Skipped meal

Hi. I skipped my supper and so didn’t take any Humalog insulin. For the first time, I feel like I've committed a crime and I'm dreading a hypo. or the opposite - sugars going high during the night. ...I know it was silly of me to do so, but I'm going to hope I'm okay and wake up feeling fine and not wake up during the night with a hypo..

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Hi Hidden ,

Please check your private messages on HU. I sent a message to you now. It’s okay.😀

[Hidden]

I've not received any message from you except three of the same as above

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Go to the message section for HU (Chat).

[Hidden]

I've no idea how to do all that. I simply chat on this website with everyone normally not private

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Okay.

How are you feeling? Sometimes, people don’t feel well tend to skip meals— even if they should have a small meal/snack. If I don’t feel like eating too much, I will have a small snack/meal and do a much smaller dose of insulin and test more often.

[Hidden]

I feel fine. The only reason I'm writing is because it's skipping my evening meal and insulin. If it was my lunch etc it wouldn't be worrying me much

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Please check your blood sugar.

[Hidden]

Hi I had a good nights sleep without a hypo and on a good sugar level 👍🏼

Very surprised

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

That’s fantastic news. Thank you for letting us know!😀👍

[Hidden]

Not sure why you're worried 😁.

You take insulin so that food you eat (the carbohydrates/sugars part) don't go straight into your blood, resulting in dangerously high blood glucose levels.

You eat food because, well, if you don't you'll starve to death. Of course, if you've taken insulin, then you don't eat, you're at risk of experiencing a hypo.

Also, if you don't eat, your body will convert fat into sugars, along with a nasty by-product, acetone. That'll make you feel horribly sick.

I've had Type 1 insulin-controlled diabetes for 45 years. The rules about eating and injecting insulin are quite simple:

You eat what your body needs to sustain it. That means a normal healthy diet.

You ensure that what you eat contains a mix of slow-release and faster-release carbohydrates. This ensures there's a steady release of sugars into your system, in order to provide the energy your body needs to do its stuff throughout the day.

You take insulin to convert those sugars into a form your body can use, without raising your blood glucose too high. The amount of fast-acting insulin you inject is proportionate to the amount of carbohydrates in the meal you're about to eat. So if you're not going to eat, you don't take the fast-acting insulin.

The other insulin is slow-acting. Whereas the fast-acting insulin is balanced to the carbohydrates in the meal you're about to eat, the slow-acting insulin works throughout the whole day. Usually taken morning and evening, it maintains an overall control of your blood glucose levels during the whole day.

So, in a simplistic way, we can say that it's up to you when and what you eat. Have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper, if you want. Or, have just one meal a day. (Not the healthy option.) Best advice is to eat when your body needs feeding. A healthy diet that everyone should be eating. The only difference is that whenever you intend eating you'll need to inject fast-acting insulin before the meal, of an amount that is balanced to the carbohydrate content of that meal. If it's a chicken Korma takeaway that contains lots of carbohydrates (possibly 70 grams, or more!) you'll need more fast-acting insulin than if you're having bacon and egges with just a slice of fried bread, where the bread only gives you around 15 grams of carbohydrate. Each meal you eat is different.

As for the long-acting insulin. The one that works in the background. The quantity to inject is balanced to the total carbohydrate intake for the whole day. It helps to maintain an average blood-glucose level throughout the day, as versus the fast-acting stuff that is used to control what happens when you suddenly injest a lot of sugars (carbohydrates) at meal time.

The main thing is that you need to test your own blood glucose levels, with a test meter, so you can get to know how much insulin to inject to keep your blood glucose levels within recommend limits. Your doctor should be able to send you on a training course, so you learn how to do this.

Any questions? Just ask.

John