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Units per 10g of carbs?

Adrian1981

Adrian1981

Well-Known Member
Messages
49
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone,

I currently use 1 unit of insulin for every 10g of carbs I eat but in an attempt to improve my control I have focused on one point I've not really considered.

I was wondering if people change their ratio when eating a food where the carb grams are made up of mostly sugar?

For example I have found a gluten free snack ( I'm coeliac too) that is only 16g of carbs but of which 13g is sugar.
Do people change their ratio when consuming this type of food. I know the ideal answer is that I shouldn't be going anywhere near this type of food as it is primarily sugar and that it will ramp my sugars or for a short period and then drop again.

What are peoples thoughts or do you just not eat these foods?
Thanks in advance
Adrian






I can't off guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
I think I read somewhere once that carb and sugar raise your bg by the same. Eg 10g of carb and 10g of sugar would raise your bg by the same amount so I shouldn't have thought it would affect your ratio.

Would be interesting to see others opinions though.

Indiana x


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Indiana91 said:
I think I read somewhere once that carb and sugar raise your bg by the same. Eg 10g of carb and 10g of sugar would raise your bg by the same amount so I shouldn't have thought it would affect your ratio.
Click to expand...

Broadly speaking this is true (@mpe can give a stricter answer based on the detailed biochemistry). General advice is not to change your ratio for specific foods. The main effect of food types is to advance or delay the increase in blood sugar, not to change the total increase, so the total insulin need doesn't change. You may want to inject earlier for foods with high sugar or that have a high Glycaemic Index for you. You may want to inject a
little later for foods with high fat or high fibre which can have a slower effect on blood sugar.

You may also have personal blood sugar responses to certain foods that are unique to you and appear to be completely independent of the actual sugar or carbs in the food.
 
Ok thanks all that is good information.

I've never even considered changing the timings of my insulin. I think the reason I haven't is because I mainly only ever check by bm before a meal, before bed, before driving or if I sense a need to check.

Do others find that you check your bm more frequently than 4/5 times a day then?


Thanks
Adrian


I can't off guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
On bolus basal regimes the only way to figure out the correct carb ratio is by testing bg levels about 6-8 times per day to enable the bg levels meet the targets set by NICE. Without testing, everythings becomes unstable. The 1u to 10g carb is only a starting point....many do find that they need to adjust so dont worry if that happens

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Adrian1981 said:
I've never even considered changing the timings of my insulin. I think the reason I haven't is because I mainly only ever check by bm before a meal, before bed, before driving or if I sense a need to check.
Click to expand...

Spiker is spot-on with his advise. Gary Scheiner discusses bolus timings in his book Think Like a Panctreas, if you've not read it yet then I highly recommend you do.

As for testing, ! test on average 7 times a day according to my meter.
 
I have found that changing my injection site based on the carb type works best.
For example, if it is pizza or pasta I will inject in my buttocks as I get a slower release there.
Very sugary I will go for stomach since that absorbs fairly quick for me.
Mixed bag tends to be my arm.

The key is to see what works for you.

But as has been said, if your ratio is 10g = 1UI then it remains pretty much just that, you will come back to where you expect the only thing is that the path there may be either slow or you bay drop low before bouncing back.

/A
 
Adrian1981 said:
Ok thanks all that is good information.

I've never even considered changing the timings of my insulin. I think the reason I haven't is because I mainly only ever check by bm before a meal, before bed, before driving or if I sense a need to check.

Do others find that you check your bm more frequently than 4/5 times a day then?
Click to expand...

Those checks are the minimum, but it helps to check 4 hrs after each injection to confirm that your carb count and insulin:carb ratio, and/or correction factor, are as you expect them to be. It can also help to check 2 hrs after to make sure you are not going hypo, but as an insulin user, never give an insulin correction based on a +2hr reading.

The extra checks are particularly for when you are making changes, trying new things. If you are in a stable and predictable pattern they only need to be done periodically.


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Spiker said:
And first thing in the morning right?

That's your daily check that your basal dose is working. Overnight at least.

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Click to expand...

Ok thanks . Yes the morning too which is always my first check with my breakfast.
Was interested to hear you say 4 hours after I should check to see if my rations are good and also that I should not correct on a 2hr reading. This is news to me so have been educated and therefore my assumptions on quick acting insulin were not as I expected. I will be taking this on board so many thanks to yourself and everyone's comments and feedback.

Adrian






I can't off guaranteed advice but I am certainly willing to share my 30 years T1 experience with others
 
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