April 29, 2001
Insulin, Type 2
Question from Jacksonville, Florida, USA:
My 52 year old wife, who has had type 2 diabetes for 21 years, has been taking pills until two weeks ago when her doctor switched her to 70/30 insulin twice a day. I am concerned because her morning blood sugar is still around 210 mg/dl [11.7 mmol/L] before eating and around 400 mg/dl [22.2 mmol/L] at night after eating. Should we wait longer to get the amount of insulin adjusted? Do you think that she needs to see a specialist?
Answer:
It takes several days to determine the adequacy of the insulin dose. Therefore, if her blood sugars are still elevated after that period of time, it is reasonable to have her physician, or another designated health professional from her physician’s staff, help with adjusting the dose.
Sometimes it takes a number of dosage changes to get the best blood sugars. You want to get there as soon as possible. If this is a problem, she should talk to her physician about a referral to a diabetes specialist.
JTL
