Help, been diagnosed type one now for under a year , why isn’t carb counting working for me ??

[Grumpy Porridge]

Sorry, havnt been on here for a while, my mental health has been terrible and I’ve been self harming . Feeling really lost ( I find anything hard to do anyway let alone diabetes )

Yesterday for example I ate a breakfast wrap from costa wrap which says it’s 49g of carbs . About 30 mins before I ate it I had 16 units of novorapid ( I just guess nowadays , and it took a while but after eating that and a flat white it spiked to 10 ( I don’t like it that high anyway and surely if I only done the ‘carb counter’ amount it would have gone way higher ?? Help don’t get this ATALL

also every . Single . Night . Been having to get up eating snacks due to low blood .. awful .. indigestion afterwards

 

[EllieM]

As I remember you are on a basal/bolus regime?

The basal should keep you steady when you aren't eating.

If you are using carb counting to calculate your bolus then the amount depends on your insulin to carb ratio, This varies drastically between different people eg some people need 1 unit of insulin for 1g of carb, others need 1 unit of insulin for 20g carbs, and your diabetic team should be helping you to calculate this. (And it's also likely that this ratio will change with time, particularly for newish T1s as they stop producing any of their own insulin.)

Also, hypos are no fun at all and you should definitely be contacting your team to get them to advise you on how to adjust your dose so as to avoid them.

Do you have a phone number or an email address so you can ask your diabetic team for help?

 

[ert]

I'm sorry you're having a tough time. You need to carb count and ignore the spikes. Injected insulin will not match the food you eat so you will spike. What's important is that your blood sugars return to their premeal levels 5 hours after eating.

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @Grumpy Porridge

Yesterday for example I ate a breakfast wrap from costa wrap which says it’s 49g of carbs . About 30 mins before I ate it I had 16 units of novorapid ( I just guess nowadays , and it took a while but after eating that and a flat white it spiked to 10 ( I don’t like it that high anyway and surely if I only done the ‘carb counter’ amount it would have gone way higher ?? Help don’t get this ATALL

10 isn't bad after eating 49g of carbs - i'd easily spike up to 13/14 after eating that, tbh that's why I avoid eating high carb foods, unless I am about to go out running as then i'd cope far better with that amount of carbs.

Don't beat yourself up over it, the trick is learning to live with it without it affecting the quality of your life.

Doing guesswork is dangerous as you know, have you spoken to your diabetes nurse about getting on a carb counting course ? What about Bertie online: https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/

Empowering yourself by learning more will help you feel more positive

 

[Rokaab]

Yesterday for example I ate a breakfast wrap from costa wrap which says it’s 49g of carbs . About 30 mins before I ate it I had 16 units of novorapid ( I just guess nowadays , and it took a while but after eating that and a flat white it spiked to 10 ( I don’t like it that high anyway and surely if I only done the ‘carb counter’ amount it would have gone way higher ?? Help don’t get this ATALL

Gotta agree with @Juicyj here, 10 is most certainly not the end of the world, in fact its nowhere even close, I'm currently sat at 10 (and going upwards slowly) after a 60 carb lunch, it will come back down though, just have to give it time.
Injected insulin does not act like naturally produced insulin from the pancreas and it can never be expected to.

Also many many (most I suspect) T1's will not be able to stay within the 4-10 range all the time (especially if medium/high carbing), there is also so much stuff that can throw a spanner in the works that can make it impossible to do it, if you expect to stay in range all the time, prepare to be disappointed is all I can say - try your best but don't set yourself up for disappointment, be happy when you do succeed, you should see me grin when I get a whole day at 100% in target (I don't do low carb, but its not hideously high either most days)

Note, at 11 now, but as I say it will drop down, just needs time

Extra note, when I was doing my A-levels, my HbA1c showed my average blood sugar reading was 13 or 14 ......, and well I'm still here some (oh crud thats a long time ago) nearly 30 years later