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Morning carb to insulin ratio

A

amberzak

Well-Known Member
Messages
198
Location
West Sussex
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Competitive sport. I'm more of a for fun type person.
Hi.

I've sorted my morning sugars. Wake up with nice 5s and 6s. But my mid morning sugars are always so high. I am normally on carb to insulin ratio 9:1, and in the mornings I tried 7:1, but I'm obviously still not having enough insulin in the morning.

I just wondered if you have a different carb to insulin ratio in the morning, and what your ratios are.
 
before the pump I was on 3:1, that translated to 3 units for every 10 grams...........

I don't think that's the way you have displayed your ratio though, is it?

what are your blood sugars before lunch? if there OK it might be a dose timing issue.....so you need to get the dose in even longer before actually eating.....
 
When you say your mid morning levels are high, how high ? What do you eat for breakfast ? Do you split dose your background ? ( may be the basal is running low ). Many people struggle with morning levels and lots have different ratio's for different times of the day. If you tried 1unit for 7g and not working, maybe try 1unit for 6g ?
 
My morning insulin to carb ratio is much higher than my evening ratio; so yes it certainly can happen.

As @mo1905 said tyring 1 unit for 6 and if that doesn't work go down until it does.

Best

Dillinger
 
Insulin ratio's can change from morning to night, people often find they are more insulin resistant in the morning so requite a little more insulin than they do on an evening, as Mo says your first port of call is making sure your basal insulin is set at the right dose, once you can confirm that you can then begin to look at your insulin-to-carb ratio's.
 
Hi. Yes novo, I do it differently to you. I work in one unit per grams of carbs, rather than units per 10 grams of carbs. I don't think it matters as long as it's consistent.

Today I'm now going low, but I think that might be the hot weather (and I did correct the high). By high I mean about 9, which isn't as bad as I have been.

I upped my background today. I take levimer 2 times a day, 14 at night and 16 in the morning (though I just upped that to 17). And I'm on novorapid.
 
when did you correct the 9, before lunch?

I learned to ratio that way from DAFNE, it does seem easier though to divide your total carb value by 10 as opposed to any other number..... creature of habit I suppose....

Did you test your basal in the morning time? I have been known to casually change my doses in the past and even now on the pump, but its good to get some concrete data/proof before making a dose change...
 
For the last few weeks I've been going high throughout the day, even when not eating. So that's why I changed the background.

I did correct mid morning. Am I not supposed to so that? I seem to always be correcting, so I don't think my carb to
Insulin is correct at all
 
Did changing the background correct this daytime rise ? Have you checked since ? It still may need adjusting. You can correct mid morning but if you are correcting every morning then something is wrong. Your BG levels go up generally because of not enough insulin or too many carbs for insulin. OK, there are other reasons too, stress, illness etc but these should not be regular happenings.
 
I wouldn't correct mid morning, not with a 9 anyway, I would consider it maybe if I was 15+.......it also depends on your active insulin, on a pump this calculation is done for you accurately, but is possible to do the calculation manually...

you should try getting the insulin in sooner before breakfast, when do you inject? immediately before? after?
 
Immediately before because that's what I was told to do, as it's novo rapid. For some foods (like if I have pizza or something else fatty) I actually have to inject after or else I go hypo. So the insulin normally works well.

I test all the time (about 10 times a day at the moment) because I really want to get this right so my husband and I can start trying for a baby. Even today I had a rise mid morning. But my lunch time I was hypo.
 
try injecting 10 - 15 minutes before you actually eat........novo rapid take 5 - 10 minutes to kick in....its all about matching the insulin profile to that of the digesting food.....

what did you have to eat this morning that gave you a high then low......?
 
Cereal. Cherios.

I think me working and the got weather may have contributed to the low
 
amberzak said:
Cereal. Cherios.
Click to expand...

Not the best cereal of choice as they'll be a lot of sugar added.

Try some traditional porridge oats (steel or rough cut ideally) and add some seeds whilst cooking, I use pumkin, sunflower & linseeds and then throw a handful of frozen blueberries in just as it coming off the boil, with a heaped desert spoon full of natural yoghurt it makes for a nutritional breakfast (and if like me) doesn't spike your bg, it really is filling and keeps you satisfied until lunch.
 
I eat porridge in the winter, but to be honest it's too hot for the summer. I've not been having breakfast as I don't really like eating that time, but I'm trying to. I'm going to be honest and say I know I won't do anything that requires any preparation. I don't have a great deal of time in the mornings, and I know with the best of intentions, I will not keep up with preparing porridge.

I would probably do toast (brown bread). I like weetabix. But i got home from staying at my mums and there was nothing in the house except white bread (yuck) and Cheerios. I figured Cheerios is better than nothing.
 
I find for my morning novarapid I need to inject about 20 mins before my breakfast of brown toast. I've got into the habit if wake up test, inject and then shower we so by the the time I'm done I'm ready to eat.
Also I need twice as much insulin as I do in the morning than during the rest if the day.
Took a fair bit of variation in times and units to figure it out so persevere and I'm sure you'll sort it out.
Andrea


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

That's good....I also had to carry out some trial and error in order to get the mid meal numbers below double figures...

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Thanks everyone. I will try all of these ideas.

Will let you know how it goes.
 
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