My first contribution to the board (Insulin)
I posted this for for a friend over at another board cause he wanted to know more about slin so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone as I am sure some might want to know more about it here as well. This is a brief "cut out the scientific mumbo jumbo" straight shot explanation. I realize some aspects may not be as simple as I state them but for lack of writing an entire book Ijust left it alone, but 95% of this I know to be true speaking from expiriance and as a nurse. Ok here goes.
The biggest mistake people make when trying slin is not knowing just how many carbs they need to keep from going into hypo, therefore they take excess which usually means to much and that is where the trouble begins. As long as your slin levels are higher than your blood glucose levels you are safe. People often hear the 10g or 15g per iu of carbs and don't realize that yes that is a good start method but thats just what it is a starting figure. I have found that for many people I know 10-15g of carbs will cause your blood glucose levels to rise to high and the amount of slin one has used is unable to make use of the excess carbs hence fat storage. Also another key mistake is not knowing peak and start times of when slin starts to act. People usually shovel in a large amount of carbs "to be safe" not realizing they have just defeated the purpose of using slin or they think that since Hum R stays in your sytem for 6-8 hrs they should/can chow down on as many carbs as they can over that time and their body will absorb the nutrients, but forget that the amount of slin in your system is on the downtrail. The key times you will want to slam your carbs are for some at the start and peak time and for others who don't feel the start time kick in, just the peak time. Now for dieting and why I like slin. Number one because I can at 5 weeks out from contest hit 30iu of slin, wait until the peak gets close then chow down on everything in site at the chinses buffet and the slin is of course shoving the nutrients into the muslce, my blood sugar doesn't jump sky high, and I have just done something that other people cant fathom LOL. Now I will note I don't go crazy on the carbs especially since I like the meat more anyway but you get the idea. The other reason has to do with your blood glucose levels. As long as you know how many carbs you need to keep from going into hypo your blood sugar stays lower and since it is not available your body will use body fat while doing cardio and throughout the day as well. One other thing people are very scared of the feeling they get when they start to go to hypo but you have to remember that is basically your body trying to tell you IT NEEDS FOOD NOW. I honestly will try to wait till the moment I start to feel symptoms of hypo and then slam my protein and carb drink then eat solid food an hr later, but the thing is I have played around with it and know how many iu of slin I need as well as how many g of carbs I need at that moment to pull me out without going overboard.
Nowww to get to the different types of slin. As you know the peak state of slin is also the point at which your body is going to obsorb the most nurtients. So if you could have a peak state all day how cool would that be. And of course we know you can by using longer acting slin. I would never tell someone to start off with 30iu of a long acting slin as of course that would be asking for trouble, although I do lol. Play with it just like you would humalog and get to know how your body reacts. keep a couple of fast acting carb drinks with you all day and just sip on them, but you should not have to if you are getting your meals in every 2 hrs. For long acting slin I like both Hum N and L as they have a nice steady peak without the ups and downs like 70/30. Anyway this is brief breakdown on slin. The key is to optimize the points at which the slin peaks while balancing not having so many carbs you gain body fat. Although it may be more trouble than its worth can always go out and get a blood glucose monitor and use it to tell how much carbs you need to take in after slin. Just use it during the peak times as well as about 30min after you have taken in carbs. Norm blood sugar is 90-120 so by adjusting the dose of carbs you take and then reading the blood glucose monitor you can figure it out faster rather than just playing with it, but whatever. Anyway ope this is a start on helping. PEACE
And once again here is the time table for different insulin.
