Patient was educated on how to take long-acting insulins as follows:
- Take the insulin shot at the same time every day, to avoid forgetting the shot. This also helps to avoid lags in insulin coverage or stacking up the doses of insulin too close. Noncompliance with taking the insulin shot can precipitate an episode of elevated blood sugar and hyperglycemic symptoms.
- These long-acting insulins have longer durations for onset and total duration of actions. They act and reduce the blood sugars even and fair and they do not have any peak. These insulins do not have to be taken along with meal. But, taking the shot of long-acting insulin along with the food is easier and avoids noncompliance with medication.
- Maintain good regular eating habits and do not skip your meal.
- Take weight reading at least twice a week and maintain a log of every reading for comparative feedback. Maintain an ideal weight for your height.
- Maintain compliance with your dietary calorie recommendations, as ordered. Ingestion of excess calories can lead to poor blood sugar management and potentially can lead to increase in the insulin dose. Excess of dietary calories can result in weight gain and complicate the management of diabetes.
- Physical exercise, as ordered by the physician, will help improve the efficiency of insulin administered. Maintain compliance with any exercise schedule prescribed by your doctor. Try not to overdo on your exercise, as this might lower your blood sugars and precipitate an episode of hypoglycemia.
- Maintain strict compliance with administration of insulin shot as ordered, with regards to dosage and frequency, to derive the benefit of the medication.
- Do not change the dose on the insulin without consulting your doctor.
- Take a blood sugar reading always before you take the insulin shot. Maintain a log of every day blood sugar readings for comparative feedback, to know how well the medication is helping to control the blood sugars.
- If the blood sugar is too low, despite eating regularly and without skipping a meal, you can defer taking the shot for that dose and notify your doctor regarding the same.
- Keeping a track of frequency of such episodes of low blood sugars, despite eating regularly, can help your physician change the plan regarding managing your blood sugars.
- Also, notify your doctor, if the blood sugar continues to be high, despite taking the insulin as recommended, so that, your insulin dose could be revised.
