Carb:insulin requirements

[dani96xx]

Out of interest, what are everyone's carb:insulin ratios and what is their background insulin?

 

[karen8967]

Breakfast ratio 1unit of insulin to 8g carbs
Lunch 1unit to every 12g
Tea 1unit to every 10g
My background insulin is tresiba .

 

[TashT1]

18u Lantus in the morning
Breakfast 1u:5g
Lunch varies between 1u:4g - 1u:7g
Tea 1u:10g

 

[dani96xx]

Breakfast ratio 1unit of insulin to 8g carbs
Lunch 1unit to every 12g
Tea 1unit to every 10g
My background insulin is tresiba .

Interesting, looks like you don't need much insulin in the day then how much background insulin do you take?

 

[dani96xx]

18u Lantus in the morning
Breakfast 1u:5g
Lunch varies between 1u:4g - 1u:7g
Tea 1u:10g

Yours are quite varied like mine then

 

[karen8967]

Interesting, looks like you don't need much insulin in the day then how much background insulin do you take?

11 units

 

[SueJB]

Hi @dani96xx my ratio at the moment is the same throughout the day 1 unit to 10g.I think I might have a try at changing it for lunch as it doesn't seem to work as effectively.
I don't eat breakfast and always get a dawn dump so have to correct for that but usually my total bolus units per day average around 6-10 units.

 

[jamesfitz]

1 to 10g of carbs

no lantus

 

[Richard F]

AM 1-20
Lunch 1-20
Dinner 1-10
13u Lantus

I find my bolus varies quite a bit, depends what I'm up to. Lazy days I can go 1-10 or busy working 1-30

 

[dani96xx]

Hi @dani96xx my ratio at the moment is the same throughout the day 1 unit to 10g.I think I might have a try at changing it for lunch as it doesn't seem to work as effectively.
I don't eat breakfast and always get a dawn dump so have to correct for that but usually my total bolus units per day average around 6-10 units.

Hello sue

I personally have to inject less at lunch than I do for dinner as I am more active in the day

I inject 1:5 for breakfast, 1:8 for lunch and 1:6 for dinner. My background is 14 units of tresiba, do you not use background insulin? maybe change lunch to 1:9 and adjusting every three days until you find what works

 

[dani96xx]

AM 1-20
Lunch 1-20
Dinner 1-10
13u Lantus

I find my bolus varies quite a bit, depends what I'm up to. Lazy days I can go 1-10 or busy working 1-30

Hi Richard,

Wow you're barely needing any insulin at qll!

I always find it strange how we are all type 1 but our insulin requirements are so different

 

[KK123]

Hi Richard,

Wow you're barely needing any insulin at qll!

I always find it strange how we are all type 1 but our insulin requirements are so different

Hi there, I would say that's because we are all so very different diabetes or not. Non diabetics do not all produce or require the exact same amount of insulin as each other, their bodies produce what they need at any given time (as would ours if we were producing any of course and another variation is that some of us are). There are SO many variations between one human body and another, age, sex, weight, lifestyle, hormones, child, and on and on. It may seem 'strange' but do we all produce the same readings on a BP machine? I just think our bodies need whatever amount they need and there is no point comparing it with each other (I know you are simply curious of course), some people use 100s of units per day. Obviously there may come a point when someone is using insulin beyond their natural threshold and that may cause problems but in the main, vive le difference! xx

 

[dani96xx]

Hi there, I would say that's because we are all so very different diabetes or not. Non diabetics do not all produce or require the exact same amount of insulin as each other, their bodies produce what they need at any given time (as would ours if we were producing any of course and another variation is that some of us are). There are SO many variations between one human body and another, age, sex, weight, lifestyle, hormones, child, and on and on. It may seem 'strange' but do we all produce the same readings on a BP machine? I just think our bodies need whatever amount they need and there is no point comparing it with each other (I know you are simply curious of course), some people use 100s of units per day. Obviously there may come a point when someone is using insulin beyond their natural threshold and that may cause problems but in the main, vive le difference! xx

Hello! I agree there are so many different factors, I went on a stile course earlier on in the year and generally speaking those who were bigger needed more insulin both background and fast acting whereas im quite slim so only need 14 units for background but my fast acting is quite high. I suppose the word i was supposed to use was interesting and not strange hahaha thank you for your reply x

 

[KK123]

Hello! I agree there are so many different factors, I went on a stile course earlier on in the year and generally speaking those who were bigger needed more insulin both background and fast acting whereas im quite slim so only need 14 units for background but my fast acting is quite high. I suppose the word i was supposed to use was interesting and not strange hahaha thank you for your reply x

I think there is a guideline from which they work based on weight & height but I guess that's just a starting point. Is a stile course a type 1 carb counting course? I went on a similar one if it is and found it very interesting. I'm sure they said that generally a person would require 1 unit of insulin per kg of weight (I could be wrong). I'm like you in that I am slim and use 10 units of Lantus and have a ratio of 1 to 20 carbs.....but it changes constantly as sometimes I don't use any novarapid depending on what I'm doing or eating. x

 

[Richard F]

Hi Richard,

Wow you're barely needing any insulin at qll!

I always find it strange how we are all type 1 but our insulin requirements are so different

I'm on a 1/2 unit pen which helps, omnipod soon.

 

[dani96xx]

I think there is a guideline from which they work based on weight & height but I guess that's just a starting point. Is a stile course a type 1 carb counting course? I went on a similar one if it is and found it very interesting. I'm sure they said that generally a person would require 1 unit of insulin per kg of weight (I could be wrong). I'm like you in that I am slim and use 10 units of Lantus and have a ratio of 1 to 20 carbs.....but it changes constantly as sometimes I don't use any novarapid depending on what I'm doing or eating. x

It was a 4 day course which focused on pretty much everything from carb counting to exercise to alcohol and diabetes, it was very insightful! Mine is constantly changing too, but generally speaking I do inject quite a lot! X

 

[ert]

Long-acting: 4 U morning 2 U night
Short-acting: I sugar surf. I don't eat many carbs. Less than 30g a day. I had 5 U today. But I also ran 21.3 km.

 

[Cumberland]

5u to 10g carbs

Novorapid

220u

Toujeo every evening

 

[Richard F]

Long-acting: 4 U morning 2 U night
Short-acting: I sugar surf. I don't eat many carbs. Less than 30g a day. I had 5 U today. But I also ran 21.3 km.

Can you explain in simple terms what sugar surfing is?

 

[ert]

Can you explain in simple terms what sugar surfing is?

This article explains it better than I could:
https://optimisingnutrition.com/insulin-dosing-options-for-type-1-diabetes/

I could do a calculation of 3.5 units of insulin for 200 g (7 oz) protein plus a unit for 10 grams of vegetable carbs, but this doesn't work well as protein will take longer to digest so I will drop early and spike later. Anyway, my calculation gives me a rough 5 U for my keto diet meal plans.
It's easier to sugar surf, start with say 3-4-5 U and decide later if and when I need another 2 U or so based on my Libre rise. Sometimes it depends on how many carbs I'm eating (between 10 to 30), and how much exercise I've done, (on exercise heavy days I need to halve my fast-acting and reduce my night basal - my diabetes consultant recommended this), for what dose to start with. Sugar surfing allows for variability.