Adjusting insulin

Being able to confidently manage and adjust your own insulin doses is a key part of managing type 1 diabetes. But where do you start? Adjusting your insulin isn’t really that tricky once you get the hang of it, but it can seem a bit daunting at first.

This section will give you all the information you need to be able to confidently adjust your insulin doses. You may find it useful to keep a diary to help with insulin dose adjusting and carbohydrate counting, which we will cover later in this section.

Adjusting your insulin does depend on which regime you use, but there are some useful general guidelines that apply to everyone: 

• Remember that insulin will lower your blood glucose, so if you take too much insulin your blood glucose can go too low and if you take too little it can go too high.

• Regular blood glucose testing and recording the results will help you to see how your blood glucose levels change and allow you to improve your overall diabetes management.

• Unless you are confident with self-adjusting insulin, it’s recommended to factor in dosage changes gradually as making larger adjustments could lead to an increased chance of dosing error.

If you are not altogether confident with adjusting your own insulin doses, speak to your diabetes care team and they’ll be able to help you.