I am newly diagnosed type 1…I forgot to take my nighttime Lantus last night before bed. What do you do if you forget your basal dose??
Are you on one or two injections a day? A general approach would be to take a late injection with a dose that is proportional to the remaining part of the day. So if your dose is 8 hours late, then there are 16 hours remaining in the day and you should take a dose that is 16/24 (2/3) of your normal dose. You may need to bolus corrections during the morning if you go high and then be alert to possible lows in the evening. This advice is based on the advice given in this guide on how to adjust insulin in adjusting to travel between time zones.
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I’m on Apidra bolus doses 3x/day with meals and Lantus before bed. Thanks so much for your response!
I missed my night time dose of Lantus but realized it after breakfast. Took half my usual dose then, monitored closely for the rest of the day. Worked out okay but sure hope I don’t do it again!!
@JCVillafranca Hello! getting in the routine is something I have always struggled with h20 years in! Many people have well planned techniques like setting phone/watch alarms, keeping basal insulin on bedside table, etc. @Brian_BSC had some great technical info.
I recently switched to a new long acting that is a 42 hour insulin which allows a 12 hour variance in dosage timing. Sooo, as forgetful as I may be, if I failed to dose at night and realize it in the morning I can inject as normal with no implications. It has been one of my favorite insulin advances in my years of diabetes!
And the other “doh” moment we all make at some point is to take short acting instead of long acting or vice versa. We have all been on the kitchen floor at some point in our diabetes career treating a low from taking a mega dose of short acting we grabbed exhaustedly mistaking for long acting. I am assuming your apidra is a vial and lantus a pen? That makes it a bit easier!!
I am certain your missed lantus will work out. Keep us posted! Have a great day!
If I forgot my Lantus at night and didn’t think about it until the next morning, I’d just skip the Lantus for that 24 hour period, make corrections with my fast-acting insulin at meal times and perhaps once between meals if the BG got too high.
Here is how I’d get a basic idea of how fast my BG might go up due to lack of Lantus. I take 8 units of Lantus a day. With my fast-acting insulin, I have a correction factor of 42 (my BG is lowered by 42 points for each unit of insulin) and with another fast-acting my correction factor is 34. We don’t know exactly how much Lantus lowers the BG, but if I assume it is roughly between 34 and 42 points per unit, that means my usual 8 units would lower my BG between 272 and 336 points in 24 hours or between 11 and 14 points per hour. Having a rough idea of how much my BG would likely rise per hour during a time without the basal in my body would give me a better idea of when a realistic time would be to check to see if my BG is out of line with where I’d expect it to be after a meal or whenever I felt the need to check.
I might take the whole dose in the morning. You could take out the box insert to see how it dispenses to blood. That information is on a graph with the bottom being time since shot and the height being the amount going into the blood at that time. Your doctor could tell you what they want.
I used to have a hard time remembering my basal dose. Now, when I’m getting ready for bed and I put my sleeping shorts on, I always give myself the shot right then. I even started taking sleeping shorts with me when I travel so I can maintain the routine. I haven’t missed a dose since I started doing this.