Patient/caregiver was instructed upon precautions to be observed while taking insulin as follows:
- Do not skip a meal, while taking any medications to regulate your blood sugars. Skipping a meal or undereating can bring the blood sugars down. Observing compliance with insulin intake in the backdrop of skipped meal or undereating can lower the blood sugars to dangerous levels, thus precipitating an emergency.
- Sudden changes in dietary patterns, acute weight gain, acute weight loss, and many other factors could contribute to poor blood sugar control and lead to change in the insulin dose. So, observe strict compliance with the dietary patterns. Diabetic individuals must maintain a close watch on the weight, by taking a weight reading at least once a week. Any loss or gain of over 5 pounds in a week be reported to the physician to see if any changes could be suggested to the current insulin dose.
- If you are recommended insulin administered on a sliding scale, observe compliance with the blood sugar check before the insulin shot. This helps to decide the dose of insulin to be loaded and administered. Do not do a guess work on what your blood sugar numbers could be, as it can lead to the risk for overdosing or underdosing of insulin.
- Observe compliance with checking your blood sugar readings, as recommended by your doctor. Maintaining a log of all the blood sugar readings helps for a comparative feedback, as to how well the insulin is helping control the blood sugars.
