July 27, 2006

Insulin Fade - Yikes!!!!

I'd noticed I was using a lot more insulin but figured it was because I'd cut down on my metformin. But when I went back up to 1 750 mg tablet a day of the Metformin I didn't see much improvement and my fasting bgs were creeping up again, so I started to wonder if my two month old vial of R was getting weak.

I'd been keeping the vial at room temperature after reading various places that it would keep at room temperature for many months and had used about half the vial. But my room has been quite warm of late, even with our feeble window air conditioner cranking at full blast down the hall, so it seemed like a good idea to buy a new vial.

Yesterday I'd stayed well over 110 mg/dl for hours after using 2 units of the old stuff on a conservatively estimated 16 grams at lunch (1 slice of "lite" rye bread with a reasonable serving of natural peanut butter), I tried 2 units of the new stuff today with the identical lunch.

Wham! I peaked at 99 an hour after eating and then went right back into the 80s, which "forced" me to eat half of a delicious peach for a snack 2 hours later to avoid hypoing. Five hours later I'm at a perfect 81!

So that answers that question of whether it's me or the insulin.

I'll be keeping the R in the fridge this time and testing with this reference meal from time to time to make sure it is still fine.

But at least I can be reassured that using insulin for a while hasn't somehow increased my need for insulin which had been a concern.

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