Monday, 20 October 2008

it's a numbers game - again

I sifted through the documents that I downloaded from various web sites that I mentioned in an earlier blog, and have adopted an approach to manage my diabetes at work, rest and play.

I carried out a week's worth of blood tests comprising of six tests a day; fasting, before meals and two hours after. As result I've increased the Lantus dosage to 38 units to give me a fasting blood sugar (BS) level between 5 & 7mmol, on a normal days activity. The pre/post meal BS levels indicated that I need 2 units of soluble insulin per 15g of carbohydrate (CHO). So all well and good thus far but what happens when I go backpacking?

The only way to find out is get out and test, which I was lucky enough to do at the weekend.

First I cut the Lantus by one third down to 25 units. And the bolus dosage by 50%, on the basis that whilst active I'd only need 1 unit of insulin per every 15g of CHO. And this seemed to work as the BS reading stayed in range and I had fewer hypo's (hypoglycaemic attacks). Having fewer crashes meant that I didn't require the extra CHO that I usually carry to stave them off. The hypo's would have been better managed if I'd eaten small amounts of CHO on a regular basis between meals. The trip being a spontaneous one meant I didn't pack a trail mix that I would usually carry.

Encouraging results initially and I'll continue to test this approach on future trips.

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