Patient was educated on how to take rapid-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. Forgetting the shot can precipitate an episode of elevated blood sugars.
- Since these insulins have a very short duration of onset of action, the shot must be taken 15 minutes before meal.
- Make sure you are having your meal within 15 minutes of having the shot. Do not go ahead and take the shot, if you are getting late on your meal. In such situation, defer taking the shot until 15 minutes before your meal time. Noncompliance with this rule can precipitate an episode of dangerously low blood sugar and hypoglycemic symptoms.
- 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.
