Not Another One

[bev]

Sam,

Not being critical here - but if you find it difficult to work out ratio's versus carbs etc - you should speak to your DSN and tell her that your having trouble and can she explain in detail how its all worked out. It cant be easy to be 'guestimating' the amounts of insulin and adding a 'guess' on for the fat etc. Its not your fault, i suspect that the clinic have assumed you already know. Have you had a correction?🙂Bev

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Sam,

Not being critical here - but if you find it difficult to work out ratio's versus carbs etc - you should speak to your DSN and tell her that your having trouble and can she explain in detail how its all worked out. It cant be easy to be 'guestimating' the amounts of insulin and adding a 'guess' on for the fat etc. Its not your fault, i suspect that the clinic have assumed you already know. Have you had a correction?🙂Bev

you're right there, it's been assumed that because im 'self taught' and have had this so long that i know everything about it and what to do. Despite frequent bursts of me telling them i don't understand it really seems as if i can't win at this anymore. It's really not easy to guess everything, and I guess I'm lucky that it works most of the time. Breakfast and lunch are always ok, its only usually these super carby meals that get me stuck in a rut until I get so fed up that I up my doses considerably until I see decent numbers afterwards. Like i say, don't know the ratio for the curry, but I know 17u works a treat.

I had 8 units an hour and a half ago. And the levels are only just starting to come down.

 

[Viki]

At least youve got a bit of company and support! Bless our other halves and their pained expressions when it goes wrong!

If it were me id wait 20mins or so and retest. Its starting to come down and you dont want to panic and have too much insulin. Especially if you dont know whats still circulating from all the corrections that may not have worked as you expected initially.

If your starting to feel properly sick though make sure you keep ketone testing and forcing the water down.

Id expect to still be about 16-17 even 45 mins after a really big swing but then it falls more rapidly for me.

 

[bev]

Most peoples ratio's differ through the day.

Alex is on
breakfast 1:14
lunch 1.15
dinner 1.17

It sounds like you need to get to the bottom of when you are more resistant to insulin etc and work out a proper ratio plan for the day. There is now way i could look at a plate of food and 'guess' the amount of insulin. I have to work out the carbs and use the given ratio or we would be stuffed! Of course on a pump all this info is programmed in so you only have to put in the carbs - simple!🙂Bev

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

17.1 finally getting there. Still feeling sick. Just retested ketones and nothing. Hurrah.

I think I'm going to give my nurse a ring tomorrow and sort out having a chat with her.

like i say, i find it difficult to work out the ratios, BUT i know how much insulin to take with say, a bowl of shreddies so I won't spike and so my levels stay around the same after breakfast. 9 units right now, with no excersise. 6 if I'm going to be running around like a loony all morning.

I was always rubbish with maths so a phone call to nursy i think. I guess I kind of need to go on their little carb counting course thingy.

 

[Viki]

17.1 finally getting there. Still feeling sick. Just retested ketones and nothing. Hurrah.

I think I'm going to give my nurse a ring tomorrow and sort out having a chat with her.

like i say, i find it difficult to work out the ratios, BUT i know how much insulin to take with say, a bowl of shreddies so I won't spike and so my levels stay around the same after breakfast. 9 units right now, with no excersise. 6 if I'm going to be running around like a loony all morning.

I was always rubbish with maths so a phone call to nursy i think. I guess I kind of need to go on their little carb counting course thingy.

At least it sounds like youve got a good knowledge of what your body needs even if you dont know the numbers behind it.

This will give them something to work with to help work your ratios out at least, then youll soon get the hang of it because it will become familiar and you really wont feel like your sitting a maths exam every day.

Glad your coming down finally. Hope the feet arent too bad x

 

[katie]

hmmm. Well, I no longer have any problems with stuff like korma/curry - with that I know 17 units is enough and I don't have a nasty spike. That took yonks to work out. BUT because I am useless at numbers and stuff I can't work out what insulin: carb ratio that is.............

Well if you ate 170g carbs that would mean you took a ratio of 1:10g
You need to know what the amount of carbs is.

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

At least it sounds like youve got a good knowledge of what your body needs even if you dont know the numbers behind it.

This will give them something to work with to help work your ratios out at least, then youll soon get the hang of it because it will become familiar and you really wont feel like your sitting a maths exam every day.

Glad your coming down finally. Hope the feet arent too bad x

Thanks viki. Me and numbers don't mix haha but you're right, at least there's some form of understanding there and that has to be a good starting point.

They're starting to settle again now. Thankfully. Stupid feet 😡 keep em happy and warm and they stop kicking up a stink. Ha, i make them sound like small children. I think I might put on a small amount of the evil cream tonight. Just incase.

15.6 now and feeling a bit more human

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Well if you ate 170g carbs that would mean you took a ratio of 1:10g
You need to know what the amount of carbs is.

see, i worked out the carbs for it and it came to be 160 or something with the rice and teh sauce and everything. However, with 16u I was having a slight spike of 13/14ish afterwards. Tried 17u and it was perfect. My brain is too addled to work it out

 

[katie]

yeah I would do the same, just remember to add one on. I don't think it's possible to get things perfectly worked out. Sounds like you are 1:10g at tea time then.

 

[sofaraway]

Just thinking about your basal, have you got that set right? I'm just thinking that I always needed more insulin with my evening meal and still usually ended up high before bed, the cause for me was basal running out too early, as I took it at 10pm and by 6pm before dinner it was done. So if I miscalculated slightly on the carbs in evening meal I'd be lacking both basal and bolus insulin and would end up very high. Splitting my basal helped this and now if I am high in the evening/pre bed then it's only the bolus dose that has failed me.

Might not be relevent to you at all but thought I'd throw it in. I also think that a carb counting course would be good for you to do, especially before going on the pump.

Hope things have evened out for you by now.

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Just thinking about your basal, have you got that set right? I'm just thinking that I always needed more insulin with my evening meal and still usually ended up high before bed, the cause for me was basal running out too early, as I took it at 10pm and by 6pm before dinner it was done. So if I miscalculated slightly on the carbs in evening meal I'd be lacking both basal and bolus insulin and would end up very high. Splitting my basal helped this and now if I am high in the evening/pre bed then it's only the bolus dose that has failed me.

Might not be relevent to you at all but thought I'd throw it in. I also think that a carb counting course would be good for you to do, especially before going on the pump.

Hope things have evened out for you by now.

basal is the one thing i do have right, as have been over it a gazillion times with nursey 🙂

 

[sofaraway]

basal is the one thing i do have right, as have been over it a gazillion times with nursey 🙂

Thats good 🙂, basal is really the key so that leaves the ratio's to work out, I'm sure you will get there Sam, you are really trying so hard.

 

[AlisonM]

I just read Admin's post on Munjeeta's thread about losing the will to live (post number 13), in which she mentions the fact that insulin takes longer to act in cold weather. Could that be the problem here too? Might it help if you inject earlier than you normally would before a meal to give it more time?