Self-Managing Insulin Treatment

Featuring Lori Berard, RN, CDE, Diabetes Educator

Duration: 1 minute, 38 seconds

Starting your insulin is just the beginning. That dose that you’re started on is not going to be the final dose that you’re on. You’re going to need to work with your healthcare team to increase your dose to find the dose that’s right for you.

In order to move your insulin dose along to find that dose that’s right for you, you’re going to set up a titration schedule with your healthcare professionals. What’s really important to understand is that we want you to start to feel that you can confidently increase your own insulin dose.

Research has shown us very specifically that individuals living with diabetes are as effective and sometimes more effective than their healthcare professionals at increasing their dose safely and effectively. In order to properly move your insulin dose along there’s a few things that you should know.

First, what is your blood sugar target. You might want to ask how long it might take you to reach that target, and how much insulin you might expect to be on. We don’t have the answer exactly for everybody, but it’s great for you to understand how long it might take and how high the dose might go, so that you’re not surprised when things are changing.

Important things that you should ask are when should I stop titrating? What should I do if I have a low blood sugar? When should I call the clinic? When should I come back for follow-up? And are there any other support tools that are available to help me as I self-titrate my insulin?

Starting insulin is only that – it’s starting. Now what you need to do is work to find the dose that’s right for you to achieve your target blood sugars. For more information you should talk to your diabetes healthcare team.

Presenter: Lori Berard, Nurse, Winnipeg, MB

Local Practitioners: Nurse