I’ve been struggling lately with high blood sugars 3 or 4 hours after I eat a meal (long after my BG should be in range again). I’ve been splitting my Lantus, half in the morning and half in the evening, for about a year now… I also give my Novolog about 20 minutes before I eat.
Lately though, I can’t seem to get my BG down post-meals. I haven’t changed my eating habits at all. I increased both my Lantus doses today out of frustration. I have also been giving more insulin at meals than I usually do… for example, 1 unit for 8g c instead of 1:10 or 1:12.
The weather has gotten a lot hotter in the past couple weeks (I’m in very very South Florida currently, and it’s been in the upper 80s F), and I’m wondering if that could increase my BGs overall?
Does anyone have any suggestions besides increasing my Lantus doses and lowering my insulin-to-carb ratio at meals?
What are your blood sugars 1 hour and 2 hours after eating? You may need to test at those times and do corrections to try to get it back down. I do know that when I eat meals that have both high fat and somewhat high carb content, the fat delays my body’s absorption of the carbs…so I have to give part of my shot before eating, and then a second shot about an hour after eating.
I can’t say I’ve ever noticed my sugars running higher during hot weather, but one funny thing about T1D is that it does crazy, unpredictable things all the time.
Also, I recently got a sample of Apidra insulin, which works faster than the Humalog that I normally use. (I have to give it only about 10 minutes in advance.) I didn’t continue using it because I was having low blood sugars about 3 hours after eating…so maybe Apidra would work well to counter your high blood sugars. Try asking your doctor about it.
Anyway, those were my initial thoughts. Hopefully some other folks will chime in and you’ll have a few ideas to try.
Hmmm, interesting, you kinda use a “dual-wave bolus” that would exist on a pump, just with shots instead! I ended up just increasing my Lantus doses by a couple more units and now I’m not running so high anymore (I might have an isolated 200 but no 300s, thank goodness)… but I am actually going to ask my endo about Apidra. I’m curious where Novolog fits into the comparison - I know from you that Apidra > Humalog, but I wonder if Novolog is similar to Humalog, or slower than Humalog… would be interesting to know. I don’t even know what the difference is between Novolog and Humalog, in terms of what they’re made of.
for the last few years I have had to change my carb ratios a bit for hot versus cold. I tend to need just a touch more in the winter though.
I wouldn’t adjust lantus for a post meal high, but if you are fasting and see your bs go up that’s an indication you need more basal insulin.
2 things that work for me to reduce meal time insulin: stress management and exercise. Even if I take a 10 minute lazy walk after a meal(~ 1 hour) with my meal insulin peaking, I can reduce my need by half. your results may vary. Stress, unfortunately, causes my resistance to go up, and i see it in both my post meal BS and in my a1c.