metformin takes 3 weeks to start to be effective

5 units is a very marginal dose for
insulin........ and you can learn a lot from that

for a bg of 500 i would take far more than 5 units
as a type 1 diabetic

i am NOT a Dr...... check with your Dr

kate

I question your doctor's judgement in giving you Metformin to deal with
a 504 reading. By the way, how big a Metformin dose did he recommend,
anyway?

Good idea on getting help from your diabetic mom.

Taterbug wrote in message ...

   Sorry,  as Kate said,  metformin is slow.     On the other hand,
insulin is fast.     Just don't be alone and without help when you start the
insulin.    Early Days on insulin can be tricky.

Prednisone "commands" the liver to start dumping glucose into the blood.
If I were you,  I would more or less go zero carb until I had a handle on
those sugars   (i.e.  simplify everything by going after the liver dumps
without having to think about the effects of carby meals).

Some comments on insulin:

There are a variety of insulins on the market.   Some are very slow,  some
are slow,  some are moderately fast,  some are ultra-fast.       Some graphs
of their activities (absorption rates) are presented at:

http://www.lillydiabetes.com/using_insulin/what_types_of_insulin.jsp?reqNavI
d=3.3

Many docs prefer to use the moderately fast (Regular)  and ultra-fast
insulins (Humalog) to deal with prednisone blood sugar spikes.     If your
mother is only using one of the slow insulins  (many T2 do just that),   you
may not like the results if you use her supply.

Some problems you face:

  "How much should I inject"
  "When should I see results"
  "When does a shot wear off"
   "When is a hypo likely if I shoot too much."

Take a look at the activity curves and think about your problems.  In
general,  don't expect very much in the way of results until enough time has
passed to let the insulin start working (about 2 hours for Insulin R,
about 1 hour for Humalog)  You should be looking for some sort of major
result  (drop in bG) at about the time of the peak and a bit later (perhaps
6 hours with R,  perhaps 2-3 hours with Humalog)

That means don't shoot Regular,   look for a major result at 2 hours,
become disappointed,  shoot more,  repeat,  shoot more,  etc,  etc.    If
you don't wait long enough to let it work before taking additional shots,
you can end up  over-dosing.

That's one reason why we IDDM folk like  Humalog;  less waiting to see if we
sized a dose properly,   e.g.  I use Humalog and test at 2 hours after a
shot to see how things are going on.    Testing sooner doesn't tell me much.
If it doesn't do what I want after 3 hours,  I shoot more.

If I were in your shoes,  I would be injecting Humalog 4-8 times a day just
to handle the prednisone.  (but the smallest shots I could get away with. .
.with insulin,  several small shots is a better strategy than a few large
shots)

If you inject too much,  your best bet for hypo symptoms often is at the
peak time or a bit later.

If your shot  doesn't do what you want by the time the activity has waned,
you didn't inject enough.

Insulin R is noted for a slow tailing off.   Don't stop testing at 6 hours,
that tail will continue working.

The curves are sort of "general".    Your personal curves could be faster or
slower  (cause it's your personal fat layer).   Do enough bG testing to
satisfy yourself as to when your insulin is peaking and wearing off.

I can't even guess as to how much insulin you need to knock down a
Prednisone peak.   I suspect that it's a lot which is why I sorta nagged
about the waiting for results,  tails,  and looking for hypo's.

However,  I would also expect that as you start to win your battle,   you
will start coming out of Glucose Toxicity and will need to reduce the doses.
All in all,   you will need a lot of bG testing to follow what's happening.

Sounds a bit scary and a bit complicated but IMO,  those sugars are
dangerous and you ought to be hitting them hard.

Regards
 Old Al