January 16, 2004
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections, Insulin
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Question from Lubbock, Texas, USA:
As a nurse in the hospital we evaluate preprandial blood glucose. If this is valid practice, is there an associated time frame for preprandial testing (e.g. within two hours, etc.) that is more valid for monitoring/treating with regular insulin?
Answer:
From: DTeam Staff
Testing two hours after the start of the meal is the best way to evaluate whether the insulin dose is effective. The more important thing to consider though is to use a rapid acting analog (Humalog or NovoLog) instead of regular insulin. The regular insulin takes too long to start working and lasts too long, therefore leading to postprandial hyperglycemia initially and hypoglycemia several hours later when it continues to work when it is no longer needed.
JS
