Insulin levela

[James B]

Hi I have spoke to my diabetic team today i was using 1 unit of humalog for every 10 g of carbs and was using the formula carbs/10 e.g 40g carbs = 4 units of Humalog. I have been told to use 1.5 units of humalog for 10g of carbs would the correct formulae be carbs/15 e.g 40g carbs = 3 units of humalog? This doesn’t seem correct any ideas on how to work this out I am terrible at maths!

 

[Robin]

So, it’s now 1.5 units for 10 carbs.
If you have double the number of carbs, ie, 20 carbs, you double the amount of insulin.
10 +10 = 20carbs
I.5 +1.5 =3 units of insulin.

So, 3 units for 20 carbs.

Double the carbs again 20+20 =40 carbs.
Double the insulin again. 3+3 =6 units,
So, for 40 carbs, you need 6 units.

 

[Docb]

Yes, not correct.

Another way of looking at it.....

Take the total number of carbs (40) and divide by 10 which tells you how many lots of 10 carbs you are eating. In this case its 4 lots of 10g. Each lot of 10 needs 1.5 units of humalog so you need 4x1.5 units which is 6 - same answer as robin.

The formula is,

(Grams of carb/10) x 1.5= Units of humalog

 

[trophywench]

James - I'd bet my own, real, money on the fact that your mobile phone has an App on it called a calculator! 😉

 

[James B]

James - I'd bet my own, real, money on the fact that your mobile phone has an App on it called a calculator! 😉

But what good is a calculator if you don’t know the formula haha 🙂

 

[James B]

Yes, not correct.

Another way of looking at it.....

Take the total number of carbs (40) and divide by 10 which tells you how many lots of 10 carbs you are eating. In this case its 4 lots of 10g. Each lot of 10 needs 1.5 units of humalog so you need 4x1.5 units which is 6 - same answer as robin.

The formula is,

(Grams of carb/10) x 1.5= Units of humalog

Thanks I really appreciate your answer makes it easier to work out in numbers

 

[James B]

So, it’s now 1.5 units for 10 carbs.
If you have double the number of carbs, ie, 20 carbs, you double the amount of insulin.
10 +10 = 20carbs
I.5 +1.5 =3 units of insulin.

So, 3 units for 20 carbs.

Double the carbs again 20+20 =40 carbs.
Double the insulin again. 3+3 =6 units,
So, for 40 carbs, you need 6 units.

Thank you

 

[trophywench]

Once hospital diabetes clinics are open properly again, ask them for a BG meter that can do bolus calculations - ie you program in what you need for 10g carb, in your case 1.5u now, after yo test your BG pre meal you tell it the amount of carbs you are going to eat - 3g or 130g, whatever, it calculates the appropriate amount of insulin and that's what you take.

 

[James B]

That sounds great I’ll definitely ask about that 🙂 I’m currently using excel to figure dosages out but that sounds like something I can just have in my bag

 

[trophywench]

Well Accu-Chek was one of the brands that did them - the Expert meter, superceded by the Insight one. Both of these could when swapped for the same thing but with added Bluetooth, function also as remote controls for the Roche insulin pumps.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Way back in the day we used to think of 10g as ‘exchanges’ so 40g = 4 exchanges.

So you’d have 4x1.5 = 6

 

[James B]

This is really useful thanks

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

This is really useful thanks

Some current diabetes management courses call 10g of carbs a ‘carbohydrate portion‘ or CP. same idea though.