42 Comments
How long before you eat your first meal of the day do you complete your bolus?
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I have an insulin dilemma, especially in the morning. If I take my bolus too soon, my blood glucose bottoms out. If I take my bolus too late, my blood glucose goes way above 200. I view it as an art, not a science. The best result for me is to take my insulin about 30 minutes before I eat. I race to get my breakfast made, then start eating while trying to keep my blood glucose above 50, or so. Just another day in the life of a T1D 🙂
I take injections now. When I was using an insulin pump it was usually 10 minutes before I ate
Hi Pam, would you be willing to share how you are finding the injections compared to the pump?
same request as Dawn !! ???
It absolutely depends on what I’m eating! And now that I use inhaled insulin, sometimes I actually shouldn’t dose until 15 to 30 minutes AFTER eating because it’s so darn fast. Every meal is different depending on the macros (fat, carbs, protein).
Depends on morning BG
Just a few months ago I would dose at meal time but now I have to dose 30 minutes or more ahead. Afrezza has virtually quit working, took 25 units and nothing happens. I need a reset. Thinking of fasting to see if it works
What I really want is a way to test insulin for potency but being that Afrezza isn’t working either I think it’s stress related.
It depends what my blood sugar is, whether I am planning to exercise, what kind of exercise I am doing and what kind of meal I am eating.
Should hayhad 20-30. A lot depends on my current blood sugar. The lower my current number the last time I give for the insulin to work the higher, my blood sugar the more time I give the insulin to work.
Usually about 20 minutes but longer if I see a BG bump due to the “feet on the floor” effect.
I try to remember to do it earlier, but I’m terrible about this and usually bolus right as I eat. I know my bs would be more stable if I pre-bolused.
I bolus for 5 carbs every morning (unless my BS is really low) just to cover for the morning rise and a cup of coffee w/plant milk. I mostly do intermittent fasting and wait a few hours before eating a very late breakfast which has REALLY helped me avoid the post breakfast spikes – especially because I love carbs and I can now handle toast or half bagel without huge spikes if I wait until 11 or 12 pm for first meal and bolus aggressively 20 min. before. If i walk our dog or exercise,then I can handle full carb breakfast.
Question should hav specified insulin. Using Fiasp is completely different timing than prior novolog
Don’t forget inhaled! that’s completely different PK/PD from FIASP and novolog.
Like everything, it depends: upon what I am eating, upon what my blood sugar was when I got up.
Came here to say this. There really isn’t a one size fits all answer to this question.
Same answer as all the other questions about when I bolus. Depends on current BG and what I am eating.
I always have a cup of coffee with non fat milk and read the paper before I eat. So I bolus for the coffee (cgm calculates BG+15 gm). Then when I eat breakfast I bolus for that. Big deal- an egg or a yogurt.
I bolus 30-45 minutes before eating. I usually bolus have a cup of coffee and move around a bit to help insulin absorption. If BG is elevated I may wait an hour or longer until my BG comes down to a reasonable range.
It depends on my current bg and what I’m eating.
I bolus 2u when I get up and have coffee with milk 15-20 min later. I’d add a correction bolus if I needed it, but with Control IQ, I nearly always wake up with a normal BG.
So many variables, what I’m eating, where my sugar level is at, exercise the day before it’s not the easiest question to answer. All that to say that I usually bolus while I’m eating and eat foods which are absorbed slowly into the system.
I answered 15-20, but it depends on BG when our son arises. If he’s over 120, we definitely wait 20 minutes, but, if he’s 80, only ten.
How long is measured by the stopwatch. It’s a little like doing the 100 yard dash every a.m. Some days you start at the 90, 100, or 110 yards line. The rough days are the ones you start at 50 or 400 yards away. 🏃🏾♀️
Generally 10-20 min but longer if bG is high.
Even with fiasp, I bolus my daughter generally 15 minutes before she eats. Even longer, if her blood sugar is higher. If she is 100 or below, I just have her eat her gummy vitamins right when I bolus her and that holds her up enough so she doesn’t drop low before the food hits or spike up too high once it does.
Inhaled insulin is the most physiologic option. Peak in 35 minutes… requires no prebolus.
Varies. All of the above. The goal would be 10 to 20 minutes.
Depends on what I’m having for breakfast and what my bg level is. Nut bars, right before I eat. Oatmeal, 5-10+ minutes before I eat. If my bg’s are higher than I’d like could be more like 10-20 minutes.
Not sure what happened to 20-30- I pre dose by this time for cereal to avoid big spike post meal
Depends entirely on blood glucose; on multiple syringe-delivered Tresiba and Fiasp shots now, and having serious BG instability issues probably connected to things unrelated to current insulin regime. If BG very high, sometimes Fiasp bolus over 30 minutes in advance of meal; if in normal range, 10 minutes to just before; if low (< 70), sometimes as much as 10 or 15 minutes after start of meal. Very straightforward really: blood glucose is unstable so timing of bolus is too in order to make match as close as feasible. [Note I spent at least a decade on animal insulins and this may contribute to BG instability].
I use Lyumjev, prebolusing 5-10 minutes and trying to increase to 15-20.
With breakfast I bolus just before I eat. Control IQ is keeping my bg around 110 – 90, so unless I have morning appointments, I allow myself to wake up s-l-o-w-l-y.
It depends what I’m eating, I may not have to bolus. I can go for a walk and my Lantus takes care of it. but, if it’s really high, I bolus and it’s always way after I eat.
I answered before but I have found out at times I should wait till after especially when eating out the food comes too late or I can’t eat it all. It’s a juggling game we all play.
It depends on what my blood sugar is when I wake up. If my BG is 100 to 70 then I bolus right before at mealtime. If 100 to 140 then about 15- 20 minutes before I eat. If 140 to 180 then 30 to 45 minutes before. And, greater than 180 about an 1 hour before. Typically, I don’t start eating unless my blood sugar is between 90 to 130.
My HCPs love how often I remember to pre-bolus. I am going through something called carcinoid syndrome. It makes everything more difficult, but especially glucose control. Does anyone in this group have any experience with carcinoid syndrome and long duration T1D?
How long I wait after giving a bolus before or after eating any meal is determined by my blood sugar before that meal.
There really is no right answer for me. If my BS is normal before I eat, I bolus right before I eat. If it’s high, I bolus about 15-30 minutes before I eat. If it’s low, I bolus during my meal.
I use DIY looping
I use Lyumjev in my pump, which starts working much faster than Humalog. So, I either bolus just before I eat or 5 – 10 minutes after I start eating depending on what my meal consists of (IE: How much fiber, how many carbs, how much protein/fat.)