No all I was told when diagnosed two weeks ago was to take 8 units with food and then 12 units of long lasting insulin every night.
The DN and dietician said I'd move onto carb counting and adjusting my insulin dependent on exercise and what I'm eating.
So I have the dietician this week so I thought I'd try reducing my insulin to match my carb intake?
We haven't been given a correction ratio or meal time ratio yet have I done this wrong?
Ok, no problem. You haven't done anything wrong - you've done what you were told to do
Once you learn carb counting, Type 1 is much easier to control and understand. It used to be taught at diagnosis, and that does make things easier. Push to be given some help as soon as possible. You don't need to wait for a course. Simple carb counting isn't hard and can be picked up very quickly.
But for now - the simple explanation is that taking 8 units with food will only give you good sugars if you get the amount of carbs right. Eg for breakfast, you could have a boiled egg and a small slice of toast and that might only be 15g carbs approx, or you could have two Weetabix, milk, and a slice of toast, which would be more like 50g carbs (just approx numbers for illustration purposes). If you were to take the same 8 units for both breakfasts, your blood sugar after would vary enormously. 8 units might be far too much for your first egg breakfast,,causing a hypo, and it might be not enough for your second breakfast causing higher sugars than ideal.
But eating the same amount of carbs - the amount that those 8 units cover, giving you a good blood sugar afterwards - would result in much more predictable, smoother sugars. I hope that makes sense? Carbs and insulin are intimately related.
So this morning's hypo may have been due to you not eating enough carbs for the insulin you took, or it may have been related to the correction dose you took (if it was too much) , or it could be another reason.
Type 1 is a learning game. Each week's experience helps you learn more and improve things. It's a long term game. Please don't worry or be hard on yourself. Keep testing and keep good records, and you'll get there. Your numbers are pretty good for someone recently diagnosed
*Edited to add - when you see the dietician, if you're not shown how to count carbs or given any info connected with that, simply ask her/him how many carbs you should be eating at each meal that you take 8 units. You've been given half of a piece of information, in my opinion. I was on fixed doses too but was also told to eat a certain amount of carbs for each meal. That's the key.
