T1 - drastically needing help with how to carb count and actually control my glucose levels

[JacquiMorrison]

Hi JacquiMorrison, It's great that you now have a Libre. I suggest that you use it to do some simple but useful experiments.

1. Choose a time when the graph on the Libre has been steady, level & not too high for a while & you are not doing any exercise & haven't eaten recently. Eat a small amount of carbohydrate - I'd use a jelly baby which is about 5gm, a glucose tablet is about 3gm I think.
Then sit back & watch what happens with the graph. After a little while it will start to rise - note the time & the bg reading. It will then climb for some time then slevel off. Keep watching until you are sure it is steady again then make a note of what the reading is and the time it levelled off.
You now know how much one jelly baby (or glucose tablet) raises your blood glucose. You also know how long before it is before takes effect*, & how long before your body has finished absorbing it. And all whilst sitting around doing nothing!

2. Again choose a time when the graph on the Libre has been steady, level for a while & you are not doing any exercise & haven't eaten recently. You don't want it to be too low - say over 8, check with a blood test. Take 1 unit of insulin.
Back to the exhausting sitting around doing nothing, nothing energetic that is. Don't eat anything. Watch the graph. Be patient, it takes longer than you might think for insulin to do anything. In my case about an hour if I'm just sitting around. Again note when your bg starts to drop, for how long & when it steadies. Keep a close eye on it just in case it drops you too far - it shouldn't but it's still wise to have your usual hypo treatment available.
You now know how much 1 unit reduces your blood sugar, & how long before it takes effect.*

Repeat the experiments art different times of day.

The fact that insulin takes a lot longer to take effect than food does is the reason why people pre bolus before a meal

*Actually the Libre reading is a little delayed (10 - 15minutes?)

This is fantastic! I am going to do this today! Thank you so so much! Really appreciate it, plus I love the fact I get to work really hard at lying on the sofa to get results haha!

 

[Scott-C]

That's helped massively put it into perspective thank you! I think I'm going to buy a notebook and keep a track of everything I eat and how much carbs are in it etc and see what works best. Appreciate it. Your sugars are beautiful haha like perfect! This is mine for today, rising because I had a white bread bacon sandwich haha! However was up at 20 yesterday and I couldn't find out why so I'll definitely monitor to find out my corrections etc

Thank you, but, believe me, they're not all like that...some days look like a skyline of the Himalayas.