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Type 1 and carb counting: Please help

Hannah325

Hannah325

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi all I have been to the hospital to day. I got told I had type 1 diabetes on the 5th of October and been told that now is the time to court my carbohydrates and adjust my insulin to what I eat so here goes

Be for tea BS are 11.6
So I have 5 units for what I was haveing for tea +1 to help get it down to 8

So 2 house after tea BS go up to 12.5 please help

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong so any advice is good thanks
Hannah
 
So have your been given any guidance on how to count your carbohydrates? What were you eating for tea?

What is your insulin to carb ratio? How have you worked this out? Have you been given any guidance on making adjustments to you I:C ratio? You might need a different ratio at different times of day. You might need different ratios depending on how active you are.

How did you decide 1 unit would bring you down 3mmol/L? Have you worked out your correction factor or been given any guidance on this?

Did you just inject and then eat? Or did you inject, wait for the insulin to start working and the correction to work and then eat?

Sorry for all the questions, you say you've been told "now is the time to count carbohydrates and adjust insulin" but it's not at all clear from what you have posted whether you have been given any guidance on how to do that or any real explaination of what it means.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. If you've only been introduced to carb counting today it will take a bit of time to figure out the adjustments to your doses that might be needed. The Bertie online course might help with how to work out the adjustments - http://www.bertieonline.org.uk
 
Last edited:
Hannah325 said:
Hi all I have been to the hospital to day. I got told I had type 1 diabetes on the 5th of October and been told that now is the time to court my carbohydrates and adjust my insulin to what I eat so here goes

Be for tea BS are 11.6
So I have 5 units for what I was haveing for tea +1 to help get it down to 8

So 2 house after tea BS go up to 12.5 please help

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong so any advice is good thanks
Hannah
Click to expand...

how much did you say the carbs was in grams ?
 
Hannah325 said:
Sorry thought you ment how many carbs I had for me tea lol not sure how many grams I had
Click to expand...

50g of carbs is perfectly reasonable for a main meal. So is seems you are starting on a 1:10 ratio, that might not be the ratio for you. You just need to figure out what adjustments are needed to make carb counting work for you. Is very high expectations to expect perfect numbers on day 1.
 
Hannah325 said:
Sorry thought you ment how many carbs I had for me tea lol not sure how many grams I had
Click to expand...

don´t say sorry ... I think even though it is very hard to do, that you should relax a bit and try not to be too hard on yourself or panic... our disease doesn´t run away from us unfortunately, and we must let us self get time to learn to get it under control...
Not that it is not important... but in time we´ll learn and learn a lot of different aspects of our special kind of diabetes, I am type 2, and not the best in the more detailed way to teach you much, but there are plenty of other type ones in here also some Young ones like your self...
I was in a shock when I got my diagnose most are ... each in their individual way... but as long as you understand it is a serious disease and don´t try to ignore it and tell yourself it is a lie... then you have a good attitude and be tell yourself you will know 500% more in 2-3 month than now.. but that you can´t learn it all in a month
 
Also an increase from 11 to 12?after a meal on a normal day of going from 5 to 6 would be brilliant.....
your levels will drop I suspect so keep looking and checking...

The health team basically set you up on an average person dose... and one size doesnot suit all... so you will have to learn to tweak your insulin etc..

BUT.. Rome wasn't built in a day.

First off.. what meter have you got. Is it one that calculates your insulin for you when it has been programmed??

50g is not a lot of carb for a main meal. Some people have less and find its better. However, this is early days of learning for you and you need to find doses for the foods you normally eat now.... before changing any foods around or changing your eating.

Concentrate on getting your insulin right for the meals you have now.... ie
I make everything myself. Sometimes its a but hard to truly guestimate what is in a salmon hash (can't eat corned beef)... so if I guestimate 29g one day and its wrong, the next day I have the slsame food and I would change the g of carbs to more or less than my guestimation the day before... we make 4 meals and have over 2 days. Or sometimes 3 days and freeze a portion. I write a note and stick in the box how many carbs it is before freezing. If its wrong after my guestimation I go back and get the note out the freezer pack and change it.

Please don't panic. You need to find the insulin for your current eating regime before lustening to people telling you that 50g is high for a meal.....
 
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