• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

do you inject?

Dashing.

Well-Known Member
Messages
104
Location
Newport South Wales
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
i got told that if you eat anything under 20 carbs not to inject but i find i spike, so i'm on a 1-6 ratio should i inject for under 20?
 
Sorry I haven't been taught on counting carbs and working out my insulin yet, should hopefully get taught next week.
 
I've been told to download an app call "carbs and cals" which look like it will be really helpfully on counting and working out your dosage each meal.
 
for 20 grams of carbs I'd inject 1 or 2 units of humalog depending on it is was for a meal or a snack (meal = 1:10 and smack = 1:15) ... but I've also leaned that protein n fat also effect glucose control thus one also needs to take the amount of that into consideration because they can and will also rise your glucose levels i tend to take a extra unit of insulin per 20 grams of protein/fat combo which covers things very well for me (as in not had an issue following this practice in 11 years of doing so).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The DAFNE guide is don't inject for a snack of 15g or less. However, it is only a guide. If your ratio is small and you see an unwanted rise in levels, I would inject as per your normal dose. Be mindful of doing this too often though and creating a "stacking" effect of insulin.
 
Thank you for the tips, I'm going to give it ago, do I need to encounter sport before I work out my dose as I'm quite energetic and don't find it easy to sit still lol

Thanks for your responses
 
Exercise will have an effect on levels so you need to adjust by testing regularly. Fat burn cardio generally reduces levels, competitive sport or weights can elevate them. The only way to see how you are affected is trial and error.
 
i got told that if you eat anything under 20 carbs not to inject but i find i spike, so i'm on a 1-6 ratio should i inject for under 20?
So on that bases does it mean that you can have 3 snacks through out the day 20 x 3 and not bolus? If so on that theory you are missing a lot of insulin esp if you are injecting 1 unit for every 6 carbs.
The idea of MDI is that you bolus for everything that goes in your mouth.

As you are making a fresh start you need to sort out your basal (background) first then sort out your carb ratio. To make it simple you would be a lot better off not snacking between meals so no extra insulin floating around to confuse the picture.
 
I've been told to download an app call "carbs and cals" which look like it will be really helpfully on counting and working out your dosage each meal.


Also take a look at the following which is an on-line version of the DAFNE course, it will cover all the basics:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

Plus if you buy the book Think like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner it has loads of helpful tips and advice on managing type 1 diabetes, hope this answers your query in your Conversation, other than that ask in the type 1 section of the forum as there's loads of experienced type 1's willing to offer their advice.
 
i got told that if you eat anything under 20 carbs not to inject but i find i spike, so i'm on a 1-6 ratio should i inject for under 20?

Not sure where they get that from, when on twice daily mixed insulin's you had to snack between meals but on basal/bolus there's no need to snack unless you want to, I'd be surprised if anyone could get away with eating 20g of carbs without injecting and not see a rise in their bg levels, the only exception being if your particularly active after a main meal and not taken this into consideration when calculating the bolus dose.

I can't even eat non-carby food between meals without a bg rise :(
 
So on that bases does it mean that you can have 3 snacks through out the day 20 x 3 and not bolus? If so on that theory you are missing a lot of insulin esp if you are injecting 1 unit for every 6 carbs.
The idea of MDI is that you bolus for everything that goes in your mouth.

As you are making a fresh start you need to sort out your basal (background) first then sort out your carb ratio. To make it simple you would be a lot better off not snacking between meals so no extra insulin floating around to confuse the picture.
The rationale is that a small snack will result in a small BG increase which does not require a correction - e.g. If you start at 4.5mmol/ and a snack raises BG by 2mmol/l then you're still below the threshold for correction suggested my the vast majority of people (but many DUK dwellers think that even a 0.1mmol/l increase has to be corrected immediately to avoid disaster).
Obviously you have to watch out for stacking of snacks because multiple small snacks will push you outside the acceptable range.
 
I would think if ur BG is 4 or 5 don't inject then see what affect it has.
On our DAFNE course they said if ur carb ratio is less than the carbs u r eating then u probably should bolus for it, but I would base it around your own readings
 
good luck with it :D it gets easier they say haha!
Counting carbs does get easier I`m on the DAFNE system and find it very good. I must have been on this for around 15 years. Difficult at first and even now sometimes have to guess the carbs if not in my little book. They seem to give me good reports at the hospital and my GP. Good luck with it all.
 
Back
Top