Type 1 Diabetes and Carb Counting

D4rren2016 said:

Unfortunately since being introduced to this by the nurses I feel I’ve gone totally the opposite way and feel the condition is controlling what I can and can’t do.

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How has carb counting changed things for you? What were you doing before? Basically the point of carb counting is to encourage flexibility as (in over simplistic terms) you eat what you want when you want and adjust your insulin dose to deal with it. So, I'm not sure I follow how that leads to diabetes becoming controlling?

It's a shame it's making you feel like that. Maybe the DSN didn't explain it very well? There's an online course that might be worth a look:- http://www.bertieonline.org.uk

D4rren2016 said:

Ive been looking at my condition in the total wrong way in the past that's what I've been doing, but it seemed to work albeit not great bg levels. I totally get the concept behind carb counting I'm just struggling to adjust, over think a lot and probably checking my sugars way too much. This then panics me if its spiking. The thing is (wrongly I know) ive never ever paid a great deal of attention too this kind of detail before.

Thank you for the advice anyway

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Try not to over-think things, the concept of carb counting and having the ability to adjust your insulin doses to suit is a great concept, if you find you spike postprandial look at your bolus timing.

Once you get the hang of it and your bg levels stabilise you can reduce the amount of bg testing you do, on MDI I would test between 6-8 times a day depending on activity.

I'm on a pump now but when i was on MDI i would inject before meals, i found it better as the insulin can kinda start working as the carbs are getting absorbed.
dont panic to much about spikes in your blood readings as the areas of your body have different absorption rates.

D4rren2016 said:

This is what confuses me, do you inject before or after meals or does it depend on what your eating. I know some carbs are fast acting and some are not.

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Trial & error, but for most meals a lot of type 1's find pre-bolusing before food reduces the postprandial spikes, quick-acting insulin's like NovoRapid take around 10-20mins to begin to lower bg levels and that is why pre-bolusing is so effective, it gives your insulin a chance to work before the food is digested.

The only meals where I don't bolus in advance are those that are high in fat, on MDI I would spit-dose for such meals and inject just before eating.

If you get a copy of the book Think Like a Pancreas it covers bolus timings and much more, it's a great read and comes highly recommended by the type 1's on the forum.

I was very similar to you. Diabetic for 24 years & ate set amounts of carbs with each meal although no weighing always a guesstimate. I started carb counting 3 years ago but refused a pump. I inject lantus a.m. & late before bed. My life has improved since carb counting, much more even blood glucose levels, breakfast & lunch are very easy as you tend to eat similar foods each day & you quickly learn the carb content, it's dinner that can be a bit more tricky but I always weigh any carbs. A great book is carbs & calories. You can get it on Amazon. I tend to inject straight after eating dinner as you may not eat all the carbs on your plate which would result in hypo if you've already injected. Best of luck.

Hi @D4rren2016

I found it easier to manage carb counting by keeping records, initially on paper, then by using an app (in my case MyFitnessPal). In practice, most people tend to eat the same meals, in the same quantities each week: therefore once you've calculated the carbs in a meal once, you shouldn't need to recalculate every time you have the same meal, saving you time and stress.

Try to time-box diabetes. Worrying about every bolus and reading just builds up over time and makes life suck.

Pick a time each week to review the last week and make adjustments as necessary, and otherwise just make a totally mechanical decision every time you test or take insulin.

Unfortunately you cannot control diabetes; you can only compromise with it. Carb counting is simply about getting better outcomes and more flexibility, but your BGs will still be all over the place at times.