Ratio

i had to totally learn and discover mine all by myself
none of the professionals even told me a thing
except how to inject
the first day i used rapid insulin i ate then was
hungry awhile later and i had no idea when
i could eat again so i called my drug store
and they told me the action time of the insulin
gracious it could have been so dangerous
what if i had of just eaten again and used more
insulin?
they had just told me 10 units when i eat
and i instinctively knew that was bad for just
eating a low carb vegetable meal
so anyway i discovered thru reading that a ratio was more
effective
and just used the 1 to 10 and tweaked it to a number
that have me the post meal results i wanted
which was 1 to 6
but now to get close to the results i want i have to
use 1 to 3
i aim for an 8 two hours post eating

grahamrb said:

I have worked pout the ratios as 5 to 1 etc and been advised by dietition that she worked it out by dividing 500 by 31 and got 16 to 1.

Where does this 500 come from? it seems to be plucked from thin air

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Maybe you could contact the dietician and ask her where the 500 came from. What sort of blood sugars is your wife getting, using the ratios you've worked out?

If you're doing a ratio of 1:10 yes it would mean that.
Does your wife want to have the same amount of carbs every day like this, or is it just tha she's been told to take the same amount every day?
When do you next speak to the nurse? If you're getting silly readings, can you contact her earlier?
Sorry you're both frustrated, it takes a while for things to settle down after diagnosis.

grahamrb said:

I have worked pout the ratios as 5 to 1 etc and been advised by dietition that she worked it out by dividing 500 by 31 and got 16 to 1.

Where does this 500 come from? it seems to be plucked from thin air

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The 500 Rule is a calculation that is used to start working out for Type 1 diabetics to say how much will 1 Unit of Insulin cover the carbs. This is called the insulin-to-carb ratio or simply carb factor. The problem with it is the assumption that the average adult consumes 500 grams of carbs every day. The formula is flawed in so many ways firstly you presume the person will eat this many carbs (never assume), secondly you need to have a pretty good guess at what the Total daily insulin will be ( again never good to assume)

Presume you have your Basal right.

Always have your Hypo treatment on standby.

All I can say Test Test Test and document,
count the Carbs and test your Numbers before each meal and document it.

As a example I eat my dinner early so most Bolus out my system by bed. I take my Basal at 9 Pm I check my blood glucose same time and I want to be be within +\- 0.5 mmol/L when I test before breakfast . That way I know I am covered overnight and also if I am not dropping to much at night I know I need maybe 5 gram of carb before bed if I am going to bed a bit low to give me a safety margin.



Bolus Test before meal ,

Calc the Carbs and Document, Before Breakfast ,before lunch , before dinner you should have circa same Glucose if you got your Carb/ Insulin right on prior meal.

For Example I am 15 gram / 1 Unit in the morning but by 11:00 I am 10 gram / 1 Unit and that is from testing documenting and working out over time
That number might change over time as Circumstance change. Each person has there own numbers we are not all the same.

Last but not least If you are going to exercise that includes walking , a quick link worth a read on the % Insulin reduction required

Always take your fast acting hypo treatment with you, it is no good at home or in the car.


https://excarbs.sansum.org/adjusting-insulin/


I hope that helps.

Just to respond to the initial question, in my opinion nobody can 'give' you your ratio as nobody knows. You can start off with the so called average ratio but from thereon in it is absolutely trial and error....mostly error at first! It also changes dependent on everything. It's good to have some idea of how it all works of course but test, test, test!

grahamrb said:

Dear Ellie
Here are the answers to your questions
1) Morning reading is never the same as the previous evening eg last 7 evenings/mornings
15.4/12.6, 13.4/10.3, 6.6/10.4, 12.4/10.9, 6.3/5.1, 7.8/7.2, 12.9/ 8.3

2)ratio I instructed to do 10 to 1, so if we know that the meal is 40 carbs then should put in 4 units of insulin before the meal, if I followed that instruction it would be even worse.

3) correction ratio- I have read about this but professional team has not mentioned it at all

In answering your questions it has occurred to me that the correction factor could be the 40 carbs divided by 10 = 4, so I add the 4 units to the normal 6 units = 10 units of insulin, that would certainly bring the sugars down
Is that correct? I think that I will try this today

the basal dose is done the same time every morning about 8,30 am

thank you for your help

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I see the 6.3/5.1 and 7.8/7.2 do you know what and when you ate exactly those days and dosage for the two meals before and reading before and the dosage of Insulin the reason for the question may sound stupid.

But there is some logics sometimes with high fat and high protein meals the insulin timing is off (We call it the "Pizza" effect )

What I am thinking try replicate those two days food etc.. Are you getting your Carb Count right not always easy unless you weigh everything and put in in Carb and Calc.

Are you drinking any tea or coffee with Milk between meals.. Milk has Carbs and some people spike from that.


Do not give up, you can sort this ,
we have all been through this and by keeping accurate record you can contact your doctor or diabetics nurse and be very precise with what you ate and the exact timing and exact insulin and that helps a lot.

Remember as type 1's we are trying to do a very complex task that a very clever organ the pancreas does all day every day for everyone else. So we just need to learn and learning is document and adjust .