Rokaab
Well-Known Member
So I got sent on a carb counting course by my consultant.
The one where I live is a local course for Berkshire I think (or at least my bit of Berkshire), and was a course of one day a week for 4 weeks - so for me it was 4 Mondays* in a row, it finished a few days ago.
Anyways, my initial thoughts when told I had to go on this course were 'I've been carb counting for 35+ years, what the heck use will this be!', however it must be said (and I never thought I'd be saying this), it proved to actually be really useful.
There was 8 of us there with 2 people running the course - the people there ranged from having diabetes for only 2 months to my 41ish years. Lunch was provided as it was deemed an important part of the course.
The actual carb counting bit I must admit I didn't really need help on - cos welll I've been doing it for so long and various other bits were a no-brainer for me (though many of the things that I already knew were very useful to some of the others) - it was actually the other bits that proved really useful.
Since it was over 4 weeks we had to keep a food and insulin dairy starting the week before the course started, and then each week the two people running it when through each of our diaries with us and would makle suggestions if necessary, it was definitely good to have someone to go through the data with - my libre data also helped, meant they could see my overnight lows. so after all that my Lantus got dropped (I was half considering doing it anyways), I was on 15 at night, and was considering dropping it by 1, well, I'm now down at 12, we dropped it by about 1 a week for testing, and my lunchtime ratio has been changed cos the ratio I was on meant my BS started dropping at about 4:45 - y'know when I was normally half way down the A404 heading for the M4 (helpful huh!) - it never got too bad but was still worrying, so still trying that out, but I think it's working - more testing needed.
Still keeping an eye on overnight levels and if it still continues I may ask to change from Lantus when I see my consultant in September, cos there will be a point when there not enough Lantus for during the day (maybe Tresiba).
I also got an Aviva Expert machine out of it with a letter to my docs for strips - it has a bolus calulator in it (it came with a copy of the Carbs and Cals book as well), though given I've always been pretty good at maths and my odd dinner ratio** I'm not using that functionality. One person had their basal changed from Levemir to something else during the weeks as well.
Anyways, I was very surprised it was actually so useful
And for anyone else putting off the course cos they think it be won't useful (I realise that's probably not many people but it did include me - well I can be very stubborn), well it may just be more useful than you thought.
Obviously it may also depend on the courses available in your local area***.
*not having to drive along the M4 on a Monday morning was awesome, the place was only 3/4 of a mile from where I live so I could walk there in 10 mins, also the days were 9:30 til 3 which I could definately get used to
**when I say odd, I mean odd, its 1:5, unless dinner involves bread or pizza (gluten-free bread/pizza) in which case its 1:10 for the bread product and 1:5 for the rest - it's very strange, and no its not just the pizza effect - I just don't need 1:5 with bread/pizza in the evening - possibly is due to damage/weirdness caused when my gluten-intolerance was undiagnosed (possibly undiagnosed for more than a decade), or maybe it's how the carbs in it are dealt with - need some more testing though.
***the fact that it was spread out meant more data and testing could be used, and one day a week for 4 weeks was probably a lot more palatable to my boss than one whole week off work.
PS. Sorry for the essay
The one where I live is a local course for Berkshire I think (or at least my bit of Berkshire), and was a course of one day a week for 4 weeks - so for me it was 4 Mondays* in a row, it finished a few days ago.
Anyways, my initial thoughts when told I had to go on this course were 'I've been carb counting for 35+ years, what the heck use will this be!', however it must be said (and I never thought I'd be saying this), it proved to actually be really useful.
There was 8 of us there with 2 people running the course - the people there ranged from having diabetes for only 2 months to my 41ish years. Lunch was provided as it was deemed an important part of the course.
The actual carb counting bit I must admit I didn't really need help on - cos welll I've been doing it for so long and various other bits were a no-brainer for me (though many of the things that I already knew were very useful to some of the others) - it was actually the other bits that proved really useful.
Since it was over 4 weeks we had to keep a food and insulin dairy starting the week before the course started, and then each week the two people running it when through each of our diaries with us and would makle suggestions if necessary, it was definitely good to have someone to go through the data with - my libre data also helped, meant they could see my overnight lows. so after all that my Lantus got dropped (I was half considering doing it anyways), I was on 15 at night, and was considering dropping it by 1, well, I'm now down at 12, we dropped it by about 1 a week for testing, and my lunchtime ratio has been changed cos the ratio I was on meant my BS started dropping at about 4:45 - y'know when I was normally half way down the A404 heading for the M4 (helpful huh!) - it never got too bad but was still worrying, so still trying that out, but I think it's working - more testing needed.
Still keeping an eye on overnight levels and if it still continues I may ask to change from Lantus when I see my consultant in September, cos there will be a point when there not enough Lantus for during the day (maybe Tresiba).
I also got an Aviva Expert machine out of it with a letter to my docs for strips - it has a bolus calulator in it (it came with a copy of the Carbs and Cals book as well), though given I've always been pretty good at maths and my odd dinner ratio** I'm not using that functionality. One person had their basal changed from Levemir to something else during the weeks as well.
Anyways, I was very surprised it was actually so useful
And for anyone else putting off the course cos they think it be won't useful (I realise that's probably not many people but it did include me - well I can be very stubborn), well it may just be more useful than you thought.
Obviously it may also depend on the courses available in your local area***.
*not having to drive along the M4 on a Monday morning was awesome, the place was only 3/4 of a mile from where I live so I could walk there in 10 mins, also the days were 9:30 til 3 which I could definately get used to
**when I say odd, I mean odd, its 1:5, unless dinner involves bread or pizza (gluten-free bread/pizza) in which case its 1:10 for the bread product and 1:5 for the rest - it's very strange, and no its not just the pizza effect - I just don't need 1:5 with bread/pizza in the evening - possibly is due to damage/weirdness caused when my gluten-intolerance was undiagnosed (possibly undiagnosed for more than a decade), or maybe it's how the carbs in it are dealt with - need some more testing though.
***the fact that it was spread out meant more data and testing could be used, and one day a week for 4 weeks was probably a lot more palatable to my boss than one whole week off work.
PS. Sorry for the essay
