I was wondering if anybody was on a eating schedule like mine:
i try and eat every 3 to 4 hours, so meals and then snacks in between, and i try to eat the same amount of carbs (i’m on MDI)
But lately i’ve been sleeping in alot more (12 hour sometimes), sometimes low while sleeping or when i wake up depending if i eat a snack before bed. AND i’ve been really hungry around the 3 hour marks, like sometimes i have a lack of food headache, and i don’t like to wait around to eat.
Wondering if i should back off the lantus more, increase the humalog, or if maybe i’m just a weirdo and when i sleep in i throw myself off schedule even though i try and eat the same (every 3 hours). Also lacking in energy because of the oversleeping (work 3rd shift, barely see the light of day) but sugars are good.
I’m on MDIs, too. In case this helps, I was told to space meals 4 hours apart to prevent stacking insulin & to stick to as regular a schedule as possible. I was also told not to have dinner at least 4 hours before going to bed.
Eating every three hours & snacking between meals (assuming that you’re bolusing for snacks) means a good bit of insulin in your system, which can make you hungry, especially if this is causing lows.
High carbs leads to hunger & tiredness, too. Eating more protein & less carbs curbs hunger & you won’t hungry between meals.
Since overnight & morning lows are a problem less Lantus should help. Decrease Lantus slowly & keep the new dose the same for three days to see how this effects you. Why would you want to increase Humalog if your post meal numbers are good? Taking more Humalog isn’t going to make you less hungry either. Really hard with 3rd shift, but try not going to sleep too soon after eating dinner so you’ll know if your bolus dose is correct & it’s not too much Humalog causing your lows while you’re asleep.
If you don’t need to, that’s great. With eating every three hours, your meal bolus could be covering the between meal snacks since it lasts about 4 hours.
Yeah I think Gerri has it right there, I only eat every four hours and even then I don’t always feel hungry, but then some days I wait for the clock to go fast. Yes definitely more hungry with more insulin, this happened to me. also messing up sleep patterns can send blds all over the place. Shift work not good, but one has to work. There are a few other here who have done shift work, they may be able to advise you.
More carbs=more insulin=more hunger. Don’t know if weight gain is a concern, but more insulin & carbs puts on the pounds. Protein will keep your tummy satisfied because it digests slowly.
Jo and Gerri, does excess insulin keep you from getting a good night’s sleep? I go to sleep fine, but have had trouble staying asleep, I wake up during the night. I’ve been taking benadryl for years and it keeps me from waking up, but I always wake up groggy.
That’s a good question! I don’t know, but I wouldn’t think insulin would cause this to happen. Are you waking up from lows & are your fasting numbers ok? If you’re not having lows, than your dose is correct & you don’t have excess insulin.
The older I get, the less deeply I sleep. Some people have good success with melatonin for sleep problems.
im on MDI as well right now
i was told not to go more than 4 hours without having some carbs.
since i have to have breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack
i’m usually eating every couple of hours!
and since i’m eating way more than usual i am getting more hungy.
so i don’t think what you are feeling is unusual.
also, about going low during the night…
if your blood sugar is under 120 before you go to sleep
you need to have a snack
Doctors are often so concerned about hypos, & rightfully so, that they often tell us to eat far more frequently than we need to. When insulin is properly matched to food, you don’t need to eat every couple of hours to avoid lows. No suprise that you’re hungry eating carb snacks between meals.
BG below 120 at night doesn’t require a snack, as long as you’re not low.
Not necessarily good rules for honeymoon phase:) Less insulin (or better matching insulin to carbs) & testing more frequently is better than eating carb snacks in between every meal resulting in eating every two hours & being constantly hungry.
using less insulin is sometimes hard for type 1’s because we constantly need it.
being hungry really doesn’t bother me that much…
its not a constant thing.
but i guess everyone has different rules they go by
i find that i DO go low if i wait 4+ hours to eat.
almost like clockwork.
so sometimes we have no choice but to have some carbs.
and about "before bedtime"
sometimes even when i was 200+ and wouldn’t have a snack
i would wake up in the 60’s so, like i said everyone is different.
I’m Type 1, so know what you mean. If you’re going low at 4 hours it could be that your basal dose is too high. I can’t wait much more than 4 hours between meals.
It’s hard to dose properly when you’re in a honeymoon phase. Actually, not that easy to get ratios right at any point:) Everything keeps changing on us. Ideally, insulin should match food, not eating more to match insulin. I think basal rates are harder to get right. Going from 200+ to 60 is quite a drop.
doc told me she wants to increase my lantus and see if i get get off the humalog. I told her i was worried about lows and she told me to take it in the morning. Right now i’m on a fixed dose of 40 units lantus and 10 units humalog(she doesn’t want me taking anymore then that, which means fixed carbs per meal). i’m scared of taking more lantus and getting low, but if i could back off humalog that would be awesome. But it just doesn’t make sense to me because the lantus makes me low when i’m sleeping, but she says i’m chasing sugars with the humalog sigh confused
i don’t really know what my ic is… she’s making me take 10 units of humalog and that seems to work. I don’t take correction bolus’. I’ve been oversleeping lately and skipping dinner, but now i’m going low when i should be sleeping. sigh The doc wants me to lower humalog and maybe go on a mix later.
some how i’m chasing sugars either in changing my lantus/ humalog myself or in treating lows, i can’t remember
