protein insulin dosing

cdpm

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im unsure how to dose for protein with my rapid insulin
if it is to be dosed at half what a carb is
then can i use a 1 to 6 ratio
which is half my 1 to 3 carb ratio?

or do i figure it all out- such as weighing the
piece of protein then multiplying it by 7
(the diabetes food exchanges list an ounce of meat being 7 grams protein per ounce)
then saying its carbs then use the ratio then halving it?

it seems easier to just double the ratio for protein
thus getting half the insulin?
 

ert

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You don't tend to dose for protein unless you're not eating carbohydrates? The law of big numbers, if you dose for carbohydrates, it covers the protein which are small numbers. How many grams of carbohydrates are you eating a day?
 

cdpm

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You don't tend to dose for protein unless you're not eating carbohydrates? The law of big numbers, if you dose for carbohydrates, it covers the protein which are small numbers. How many grams of carbohydrates are you eating a day?


meat or eggs once a day
so nearly 0 carbs
i didnt used to dose for protein
until the dr said to use my rapid for every meal
with or without carbs
and most of my foods have no labels
its made in the stores with labeless packages
how do i figure the protein out
so i can bolus
 
Last edited:

ert

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We can't give dosing advice on this forum. You need to contact your GP and ask for advice. You don't state in your profile what insulin/s you're using. A lot of people take enough basal insulin that clears 20 grams of carbohydrate so wouldn't need bolus insulin on your diet. Dr Bernstien, in Diabetes Solution: 1 unit of insulin covers approximately 2 ounces of protein. But this is something to discuss with your GP rather than rely on.
 

Wayward Blood

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I'd say with any change to diet, the important thing is caution. The ideal situation would be to discuss your changes with a dietician or nutritionist, who is trained to deal with diabetes management. If you're making changes yourself though, the absolute imperative is to test as often as you can. After no backup from my healthcare team when I switched to low carbohydrate in 2014, I took matters into my own hands. My insulin use plummeted, but my test strip prescriptions went through the roof (Before I got the Libre last year I was testing 10–12 times a day).

Make sure you've got plenty of glucose on hand in case of hypos and err on the side of caution. As you're asking about protein, and based on what you're eating, it looks like you're switching to a low carbohydrate diet. Apologies if I'm off the mark with that. If you are though, any blood sugar spikes you experience due to too little insulin will still be much smaller than spikes on a higher carbohydrate diet. Before insulin could be manufactured, diabetics were put onto a low carbohydrate diet and survived for years because of it. If you can't find the nutrition information where you live, try planning a small number of meals and stick to those, making a note of what insulin you took and what the results were. (e.g. salmon and mozzarella salad for lunch with X number of units of short acting. Blood glucose before was X, an hour after eating was X and 2 hours afterwards was X. Exercise before and after meal was X. Blood sugars were considered good/excellent/too high/too low. Will increase by X/decrease by X/maintain insulin dose next time). Once you've got the hang of that, you can start introducing more types of food to your meals.

Also, if you're switching to low carbohydrate quickly, be well aware of temporary side effects. You're going to be tired for a while (it lasted 3 weeks for me). You need to massively up your water intake. I was unaware of this and thought I had kidney failure due to the pain and the rust colour of my urine. Thankfully drinking water immediately cleared this up. Also, make sure you're getting enough salt. Too much salt is a bad thing, but too little is not great either. The leg cramps I got at night before I realised this were extreme. Your sex drive may also change for a short period of time (some people find it shuts down; other people find it goes through the roof). As mentioned though, all of these symptoms are temporary and usually don't last more than about three weeks.
 

porl69

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I would have a word with your diabetic team. We are unable to give dosing advice on the forum