hey guys, i have had diabetes for almost 5 years now and was just wondering how may units you have with different types of food. like i have 16 units with 2 ham salad sandwiches, how much would you have? 
Insulin With Foods
- Thread starter Platonic
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In Response
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Welcome to the forum @Platonic
Do you carb count?
The amount of insulin I take is based on the carb content of the sandwiches and my insulin to carb ratio.
This will vary from person to person - we need as much insulin as we need to keep our blood sugars in range most of the time.
Do you carb count?
The amount of insulin I take is based on the carb content of the sandwiches and my insulin to carb ratio.
This will vary from person to person - we need as much insulin as we need to keep our blood sugars in range most of the time.
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Hello and welcome to the the forum @Platonic
How much insulin you need really depends on many factors and not just the food you're eating, it depends on your physiology, weight, age, sex, time of day, and also what your current BG levels are at, so everyone has some unique factors to consider, personally I tend to avoid bread as it sends me sky rocket - as @In Response has said it's as much as we need to keep ourselves in range.
How much insulin you need really depends on many factors and not just the food you're eating, it depends on your physiology, weight, age, sex, time of day, and also what your current BG levels are at, so everyone has some unique factors to consider, personally I tend to avoid bread as it sends me sky rocket - as @In Response has said it's as much as we need to keep ourselves in range.
I may well confuse things here....
My IC Ratio (Insulin to Carbs) is 9g to 1 unit of insulin - so assume a slice of bread (they are all different as it depends on what they're made from and how big they are) is 22g of carbs.
Assume by a 2 sandwiches - thats 2 slices - so 4.8 units.
As @Juicyj says - relative to time of day, activity, BG levels etc.
I'm on a pump - set up to do it automatically (called a Fully Closed Loop), so I configure it to watch for a BG rise, and hit the rise with insulin - I have that set so its reasonably aggressive to avoid highs, but not cause lows (which takes a lot of tweaking and still alters depending on weather, time of day etc) - sometimes its safer to declare the carbs.
The amount of insulin should be roughly the same even depending on the type of food - but something like a pizza I'd spread the insulin 60% up front, and 40% over 4 hours
For me carb counting is essential to make sure I'm within range as much as possible, though sometimes thats guess work (and my loop picks up the mis-counting when I get it wrong to keep me in range).
My IC Ratio (Insulin to Carbs) is 9g to 1 unit of insulin - so assume a slice of bread (they are all different as it depends on what they're made from and how big they are) is 22g of carbs.
Assume by a 2 sandwiches - thats 2 slices - so 4.8 units.
As @Juicyj says - relative to time of day, activity, BG levels etc.
I'm on a pump - set up to do it automatically (called a Fully Closed Loop), so I configure it to watch for a BG rise, and hit the rise with insulin - I have that set so its reasonably aggressive to avoid highs, but not cause lows (which takes a lot of tweaking and still alters depending on weather, time of day etc) - sometimes its safer to declare the carbs.
The amount of insulin should be roughly the same even depending on the type of food - but something like a pizza I'd spread the insulin 60% up front, and 40% over 4 hours
For me carb counting is essential to make sure I'm within range as much as possible, though sometimes thats guess work (and my loop picks up the mis-counting when I get it wrong to keep me in range).
