Question for GD girls taking insulin

When I began insulin, I was taking 12 units at night before bed. This didn't seem to have any effect on my morning levels so I had to increase my dose several times over the past week. I am now up to 22 units and it's STILL not working! My morning fasting sugar levels are always between 95 and 110 (my doctor wants me to stay below 90).

This may souns silly but I feel like I am doing something wrong! I know that I have no control over my fasting levels but it's really getting to me that the insulin is not working. I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow and I plan on talking to her about this.

Anyone else have such an issue?

Re: Question for GD girls taking insulin

Anyone?

Re: Question for GD girls taking insulin

When I was pregnant and had GD I always had trouble with my morning numbers. Honestly, the endo had me increasing my bedtime insulin multiple times before we found the dose that worked. Also, be aware that throughout your pregnancy you may find that insulin doses that were working great before all of a sudden aren't enough. Every few weeks, or even days sometimes, I had to adjust my insulin dosage to keep my numbers good.

Re: Question for GD girls taking insulin

I had to adjust multiple times as well throughout the pregnancy. I think I ended up between 50-60 units when it finally worked for my morning numbers.

Re: Question for GD girls taking insulin

Make sure you are pressing down on the plunger all the way. I think I was doing this wrong at the beginning. I have to make a conscious effort every time to make sure I am getting the full dose by pressing extra hard on the plunger, and then counting to 15 (instead of just 10) before taking the needle out. Since I've done it this way my fasting numbers haven't gone over 90.

Also, what time of night are you taking insulin? For the kind I take, I think the effects last only about 10 hours or so. So if you take insulin at 10pm and then check your sugars at 8:30am, the insulin might have worn off by then. What I do is take insulin right before bed, test my fasting blood sugar as soon as I wake up, and then have a low-carb high-protein breakfast immediately. Insulin resistance is highest in the morning so this routine works for me. I don't have any problems with my afternoon/evening numbers (thank goodness!).

Good luck!!!

Re: Question for GD girls taking insulin

Right, make sure you are taking it late at night. Also, do you have a light snack after taking it?