This method will involve counting your carbohydrates at meals and dosing your premeal insulin based on your individual correction factor. If you have type 1 diabetes, you can accomplish this by using long-acting insulin once or twice per day and rapid-acting insulin before each meal. The best way to manage your diabetes is to keep your blood sugar from spiking. Here you’ll find answers to common questions about insulin and blood sugar. If you have type 2 diabetes, you’ll definitely need to check with your doctor for guidance. To be certain, consult your doctor on the amount of insulin you need. These are rough calculations that are used by people with type 1 diabetes. The answer of 1.25 tells you that you need to take 1.25 units of rapid-acting insulin to lower your blood sugar by 75 mg/dL. You’ll need to divide the number of mg/dL you want to lower, which is 75, by the number from your insulin sensitivity factor calculation, which is 60. So, how much insulin do you need to lower your blood sugar by 75 mg/dL? In other words, one unit of rapid-acting insulin lowers your blood sugar by about 60 mg/dL. Once you know how sensitive you are to insulin, you can figure out how much insulin you need to give yourself to lower your blood sugar by a certain amount.įor example, if your blood sugar is 200 mg/dL and you’d like to use your rapid-acting insulin to lower it to 125 mg/dL, you’d need your blood sugar to drop by 75 mg/dL.įrom the insulin sensitivity factor calculation, you know that your rapid-acting insulin sensitivity factor is 1:60. Your blood sugar can be affected by a lot of things throughout the day, so speaking with your doctor to make sure your insulin dosage takes this into account is important. However, it’s important to remember that this figure may not always accurately represent how much insulin you need. You can determine your insulin sensitivity factor by finding your insulin sensitivity factor. Illness can also affect your insulin sensitivity. Your sensitivity to insulin can vary during the day based on your activity level and your body’s rhythm of daily hormone secretion. People with type 1 diabetes are generally more sensitive to insulin than those with type 2 diabetes. Some people with diabetes are more sensitive to insulin than others. Insulin sensitivity isn’t the same for everyone. In other words, you’ll need to know how much insulin you need to lower your blood sugar by a certain amount. You’ll need to know how sensitive you are to insulin to know the right insulin dose to take. Hyperglycemia can lead to serious complications over time that can affect your: The resulting high blood sugar is called hyperglycemia. Hypoglycemia can lead to a loss of consciousness and seizures.Īn insulin dose that’s too low may not bring your blood sugar to the target level. Hypoglycemia occurs when your blood sugar falls below 70 mg/dL. Why is it so important to get the right amount of insulin?Īn insulin dose that’s too high could lower your blood sugar too much. This means your insulin sensitivity factor is 1:50, or that one unit of rapid-acting insulin will lower your blood sugar by about 50 mg/dL. Rapid-acting insulinįor rapid-acting insulin, use the “1500 rule.” This tells you how much your blood sugar will drop for each unit of rapid-acting insulin.įor example, if you take 30 units of rapid-acting insulin daily, divide 1500 by 30. This means your insulin sensitivity factor is 1:60, or that one unit of regular insulin will lower your blood sugar by about 60 mg/dL. Regular insulinįor regular insulin, use the “ 1800 rule.” This tells you how much your blood sugar will drop for each unit of regular insulin.įor example, if you take 30 units of regular insulin daily, divide 1800 by 30. The other tells you your sensitivity to rapid-acting insulins such as insulin aspart (NovoLog) and insulin lispro ( Humalog). One way tells you your sensitivity to regular insulin such as Humulin or Novolin. You can calculate your insulin sensitivity factor in two different ways. How can you find your insulin sensitivity factor?
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