Do you still do insulin when low before a meal or how do you handle that?

[juliamf]

I've been low a few times before meals...I know in these circumstances you're supposed to eat something with around 15g of carbs to quickly bring levels above 70. Once I've done that, and I've retested and am back above 70, should I do insulin (humalog) then before my actual lunch/meal?

Still fairly new to being diagnosed with t1 and come across things I'm uncertain of still.

Thanks in advance!

[Super_sally888]

Hi,

Further to what Tony said (btw. the conversion rate is divide by 18 to convert to UK units), I find that the sachet of sugar (the ones from restaurant) are about 5 g of sugar and are very convenient to use to raise blood sugar, if required.

[tonyb286]

I can't really answer your question because I'm not familiar with your insulin or units of measure (I'm in the UK). But to get a low-blood-sugar reading up fairly quickly and accurately, you could use Jelly Babies. They taste ok and are exactly 5g of fast acting carb in each one. I use them as an emergency source to get out of hypo. The good thing is, if you know how much you need to raise your b.s. by to get within normal range, these can achieve it quickly. You can then calculate your meal carbs and insulin required and stay within the appropriate zone.

[Super_sally888]

Hi,
Ideally you will ask your diabetes educator this question.

Typically the response to this question depends on how low you are:

If you are only slightly low, say 70+ then I would just eat the meal as planned, only I may do my bolus just after I start eating instead of before, and the bolus may be slightly less than typical as part of what you eat will bring sugars up to normal.

If very low before a meal, then I would take glucose to correct the low.  Note that 15 g of glucose may be too much.  You need to work out how much 1 g of glucose will raise your sugars.  If I was say 49.... I would probably only take 10g of sugar/ glucose.  Then i would eat my meal as planned once sugars started coming up... but being a bit cautious about the bolus amount to cover meals.

Once your sugars are up to target you should still take your Humalog to cover the carbs in your meal otherwise you will go high.

Hope this helps.