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

Low carb

lorna_fletcher

Active Member
Messages
35
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,

I’m 2 weeks now diagnosed with type 1 and my blood sugars have been high (trying to control) but today they’ve slowly coming down.

I’m wondering if anyone has a specific amount of carbohydrates they stick to daily or have any meal plan? Really want in a routine and think this would help if I have a plan in place to get my sugars lowered
 
There are 3 main ways T1s control their blood sugars
1) 2 injections of long and short acting insulin, fixed meal times and fixed carbohydrate amounts. This has been mostly phased out but most of us older T1s started out like that in childhood.
2) Basal/bolus regime. One (sometimes two) injections of basal insulin which keeps your body going during the night and when you're not eating, plus individual injections of short acting bolus before each meal/snack. This has the advantage that if you know how to count carbohydrates you can adjust meal times and insulin amounts to match.
3) Hard core pumpers who have an insulin pump permanently attached which continuously supplies the right amount of insulin. Theoretically gives the best control, but you either need a continuous glucose monitor or a lot of blood tests to make it work, and of course you've got a needle permanently attached.

I'm guessing your clinic has sent you home with option number two and told you just to eat normally???? (I'm boggling that you've had no help on counting or amounts of carbohydrate - hopefully they've at least talked to you about hypos?)

Most of us learn to carbohydrate count fairly quickly and then adjust our insulin accordingly. There are courses you can go on to help with this. There's a lot to get your head around so don't worry if it takes a while to get the hang of it.


Good luck.
 
Hi @lorna_fletcher Are you on a bolus/basal routine and carb counting ? If so then a set meal plan will help as you can see patterns with your day to day control, however as your newly diagnosed your nurse should be assisting you with insulin adjustments, so keeping a diary to record doses/blood glucose readings and carbs eaten will help your nurse to understand where adjustments need to be made.
 
Hi Lorna

From my own personal experience when I was first diagnosed I felt the most important thing to initially address was my basal rates as the basal is the main insulin that keeps your bloods stable. After numerous basal rate testing and I was happy I then worked out my insulin sensitivity factor which is the amount one unit drops your blood sugars - this is important to take into account when calculating your bolus. I did this by waiting 4 hours after eating and so I had no insulin on board and food was digested, tested and took a small amount of insulin waited 4 hours tested again to see how much the insulin dropped my blood sugars. When I was satisfied my basal and ISF where correct I tackled the carb ratios by trying to stick to the same type of meal (not too fatty meals) at the same times and tweeked my ICR as need be keeping full records and with making very small adjustments as need be. Was a pain initially but very well worth it. Hope this helps and good luck.. takes a little time but you will get to grips with this and become your own expert before you know it
 
Hi Lorna. Firstly its important to bring your BG down slowly as too quickly can cause damage. Your body was likely running at high sugar levels for some time before diagnosis so give it time to re-adjust.

I started keeping a food diary when I was diagnosed just monitoring what I was eating and how it affected my levels. Rice was fine, pasta really wasn't.

I was very, very sensitive to insulin in those early days and felt really quite ill in the first month. Basically your body has withdrawal symptoms from the sugar that has been floating around. It takes time but record keeping can really help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…