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Adjusting your insulin
By using your testing and doing some experiments you should be building a better picture of how everyday life affects your blood glucose. If your glucose is consistently high or low at certain times of day you may be able to adjust your insulin dose to correct the situation.
Different insulin regimens
There are lots of different insulins and many insulin regimens. They can vary from long-acting insulin injected just once a day (often by people with type 1 diabetes who take tablets during the day too) to very short-acting insulin that you inject each time you eat, coupled with a longer acting injection twice a day or at night. To know which insulin you should adjust to correct your levels you need to find out more information about your particular regimen. The nurse or doctor at your clinic will be able to give you this information.
When adjusting your insulin dose
Although exactly how to adjust your dose depends upon which insulins you are using, there are some general rules which could help you:
- First, check with your diabetes team
- One step at a time
Don't change lots of things all at once - you will never work out what's going on! As a general rule, only change the dose of one insulin at one time of day and then give it a few days of regular testing to see what happens. If your levels haven't improved enough then try another adjustment.
- Little by Little
Don't make large changes in your dose; it is safer to make these changes little by little. - Don't 'chase your sugars'
If your blood glucose levels are high or low at a particular time of day, remember it is the previous insulin injection which is working, not the one you are going to take next. So you need to wait until the next day before making changes. - Ask for help!
The staff at your clinic have a lot of experience of insulin dose adjustment. If in spite of your regular testing, you cannot sort your levels out, give them a call. There is a lot they can do to help.
