Todays carbs - better?

Status
Not open for further replies.
SilentAssassin1642

SilentAssassin1642

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Today:

Breakfast: BG 6.3 - 30g cornflakes (25g carbs). 7u novorapid.
2 hours later 8.4

no correction

midmorning snack - 2 biscuits 3u novorapid (was 8.0 and very hungry)

lunch - 7.0 Cheese and marmite sandwich, small kitkat 2u before, 6u in one whack. 2 hours later 3.9 :( (thought i'd have a bit extra to compensate for the cheese...fail lol)

shopping after work - left on 4.2 swigging on apple juice still and feeling rough as. Home from shopping - 2.7 D:

Dinner: cheese pizza. (137g carb - 14u insulin split 7 and 7) pre 3.7. I hour later 11.7 (had the other 7, too hasty?), 1 hour later 13.8 (4u correction...again...hasty?), 1 hour later 13.2

wondering whether to correct again?
 
Last edited:
No don't correct again yet, you will overload on insulin. The rule of thumb is not to give correction insulin if you have had insulin within the last 2 hours (or 1 1/2 hours for some) You have not gone up, you have gone down, ok only a bit but you still have insulin on board (active insulin). Test again in an hour and see which way you are going.

Great results today though, (don't bolus for cheese though, that made me smile 🙂)
 
Adrienne said:
No don't correct again yet, you will overload on insulin. The rule of thumb is not to give correction insulin if you have had insulin within the last 2 hours (or 1 1/2 hours for some) You have not gone up, you have gone down, ok only a bit but you still have insulin on board (active insulin). Test again in an hour and see which way you are going.

Great results today though, (don't bolus for cheese though, that made me smile 🙂)
Click to expand...

thankee

lol, i didn't want a replay of yesterday's 17 😱 had exactly the same lunch but really different results...very bizaare 😱
 
Hi.

I wouldn't correct again so quickly. If your pizza had lots of cheese, its quite high in fat and that can slow absorption down. So while you dont actually need to count for cheese (as you found out!!) it is very high in fat. High fat foods with carbs can affect the speed of digestion.
You did quite a big correction dose for that reading anyway, what do you correct at?
We were told that 1u = 4mmols, so for a reading of 13, O would have a correction of 1.5u to bring him down to 7, or maybe 2u to get him to 5?

Hope this helps a little?
 
ZoZo said:
Hi.

I wouldn't correct again so quickly. If your pizza had lots of cheese, its quite high in fat and that can slow absorption down. So while you dont actually need to count for cheese (as you found out!!) it is very high in fat. High fat foods with carbs can affect the speed of digestion.
You did quite a big correction dose for that reading anyway, what do you correct at?
We were told that 1u = 4mmols, so for a reading of 13, O would have a correction of 1.5u to bring him down to 7, or maybe 2u to get him to 5?

Hope this helps a little?
Click to expand...

I have worked out and tested that my correction dose is 1u for 2mmol/L. It works. Trust me 🙂 Remember, everyone is different 🙂
 
I know everyone is different, I was just saying. Obviously you know what your correction dose is and thats cool. 🙂
 
ZoZo said:
I know everyone is different, I was just saying. Obviously you know what your correction dose is and thats cool. 🙂
Click to expand...

you'd be surprised how many have said to me over the past few days/weeks that they think its too much :confused: but its not...sometimes i rage it up quite badly though (see yesterdays blog post...).
 
salmonpuff said:
you'd be surprised how many have said to me over the past few days/weeks that they think its too much :confused: but its not...sometimes i rage it up quite badly though (see yesterdays blog post...).
Click to expand...

Sam, like you say - everyone is different and there is an equation to work it out which i have forgotten - its something like total daily insulin including slow acting and divided by something - but remember my maths is rubbish - Adrienne - can you remind us what it is?🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Sam, like you say - everyone is different and there is an equation to work it out which i have forgotten - its something like total daily insulin including slow acting and divided by something - but remember my maths is rubbish - Adrienne - can you remind us what it is?🙂Bev
Click to expand...

yep, thats how I worked it out properly with the thingy adrienne gave me 🙂 before I was going on the asumption that 1u would bring me down by 2.5 which was too little, hence why I would rage it out more often.

Its amazing how often I hear different things about it. Mum always used to tell me that 2u would see me down to normal if I had a level of say 20. The other day I was told that 1u would bring me down by 3...4...or even 5 :confused: but that doesn't work with me 😉
 
Hiya

This is just a starting point and it will definitely need tweaking but will help if you have no idea :

To work out your carb to insulin ratio :


1. Add up the total amount of insulin used in the day, both basal and bolus.
2. Do this for 5 days and then average them; that is add the five days totals together and divide by 5.

Example: Monday: 20 basal and 25 bolus, total 45 units
Tuesday: 20 basal and 30 bolus, total 50 units
Wednesday: 20 basal and 28 bolus, total 48 units
Thursday: 20 basal and 36 bolus, total 56 units
Friday: 20 basal and 31 bolus, total 51 units

So the total for 5 days is 250 and if divided by 5 to get the average it is 50 units, this is the Total Daily Dose (TDD)

3. Now divide 500 by the TDD.

500/50 = 10

10 is the amount of carbohydrate grams that one unit of insulin is covering so your starting point ratio is 1 unit of insulin to 10 carbs.

Correction factor :

4. Now divide 100 by the TDD

100/50 = 2

This is the correction factor, if Bg is higher than the set target BG (choose a realistic and safe one such as 6mmol or 7mmol as a target) 1 unit of insulin will correct or lower the BG by 2mmol.

