Calculating ratios for insulin

[Em16]

Hi all,

I hope everyone is safe and well. Can anyone advise please on the following:

I have recently begun to use insulin by injecting prior to eating a meal with any more than very low carbs. Some meals I'm continuing to just low carb and I don't take a basal injection as my sugars are ok until I go near the carbs eg. waking numbers are good ( I actually have more problems in the evening).

Having read information here (thank you all so much and also on the Blood Sugar 101 site) I am trying hard to avoid spikes - so I'm adding small additional amounts of carbs and monitoring closely.

I would like to work out my ratio....however, I'm not sure when to do this after eating.

This morning, for the first time, I tried a slice of wholemeal bread at 16 g of carbs and took 2 units of insulin.
My readings were:
Pre-prandial 4.7
at 1 hour 7.0
at 2 hours 5.9

I was up and moving afterwards - household jobs - not sitting about.

What would this make my ratio?! Is it 1:8 roughly. Would you all be happy with a rise from 4.7 - 7.0 in one hour?

Many, many thanks....I'm often on here reading, even though hesitant about contributing as sometimes I feel as though I know less the more I know!

 

[dani96xx]

Hi all,

I hope everyone is safe and well. Can anyone advise please on the following:

I have recently begun to use insulin by injecting prior to eating a meal with any more than very low carbs. Some meals I'm continuing to just low carb and I don't take a basal injection as my sugars are ok until I go near the carbs eg. waking numbers are good ( I actually have more problems in the evening).

Having read information here (thank you all so much and also on the Blood Sugar 101 site) I am trying hard to avoid spikes - so I'm adding small additional amounts of carbs and monitoring closely.

I would like to work out my ratio....however, I'm not sure when to do this after eating.

This morning, for the first time, I tried a slice of wholemeal bread at 16 g of carbs and took 2 units of insulin.
My readings were:
Pre-prandial 4.7
at 1 hour 7.0
at 2 hours 5.9

I was up and moving afterwards - household jobs - not sitting about.

What would this make my ratio?! Is it 1:8 roughly. Would you all be happy with a rise from 4.7 - 7.0 in one hour?

Many, many thanks....I'm often on here reading, even though hesitant about contributing as sometimes I feel as though I know less the more I know!

Hi Emma,

It looks as though your breakfast ratio is 1:8, are you often active in the morning? If you have a morning where you are less active you may find you may need slightly more insulin.

It really is a case of trial and error and uou may also find your ratios at different meals may vary. Personally I require a 1:6 for both breakfast and dinner whereas lunch i only need a 1.8.

Be strict with your carb counting and wait a few days to see a pattern and you will soon find what works for you

As for the 7 an hour eating that is a perfect spike and I'd be more than happy with that x

 

[Em16]

Hi Emma,

It looks as though your breakfast ratio is 1:8, are you often active in the morning? If you have a morning where you are less active you may find you may need slightly more insulin.

It really is a case of trial and error and uou may also find your ratios at different meals may vary. Personally I require a 1:6 for both breakfast and dinner whereas lunch i only need a 1.8.

Be strict with your carb counting and wait a few days to see a pattern and you will soon find what works for you

As for the 7 an hour eating that is a perfect spike and I'd be more than happy with that x

 

[Em16]

Thank you Dani That is really helpful.

Yes, I've noticed that the amount of activity I do makes a bigger difference than I would have thought - but silly as this might sound, I've not thought of upping or lowering insulin - I've just been trying to be active after injecting then eating...which is ok, as I'm a naturally on-the-go person ...but there has been one or two evenings where I would have liked to have sat down for a bit longer after tea. So that information is really helpful too!!

xx

 

[Japes]

Thank you Dani That is really helpful.

Yes, I've noticed that the amount of activity I do makes a bigger difference than I would have thought - but silly as this might sound, I've not thought of upping or lowering insulin - I've just been trying to be active after injecting then eating...which is ok, as I'm a naturally on-the-go person ...but there has been one or two evenings where I would have liked to have sat down for a bit longer after tea. So that information is really helpful too!!

xx

Pre-pandemic/lockdown times - I am normally pretty active in my educational workplace, as well as doing a lot of walking, and my bolus insulin levels were very consistent. 1:5 for breakfast, 1:10 for lunch/evening meal and basal hadn't changed for a couple of years since I'd settled on these ratios when I was put on insulin.

Now, I'm home 3 days a week, only getting out for one walk when I'm all on-line classroomed out, staying in at weekends and then 2 days with usual levels of activity in the workplace... I've got 3 different lots of ratios!

In a weird way, the benefit for me of the enforced staying at home was giving me more of an opportunity to experiment with inactive days ratios. I'm really looking forwards to getting back to my usual levels of activity, but I'm much more confident about adjusting my ratios as I need to now.

 

[Em16]

Pre-pandemic/lockdown times - I am normally pretty active in my educational workplace, as well as doing a lot of walking, and my bolus insulin levels were very consistent. 1:5 for breakfast, 1:10 for lunch/evening meal and basal hadn't changed for a couple of years since I'd settled on these ratios when I was put on insulin.

Now, I'm home 3 days a week, only getting out for one walk when I'm all on-line classroomed out, staying in at weekends and then 2 days with usual levels of activity in the workplace... I've got 3 different lots of ratios!

In a weird way, the benefit for me of the enforced staying at home was giving me more of an opportunity to experiment with inactive days ratios. I'm really looking forwards to getting back to my usual levels of activity, but I'm much more confident about adjusting my ratios as I need to now.

That is interesting to hear Japes - I am going to consider activity levels - and count in a bit more relaxation as I've felt a little bit pushed to be immediately active after eating ...I've had fun dancing in the kitchen whilst clearing up, but some evenings it has felt a bit much!

 

[Japes]

That is interesting to hear Japes - I am going to consider activity levels - and count in a bit more relaxation as I've felt a little bit pushed to be immediately active after eating ...I've had fun dancing in the kitchen whilst clearing up, but some evenings it has felt a bit much!

Yes, there were times when the relentless activity felt a bit much, I'm still happiest, diabetes-wise, using walking/keeping on the go as part of the toolkit for keeping blood sugars controlled, but like knowing when I'm inactive, for whatever reason, I can handle it.