. That is the great thing about the pump - I can just change the ratios for different times of the day as needed.
I used to have the same problem and they changed my insulin to carb ratio at breakfast, and now I dont have those huge spikes anymore.
I have definitely had this problem also and my Endo actually suggested my trying Metformin/Fortamet which is a Type 2 drug (Yes Im T1) and I've had amazing results!
The Fortamet, the extended release version, works better for me but the Endo says hes had great success in T1's with both forms.
Just something to consider :)
Also, Ive found that giving insulin 15-30 mins in advance, depending on my pre-meal BG, is very helpful