Pasta - when to inject bolus insulin

[Shoshana]

My food question relates to pasta. My experience so far with pasta given to my T1 daughter diagnosed 2 months ago is that her blood glucose spikes hours later. I'm wondering whether to give the bolus insulin after the meal and, if so, how much later?? Anyone had experience with this? I know many parents of T1 kids stop pasta for a while after diagnosis. Has anyone tried the Atkins pasta which appears to claim to be 70 per cent less carbs than normal pasta? Thanks for your advice.

 

[Redkite]

We found it best to split the bolus into two separate injections, half with the meal and half about two hours later, otherwise he'd be hypo within an hour of eating and really high a few hours later. But you'd need to experiment with the split and timing because everyone is different! Even now he's on a pump (much more flexible for bolusing "difficult" foods), I tend to avoid giving him pasta for an evening meal because the digestion and insulin are both much longer duration than other foods, and therefore impact on the first part of the night.

 

[robert@fm]

Tesco do a butternut-squash spaghetti (they also do "courgetti" and carrot spaghetti, but the squash one looks most like pasta so you might want to try it on your kids first). 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

Pizza do the same to me. As Redkite says when you are used to things better I would split the dose. I spent 40yrs injecting & now on a pump & its just a couple of pushes of buttons, Good luck 🙂

 

[Lorien]

I have had the same problem with pasta - injected with the meal only to have a hypo an hour later followed by blood sugar then shooting up. I now wait until after eating pasta - maybe half an hour or so after finishing. I also weigh out my portion of pasta very carefully at home. If eating out, when the portion tends to be bigger I usually split the dose, half with the meal and half about an hour or so later.
It's all trial and error though, you need to work out what is best for you.

 

[Shoshana]

My food question relates to pasta. My experience so far with pasta given to my T1 daughter diagnosed 2 months ago is that her blood glucose spikes hours later. I'm wondering whether to give the bolus insulin after the meal and, if so, how much later?? Anyone had experience with this? I know many parents of T1 kids stop pasta for a while after diagnosis. Has anyone tried the Atkins pasta which appears to claim to be 70 per cent less carbs than normal pasta? Thanks for your advice.

Thank you everyone who responded with their helpful tips on pasta / bolus insulin. I will definitely think about splitting the dose at some point. At present, am avoiding pasta as have got into a great rhythm of giving supper to my 7year old T1 daughter, testing her blood glucose 2 hours later and not having to test in the night. Think pasta will upset this rhythm ... The vegetable pastas mentioned sound great but unfortunately she is an extremely picky eater unlike my other kids ( it had to be her who was T1!!)

 

[compositedoorscardiff_rob]

I always worry about splitting my dose in half because I get full halfway through sometimes, and then I worry about what percentage of the food I’ve eaten to the dose I’ve had and still require.

 

[HOBIE]

There is only you can work it out. From a t1 for more than 50years.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Pasta is a wonderful food, but a bit of a devil when it comes to controlling blood sugars! As well as splitting the dosage, you might want to try cooking the pasta and then reheating it later for the meal. The carbs are still the same, but the release is steadier.