Insulin dose help!

I have recently fully recovered from a heavy chesty cough and cold. During the illness I had to increase my basal by 6 units and changed Bolus ratio from 1:1 to 2:1. However although fully recovered now since about 3 weeks I am still using the increased doses of insulin...should I revert back to pre-illness doses or has my body now adapted to needing the increased doses??

Hi Led,

That totally depends on the sort of readings you are getting now. If you are experiencing lots more hypos than you were prior to the illness, then it would be appropriate to reduce your doses back to pre-illness levels.

Sometimes though, illness seems to cause long-term changes, and that may now be the case. Your BG diary should be able to give you an indication on what you need to do.

Cheers,
Warwick.

If in doubt, do a background test.........get all the information you need for a typical 24 hour period then go from there........

Being recovered you should find your liver may be providing less glucose than it was when fighting off a virus or infection and so you could potentially reduce your basal, but you may also find you have become slightly more resistant to your insulin over the illness and after it....