Talk to me about correction shots

[dannybgoode]

Last night I tested myself to a blow-out. Big dirty burger, curly fries, shared some fries with cheese with my son and, I think by mistake, had a glass of full fat Pepsi and not sugar free.

I'm currently on a flat 10 units of everything and I've just been following my DSNs instructions to the letter.

However, I was wondering whether really I should have took a bit more insulin before the meal or a correction shot when I did my BG before bed and it was 19 .

I didn't as I've not been told to but with hindsight I'm suspecting a couple of units would not have hurt?

I'll get it back under control today and no blow-outs planned for this coming week however should I start exploring deviating a bit from the rigid routine I'm on?

 

[Inka]

Carb counting and adjusting bolus insulin according to your meal are normal parts of Type 1, as are correction doses. However, as you’re recently diagnosed you need to be cautious. Maybe consider beginning to carb count and cautiously adjust your mealtime insulin first? You’d need to know your correction ratio to correct.

If this was a meal out and they gave you the wrong drink, report them.

Learn about carb counting

Being aware of the amount of carbs in food and drinks is important for everyone with diabetes, we've got some tips to help you do this.

www.diabetes.org.uk

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[dannybgoode]

If this was a meal out and they gave you the wrong drink, report them.

Thanks as always got your reply. I appreciate all the help you and others are giving me.

More a mix up between my wife and I. Three Pepsis - two diet and one normal. My son didn't complain about his and he would have done if his wasn't right.

My wife and I afterwards both said our respective drinks didn't quite taste like we expected but never said anything at the time.

Lesson learned - I'll pipe up next time 🙂

I'll look at carb counting etc. The DSN just wanted everything under control I think and didn't want to complicate matters even more given the shock of the original diagnosis so but perhaps now is the time to start investigating things in more detail.

 

[Inka]

You can investigate and gain knowledge without changing anything, if that sits better with you @dannybgoode 🙂 That way, when you’re ready to go, you’ll have some knowledge there to guide you.

Carb counting used to be taught at diagnosis (some areas still do). It’s not hard, it’s mainly just a nuisance, and one thing I’m very much looking forward to never doing again when there’s a cure! You can start gently by counting up the carbs in some of your meals, eg easy ones like lunch, if you have a sandwich (the carbs per slice are on the packet). It’s fascinating to see the interplay between carbs and insulin. A set of digital scales is pretty crucial. No guessing then, as you can just weigh things like cereal, pasta, raw potatoes, etc.

 

[SimonP]

pasta, raw potatoes, etc.

For things that are cooked you need to make sure you pay attention to whether a given nutritional value mass is of cooked or uncooked (or most annoyingly "as served", which usually includes other stuff you might not be adding, so you need to do some extra calculations.) There's also Carbs & Cals (online and book) - the free version of the app is fine.

You do eventually remember what's in normal meals (which makes life easier when out and about as you have a benchmark if the restaurant don't provide information, though they should).

Meals which are composed of multiple things to make >1 person quantities which are then served to multiple people do require a little bit of care to work out what's gone into the dish and roughly what proportion of the total you're getting in each serving. I tend to scribble the numbers from the backs of packets/tins/jars/etc. on a post-it note while adding things to be cooked, then can do the division so I know roughly what insulin to give in advance of plating up and eating.

 

[Inka]

And I make notes in pencil on recipes, so that all the information is there for future use. Most carb values are in my head now, but there’s always some new food or recipe to try.