This is just a starting point and again I am not a professional person, just a mum so cannot advise anyone on insulin etc and can only speak from my own experience. 🙂
 
salmonpuff said:
yep, thats how I worked it out properly with the thingy adrienne gave me 🙂 before I was going on the asumption that 1u would bring me down by 2.5 which was too little, hence why I would rage it out more often.

Its amazing how often I hear different things about it. Mum always used to tell me that 2u would see me down to normal if I had a level of say 20. The other day I was told that 1u would bring me down by 3...4...or even 5 :confused: but that doesn't work with me 😉
Click to expand...

I think the general rule they tend to start out on is 1 unit will bring you down 2-3 mmol, but that's just a starting point and everyone is different. I'm the same as you - 1 unit brings me down 2 mmol. 🙂

Nice results though!
 
Adrienne said:
Hiya

This is just a starting point and it will definitely need tweaking but will help if you have no idea :

To work out your carb to insulin ratio :


1. Add up the total amount of insulin used in the day, both basal and bolus.
2. Do this for 5 days and then average them; that is add the five days totals together and divide by 5.

Example: Monday: 20 basal and 25 bolus, total 45 units
Tuesday: 20 basal and 30 bolus, total 50 units
Wednesday: 20 basal and 28 bolus, total 48 units
Thursday: 20 basal and 36 bolus, total 56 units
Friday: 20 basal and 31 bolus, total 51 units

So the total for 5 days is 250 and if divided by 5 to get the average it is 50 units, this is the Total Daily Dose (TDD)

3. Now divide 500 by the TDD.

500/50 = 10

10 is the amount of carbohydrate grams that one unit of insulin is covering so your starting point ratio is 1 unit of insulin to 10 carbs.

Correction factor :

4. Now divide 100 by the TDD

100/50 = 2

This is the correction factor, if Bg is higher than the set target BG (choose a realistic and safe one such as 6mmol or 7mmol as a target) 1 unit of insulin will correct or lower the BG by 2mmol.

This is just a starting point and again I am not a professional person, just a mum so cannot advise anyone on insulin etc and can only speak from my own experience. 🙂
Click to expand...

Adrienne, I knew you would come up with the goods as always! Thanks. Perhaps we should have this as a sticky?🙂Bev
 
randomange said:
I think the general rule they tend to start out on is 1 unit will bring you down 2-3 mmol, but that's just a starting point and everyone is different. I'm the same as you - 1 unit brings me down 2 mmol. 🙂

Nice results though!
Click to expand...

Hiya

Its different for kids and also it can be very different for times of day for an individual. Most are insulin resistent in the morning so need more correction than when insulin sensitive at night.

For example Jessica's correction ratios are :

0000 to 0600 - 8
0600 to 1500 - 4
1500 to 0000 - 9

So if she was say 15.0 at 10 am and I corrected she would get 2 units to correct down to 7.0 mmol

but if she was 15.0 at 7 pm she would only get 1 unit (if on injections - it would be slightly less on a pump)

This is presuming you correct down to 7 mmol. The kids are told to correct down to 10 mmol so to allow for mishaps. The pumps correct down to where you set them, ours is 7.5 but if we do it manually then it is down to 10 mmol.
 
11.8 now. Am wondering if without that 4u earlier I'd still be going high?
 
salmonpuff said:
11.8 now. Am wondering if without that 4u earlier I'd still be going high?
Click to expand...

Yes you probably would be. Now when you test in another hour, so that would be two hours after the last insulin dose, if you are still above 10, you could correct that but very very carefully, no rage please. If you are 10 or below, don't correct, leave it. It depends though, if you are under 11.8 but above 10.0 I probably still wouldn't correct and just see what happens.

I'm hoping that you have missed a spike here with that sneaky 4 units. If you have missed the spike or dare I say, caught the spike, then you should repeat this meal and scenario with bolus' and see what happens.

Looking good though Sam. These are good levels for a pizza and new carb counter.

🙂
 
SacredHeart said:
I get a ratio of 1 unit to 62.5 carbs! I've been working off 1 unit to 35 carbs....how weird.
Click to expand...

1 unit to 62.5 carbs, that is a a huge ratio, are you sure? 1 to 35 is quite big as well.

This is only a starting point and if you have found a ratio that works for you, then stick with it, don't change anything.

You will also find that you may need less insulin as the day goes by, ie more at breakie than tea time.🙂
 
Well I tend to use 2u Novorapid per meal, and 2u Lantus. That's 8 per day.

8x5=40
40/5=8
500/8=62.5

I find the whole ratio thing so confusing. It's probably why the dieticians wouldn't work mine out for me? What's the point when I'm on such a stupid amount of insulin? I don't blame them :(
 
SacredHeart said:
Well I tend to use 2u Novorapid per meal, and 2u Lantus. That's 8 per day.

8x5=40
40/5=8
500/8=62.5

I find the whole ratio thing so confusing. It's probably why the dieticians wouldn't work mine out for me? What's the point when I'm on such a stupid amount of insulin? I don't blame them :(
Click to expand...

Wow that is little amounts. Crikey. Ok get your drift now. Stick with what works. 🙂
 
SacredHeart said:
Well I tend to use 2u Novorapid per meal, and 2u Lantus. That's 8 per day.

8x5=40
40/5=8
500/8=62.5

I find the whole ratio thing so confusing. It's probably why the dieticians wouldn't work mine out for me? What's the point when I'm on such a stupid amount of insulin? I don't blame them :(
Click to expand...

That means you 'waste' as much as you use by doing the airshots!😉 Blimey, that's low. Mine works out at about 1:14. I use about 35 units a day in total.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top