Unpredictable ratios

[Jobot]

Hi all

Last night I made a veg curry for myself. I ate half last night and half for lunch today. I gave myself the same number of units of insulin at both meals but the first meal I had to eat a pudding and a hot chocolate to avoid a hypo and the second time I ate (the SAME meal) I have gone to 18mmol/l blood sugar. I waited 45 minutes before eating both times.

I cant understand why there is so much variation from day to day. I am a woman so maybe its hormones? I just cant predict anything and am finding myself so frustrated! Any advice?

Josie
XOXOX

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

How confident are you that your basal insulin is holding your steady as that can mean that the goal posts can change quite dramatically from one meal to the next. It is also not unusual for ratios to change at different times of the day and evening is usually the lowest.
Can you be sure that you got your portions uniformly halved?
What was your pre meal reading on each occasion and what had you eaten for breakfast, as that may well have impacted your lunchtime readings.... Say for example, you had something like porridge for breakfast which might still be releasing glucose at lunchtime or protein from eggs and meat can often do that too if you are following a low carb way of eating.

 

[Inka]

I need different ratios for different meals (ie breakfast, lunch, evening meal). Perhaps you need less insulin for this same meal in the evening than you do at lunch?

Yes, it is incredibly annoying though, and sometimes it just happens for no reason even if you eat the exact same thing at the exact same time.

I’ve got into the habit of pretty much always testing 2 hours after eating so I can correct if necessary or eat some extra carbs. It’s tedious in the extreme but it means I catch highs sooner.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. My ratios vary a lot from morning to evening so it could just be that.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Many type 1's have different carb ratios throughout the day so suspect that's your main problem.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Many type 1's have different carb ratios throughout the day

My impression is that it's unusual not to. (Though I guess some people might have ratios that are close enough to each other that it doesn't matter much. And those who eat low carb might need to worry about it less.)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

It’s so frustrating isn’t it!

Ive had similar differences on 2 consecutive days where the same breakfast has yielded vastly different results.

There are famously 42 factors that affect glucose levels, and in this instance it seems likely that either your ratios are different between the two meals, there were differences in levels of stress, activity, hormones, or the absorption of the second dose perhaps didn’t release the full amount of insulin (absorption tends to vary from site to site, and the larger the dose, the greater the potential variation)