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

How many carbs to raise blood sugar?

Kazzy Lud

Kazzy Lud

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I know it's not an exact science but approximately how many carbs would I need to raise my bloods by around 3 points?
 
Oops only half an answer there. What I wanted to say was I've often wondered how that varies between people. Interested to read peoples replies.
For me I think that 10g carb raises me between 3-4 mmol


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
For me, three dextrose tablets at 9g total weight, raises my BG by 3mmol ..That's my standard hypo treatment.

On the other hand , one small carton of apple or orange juice, as recommended by my GP for hypo's catapults me out of hypo and into hyper :eek:

Signy
 
It depends on the individual and the type of carbs. My guess would be around 40g but even that would probably vary on time of day etc.
 
There is no exact number, many people will have found their individual approximate number of carbs but it will vary.

As a female carbs will have a different effect on my body depending on TOM and stress levels, exercise carried out etc. I can eat more carbs at lunch then breakfast.

Will be interesting to read different peoples level of carbs, but everyone will be different as we are complex humans not robots.
 
My carb-to-blood sugar ratio is about 1.5, so 10g carbs will raise my BS by 1.5 mmol/l

To recover from low BS I always use Bassett's Jelly Babies and one of those is 6g carbs. So ONE will raise my BS by about ... 1.5 x 6 / 10 = ~1 mmol/L. So for me 3 jelly babies will bring me up by 3 mmol/l (from 3 to 6) and spot on with no overshoot.

I've been a T1 for 45 years with no complications and always used to treat a hypo with 'Tracker Bars' since they can be easily transported in car or pocket without going hard & horrible like the glucose tablets tend to. But Jelly Babies are much better since:-
1) they taste nice
2) are easy & quick to eat
3) they are 80% sugar so get absorbed fast
4) can be carried easily in small plastic bag in either trouser pocket, car door or briefcase/handbag

... ideal in ALL respects :-)
Since using Jelly Babies I find that I don't go too high afterwards and my BS is fine within 10 to 15 mins.

BUT ... since using CARB COUNTING and use the Insulin-Carb Ratio to calculate insulin for each meal, I very rarely now have hypos ... you should all be doing this to get good glycaemic control! My HbA1c's are now always < 6.5% (or 48 on new units).
 
I've got the jelly babies at the ready. I'd worked out that these will be a good hypo treatment. I'm a primary school teacher so I have them in a plastic key wallet that Is on my lanyard. I'm 2 weeks in with insulin dependency and my nurse is impressed with my early efforts at balancing my carbs and insulin. I'm now starting to bring my sugars down but obviously there is now more risk of a hypo. I've not had one yet but know I will recognise it, as I had symptoms after my first insulin that was administered at the clinic that brought my blood sugars down from 28.2 to 5.4! I am now aiming to try and keep between 5 and 10. Interesting point about being female and TOM. I'll bare that in mind.
My blood sugars also fall a lot overnight but this is very variable.
 
For me, 3 dextro tablet (9g dextrose) raises me by 2 mmol/l
 
It depends on the cause of the hypo.. If you overdosed accidentally then that will need xx g. If from exercise for say 4 hours previous you may need xxg plus long acting 15g carb too. If from undereating a luttle bit then probably just the carbs that were missed.

Plus then you have weight, physique etc... Everyone is individual..


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
drahawkins_1973 said:
Oops only half an answer there. What I wanted to say was I've often wondered how that varies between people. Interested to read peoples replies.
For me I think that 10g carb raises me between 3-4 mmol


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...
Wow that's a lot!! Poor you. I have about 15-20g carbs in a meal and that will raise me about 1 in an hour and almost back to original by 2 hrs. If I had rice the raise would be 2 - 3 depending on the portion, spread out and last longer.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
peacetrain said:
Wow that's a lot!! Poor you. I have about 15-20g carbs in a meal and that will raise me about 1 in an hour and almost back to original by 2 hrs. If I had rice the raise would be 2 - 3 depending on the portion, spread out and last longer.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...

Poor you????

No.... This is hypo treatment, NOT normal eating, and sorry, there is a lot of difference.....





Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Sorry, I think I might have misunderstood the original post as I wasn't replying to carbs for hypo I meant generally. So normal eating 10g carb raises me 3-4mmol. For hypos it's less.
But I didn't realise this was unusual for carbs to raise so levels so high.
Maybe explains why I can't snack without levels shooting up.
On the plus side I am quite sensitive to insulin so 1 unit will drop me about 4-5 mmol so I guess it balances out although I do work hard to avoid post meal spikes. And I find low carbing helps.
Andrea


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Sorry, I thought this seemed to be more on taking hypo stoppers!!- but probably not!!in which case, it all depends in an individual which is why NHS advice is so wrong to meet Mr or Mrs Average!!!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
drahawkins_1973 said:
Sorry, I think I might have misunderstood the original post as I wasn't replying to carbs for hypo I meant generally. So normal eating 10g carb raises me 3-4mmol. For hypos it's less.
But I didn't realise this was unusual for carbs to raise so levels so high.
Maybe explains why I can't snack without levels shooting up.
On the plus side I am quite sensitive to insulin so 1 unit will drop me about 4-5 mmol so I guess it balances out although I do work hard to avoid post meal spikes. And I find low carbing helps.
Andrea


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...
Just read this after posting my last one. I thought as you did.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
It seems to get more and more confusing. The question arose because I had to drive to a midday appointment before lunch. I took my bloods and they were 5.1. My worry was they would drop off too much so I wanted to raise them slightly. I had 'Chewee' bar which seemed to do the job perfectly. Who knows if it would work again. I've still so much to learn.
 
Well to be honest if you had a bolus injection within 5 hours Of the 5.1 then that may account for a chewy bar keeping you levelish....

I don't know how many carbs are in a chewy bar so couldn't guestimate how high I would raise...

However, with yourself I would be checking my bloods 30-60 mins later after that 5.1 today to see if I was actually going to go low....

To me if you can eat something and it doesn't spike me higher, then my bg's were going to sink low....and the next day I would be testing 30-60 mins later...


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Back
Top