I heard about Carolyn Robertson many years ago (and that is why I still use the acronym CDE). She was everyone’s favorite CDE in New York City. I never met her at the time as she moved West shortly thereafter.
But she’s been giving free webinars just to help keep all of us on the ball. Last night she gave one specifically for people on multiple daily injections, as opposed to a pump. As her seminars do, this one lasted two hours. She presented great information, we asked questions, shared and I picked up a few tips and reminders, even after 51 years of type 1 diabetes.
Here is what was meaningful for me:
While we want our blood sugar in range, we particularly want to avoid spikes. Spikes in both directions create extra inflammation. So if your blood sugar is too high, for instance, better to bring it down gradually than too fast.
As syringe and pen needles have gotten so short, 4 mm, make sure you inject at a right angle. If your needle goes in at a 45 degree angle for instance, there’s a chance it will not go in deep enough to reach the layer of skin that’s best for taking the insulin where it needs to go.
As I wrote in my last post, if you have a dramatic rise in your blood sugar in the early hours, the Dawn Effect, there’s no harm trying Metformin to see if that helps minimize the glucose the liver pumps out at that time of day. Since Metformin is a GLP 1, it also can cause gastric distress and nausea, so start with a low dose and build up slowly.
If you accidentally double your basal insulin you might need to get to a hospital where they can put you on an IV drip of glucose. This really depends on how much insulin you took.
Carolyn left us with the good news that while we don’t see it, companies are continuously innovating. Pump and Pharma companies are trying to come up with better devices and smarter, faster insulins.
If you want to receive Carolyn’s newsletter, Strong on Insulin Group, go here. You’ll hear about updates and when she’s giving one of her quarterly webinars.
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