Insulin ratios/ regimes

[Munjeeta]

Hello all. I'm SURE I've asked something similar before so bear with my daftness! I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with my carb counting/ insulin ratios when I'm at work. I have worked out that I need an insulin:carb ratio of 1:6 at breakfast, 1:8 at lunch and 1:7+1 in the evening. Now, the problem I have, is that when I'm on half term (like now!) my blood sugars go completely squiffy because I'm obviously not doing the same level of activity as I am at school. School days are fairly similar on the manicness front but holiday days aren't: some are busy, some are lazy. And plus I don't have as many holiday days (except in the summer 🙂) as I do school days so by the time half term is over I haven't really got anywhere...

My basic question is: do you have differnet 'regimes' for different times of the week/ month/ year? How different are these regimes? And how do I figure them out when I don't have time to see patterns?! Thanks in advance...

 

[tracey w]

Totally different regimes when im working or on a day off. Again depends what im doing. I use the dafne ratios which is slightly different to the way you do yours, i did it the same way before dafne.

Guess its just trial and error, i use lower ratios when working or excercising, than i would on a normal day off when im not usually as active. However it is difficult, for example did a lot of housework today so had a snack, kit kat mid morning as was quite active and my level was 6.1 at lunch. But if i had a lazy morning i wouldnt have had the snack. Hope this helps 🙂

 

[litto-miss-loz]

Yeah Im the same but the other way around.

Im ok with my ratios when im not at work but when im workin its all over the place. Im 1:10 breakfast & Lunch and 1:8 at dinner.

so do u think i will double it and do 1:20 sa im movin about at work?

or do i go up in twos like 1:12 then 1:14 until i get the correct one??

and see like after the 5 days of the dafne course, are the nurses able to work out your ratios you will need?? or does it take a long time?? I dont understand how they work it out lol confusin 😛

 

[aymes]

and see like after the 5 days of the dafne course, are the nurses able to work out your ratios you will need?? or does it take a long time?? I dont understand how they work it out lol confusin 😛

They don't necessarily tell you what they should be, but you learn the skills so you can work it out for yourself. It is pretty much trial and error, so some people can work it out pretty quickly, whereas other may take a lot longer. And it's quite common to have a number of different ratios at different times of day as well as for different days.

 

[Munjeeta]

Ah ok... Yes, that definitely helps. Thank you for the replies, it really is so helpful to have all you fountains of knowledge to ask all these questions to!!

Tracey, how are the dafne ratios different? I think I've already mentioned it but I have a place on a dafne in Nov which I absolutely can't wait for! I have my work day pretty much sorted, I just find it harder to find the time to work out the effects of trial and error during holiday time as it's less abundant! Hey ho, a few months ago I didn't have ANY ratios so guess I'm getting somewhere! 😱

 

[bev]

We change Alex's ratios when he is off school on half term because he seems to need more insulin or he goes high. When at school he is concentrating and seems to use a lot less! When at home he is less active and wakes up later!🙂Bev

 

[rossi_mac]

I think there a lot of us out there who are getting confused! Don't think I have any answers mind, some days I'm more confused than any of you. Like a lot of you have said I vary dependant on activity, and my work days vary as well, and what I eat varys dependant on what work I'm doing. The days that I'm on my feet all day I end up skipping my lunch jab and being fine. It's getting even worse with the hot weather (Okay not today) I haven't actually worked out any ratios, I work it out for1:10 and then half it and round it down or up dependant on one of the many variables!!

Good Luck, for me too!

 

[aymes]

Tracey, how are the dafne ratios different? I think I've already mentioned it but I have a place on a dafne in Nov which I absolutely can't wait for! I have my work day pretty much sorted, I just find it harder to find the time to work out the effects of trial and error during holiday time as it's less abundant! Hey ho, a few months ago I didn't have ANY ratios so guess I'm getting somewhere! 😱

When I did dafne (may be different for others) the ratios were worked out according to how much insulin you need for a carbohydrate portion (CP) which is the equivalent to 10g carbohydrate, so generally speaking all ratios would be X:1CP. The insulin side of the ratio goes up in .5s so you may have 1:1 (1unit insulin to 10g carbs), 1.5:1, 2:1 and so on. If you're on a .5 ratio you may then need to round up or down once your dose is calculated. It sounds far more complicated than it needs to be typed up than it actually is when explained on dafne so I wouldn't suggest anyone tries working out the ratios like that if you have a different system that works!!

 

[tracey w]

When I did dafne (may be different for others) the ratios were worked out according to how much insulin you need for a carbohydrate portion (CP) which is the equivalent to 10g carbohydrate, so generally speaking all ratios would be X:1CP. The insulin side of the ratio goes up in .5s so you may have 1:1 (1unit insulin to 10g carbs), 1.5:1, 2:1 and so on. If you're on a .5 ratio you may then need to round up or down once your dose is calculated. It sounds far more complicated than it needs to be typed up than it actually is when explained on dafne so I wouldn't suggest anyone tries working out the ratios like that if you have a different system that works!!

Thanks Aymes, yo explained it much better than i could have!

find it so much easier than the way i did it before, also i used to count abslolutely every little thing, veg, sauce etc so time consuming. I just round up or down depending what my level is too. 🙂🙂

 

[tracey w]

Yeah Im the same but the other way around.

Im ok with my ratios when im not at work but when im workin its all over the place. Im 1:10 breakfast & Lunch and 1:8 at dinner.

so do u think i will double it and do 1:20 sa im movin about at work?

or do i go up in twos like 1:12 then 1:14 until i get the correct one??

and see like after the 5 days of the dafne course, are the nurses able to work out your ratios you will need?? or does it take a long time?? I dont understand how they work it out lol confusin 😛

Its confusing i know, but when i say i use a lower ratio when working i actualy take less insulin eg 1 unit to 1 cp (carb portion), when not working i may have more insulin, 1.5 unit to 1 cp. so the same as you just a different way of working it out.

i would stick to how you are doing it unless you attend a course to show you differntly, but i would not double the ratio you are using, move up/down gradually until you get it right. 🙂

 

[Munjeeta]

When I did dafne (may be different for others) the ratios were worked out according to how much insulin you need for a carbohydrate portion (CP) which is the equivalent to 10g carbohydrate, so generally speaking all ratios would be X:1CP. The insulin side of the ratio goes up in .5s so you may have 1:1 (1unit insulin to 10g carbs), 1.5:1, 2:1 and so on. If you're on a .5 ratio you may then need to round up or down once your dose is calculated. It sounds far more complicated than it needs to be typed up than it actually is when explained on dafne so I wouldn't suggest anyone tries working out the ratios like that if you have a different system that works!!

Ah... So that's where the magic 10g of carb comes from... Right... I think I'll take my own advice and stick to what I'm doing until I do the course, even if I do find it a nightmare and, like Tracey used to, attempt to count every single little thing and end up getting totally confused and eating cold food by the time I've done all my calculations 😛 Thanks everyone x

 

[tracey w]

Ah... So that's where the magic 10g of carb comes from... Right... I think I'll take my own advice and stick to what I'm doing until I do the course, even if I do find it a nightmare and, like Tracey used to, attempt to count every single little thing and end up getting totally confused and eating cold food by the time I've done all my calculations 😛 Thanks everyone x

yes absolutely, not too long until you do the course, hope you really enjoy it like i did!

Just one little tip thugh, i know what your going through, eg if you have a sandwich just count the bread, forget the filling, very little carbs and dont really have any impact on bg, sooooo much easier.