Hypos when I wake

Hi,

I have just signed up to this site as I'm getting quite worried. For the last few weeks I've been waking up every morning with readings of 3-4 mmol/l and generally I've been having more hypos than usual. I started weight training and doing taekwondo at the start of t he year but it's only now that I'm seeing the incresed hypo occurence and I also believe that my insulin sensitivity has increased ( I inject less per meal)

Please could someone advise on how to combat the lows I get every morning...I had a really bad episode last week where I was sleep walking..babbling and generally acting strangely because I had had such a sever hypo and only due to 3 bottles of luzocade and some sugar in milk did I eventually come round

Increased activity, as you say, will increase sensitivity to insulin, and decrease resistance, as your muscles grow and create more doors for the insulin to enter.....

I would advise, unprofessionally of course, that you should carry out background tests overnight, so , no food before bed or insulin, this leaves just your background dose working. Set an alarm for 3am to test and record. If you are up for it you could test before this, maybe every couple of hours etc............

Doing this will paint a picture of what your background dose currently is doing to your blood glucose overnight.........

What background insulin are you on?

Depending on whether it is split or not, you may need to consider adjusting the background dose for the both the AM and PM portions of the day..........

I'm on levemir background insulin and I'm taking 26 units 2ce a day at 12 hour intervals....I was injecting 28 units but I've slowly been decreasing this so I think this might need to be looked further like you said....

so the idea is to inject my novorapid for my evening meal and then not eat anything before bed and not inject any more novorapid and keep testing in the early hours?

Yes, pretty much....................

Even if your slightly higher before bed, don't correct, you should then wake within 1 or 2 mmol/l If not, adjustment is needed......

You can also test your daytime dose by missing meals or having a carb free meal, this will let you know if your daytime dose needs adjusting...........

When was the last time you adjusted your background........

ah right, I've actually done that...the last couple of nights I've gone to sleep at 12 and 13.4 mmol/l and still woken up with 3.3-3.7 mmol/l

the last time I adjusted was last week...maybe more adjustment required?

when I miss meals...does that mean I simple see how my glucose level is doing without carbs..so for example..I miss breakfast and then test at hour intervals for 4-5 hours to see how the previous levemir injection is affecting my sugars?

you got it one Kev, basically eliminating the carbs and quick acting insulin so as to make accurate conclusions about your background, which should be holding you steady........

it does seem as though your evening Levemir is way too much. The good thing about Levemir is the effects of change are seen instantly, so you can adjust dose every day really, although you really want to go a few days to find a pattern.....

Hi Kev,
Remember, as well as potentially requiring reduced BI overnight, it's also important to 'refuel' after exercise, particularly resistance exercises where your muscles will be re-storing glycogen for several hours afterwards.
If you cannot find anough info in your course workbook, try www.runsweet.com for more on the nutrition side of exercise.
Good luck!