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carbs counting

Inour

Inour

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone I have been T1 for seven years but I started counting carbs 2 weeks ago ,my dietician said I have to count 1;8 ,1;10,1:8
Its always low and obviously I am not really counting,I count then minus 1 or 2 Units today 3 hr after breakfast I felt unwell I tested it was 1.9 And when I calculate. It was 6 Units I took only 4 and it still low ,its very hard to calculate .when I was. Calculating banana is 20g And a cereal bar is 10g how!??
Any advise
 
Hiya, poor you so to hear about your hypo, that was low..

I am unsure what your dietician is saying to you here ?
Inour said:
count 1;8 ,1;10,1:8
Click to expand...

As a rule of thumb with carb counting start at 1 unit of QA to 10g of carbs. Get carbs and cals on your phone if you have a smart phone or buy the book, this is an important tool to help you understand how many carbs are in your food, if your ratio is correct and you take the right amount of QA then you shouldn't be having hypos.

A small banana will have around 20-25g of carb, a cereal bar will vary but 10g sounds much too low as they have sugar and oats in them, more like 25g. All processed food has the carb content in the nutritional value information so it's easier for us to work out how much QA to take.
 
Juicyj said:
Hiya, poor you so to hear about your hypo, that was low..

I am unsure what your dietician is saying to you here ?


As a rule of thumb with carb counting start at 1 unit of QA to 10g of carbs. Get carbs and cals on your phone if you have a smart phone or buy the book, this is an important tool to help you understand how many carbs are in your food, if your ratio is correct and you take the right amount of QA then you shouldn't be having hypos.

A small banana will have around 20-25g of carb, a cereal bar will vary but 10g sounds much too low as they have sugar and oats in them, more like 25g. All processed food has the carb content in the nutritional value information so it's easier for us to work out how much QA to take.
Click to expand...
I already bought the book and. Started counting its not only today nearly ever day it reaches 2 Or 3
1:8 breakfast
1:12 lunch( I calculate it as 1;10)
1:8 Dinner
I usually after calculations I reduce. 1 0r 2 units
What's QA'?!
 
Hiya - QA is quick acting insulin. What do you mean here:

Inour said:
I usually after calculations I reduce. 1 0r 2 units
Click to expand...

What you're doing sounds complicated, how have these ratios been calculated ? Also do you record your results ? Also what meter have you got ? No wonder you're not making much of an effort, sounds like a mathematicians job !

1 unit of insulin to 10g of carb is an easy starting point, record your results in a diary which shows how many carbs were consumed and how QA was taken, it's easy to spot patterns by recording results. Once you start carb counting properly and can start to see trends then you can adjust your ratios, if you have a good meter it will do the calculation for you so you can do this no problem.
 
Increase your ratios to 1u:10g or 1u:12g. Adjust them down from there only if you start going too high. Your dietician should not have advised these ratios when you are just starting out. Why is a dietician teaching you dose adjustment anyway? That's a DSN's job.

How did they calculate your basal dose?
 
Inour said:
I already bought the book and. Started counting its not only today nearly ever day it reaches 2 Or 3
1:8 breakfast
1:12 lunch( I calculate it as 1;10)
1:8 Dinner
I usually after calculations I reduce. 1 0r 2 units
What's QA'?!
Click to expand...

If you're having to reduce the insulin dose after your calculation, then it sounds like your ratios are wrong - especially as you're going low.

You could, for example, try 1:10 for your breakfast, keep 1:12 for your lunch (but do not calculate it as 1:10) and do 1:10 for your dinner.

When I worked out my ratios, often I ate the same meals each day so I could see if a ratio change worked.

I weigh things like cereal and rice and pasta to make sure I've got my carb counting right as I'm quite sensitive to insulin. When I calculated my ratios I used foods that there could be no mistake about eg for my carbs for dinner I had a potato that I had weighed. That way I knew for sure how many carbs my meal had.

If you're still having problems, speak to your diabetes nurse.
 
Great that you've got Carbs & Cals. Sounds like you need some basics.

1) You need to write everything down. You can do it in a little notebook, sure, but if you use a smartphone, various apps offer an easy way to do this, and then you can use them to analyse the figures. And you can sync them to a PC as well and look at spreadsheets easily.

I use DiaConnect and also MySugr. Why not try them out and see if you like either one? Here they are:

https://mysugr.com/

http://www.diabetesconnect.de/en/

2) you need to increase your ratios as above. In ordinary language, you're taking too much mealtime insulin. So raising the ratio of insulin to grams of carb content will lower the dose and your BG shouldn't go so low. That should work better.

3) Then it sounds as if your basal dose may also be too high. You'll need to test that, not all at once but by skipping one meal at a time and testing your BG at regular intervals and writing it down. Others are more competent to advise, but here is a good simple link:

http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

And breathe! It takes a bit of time to get your head around this stuff, but it comes.
 
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I record in a diary which my nurse gave to me and I have a freestyle optimum neo @Juicyj
 
Sorry but I didn't understand step 3 @LucySW
I used to know that slow acting insulin is known in the morning if its low I reduce the dose
 
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Inour said:
Sorry but I didn't understand step 3 @LucySW
I used to know that slow acting insulin is known in the morning if its low I reduce the dose
Click to expand...
That checks how basal insulin worked overnight, which is a good thing and all that many of us were ever taught about managing basal dose levels. But it is also possible, and a good idea, to check basal levels are right all through the 24 hr day. This is where fasting basal tests come in.
 
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