Carb/Insulin ratio

[carolyn]

Can anyone tell me how to find Carb/Insulin ratio? I can't seem to get it right and either go high or to low.

[cheryl]

This is how I started to figure it out. I ate what I ate all day, ok so if my breakfast consisted of 60 carbs, I took what I used to always take just for breakfast, within four hours if I held steady with the same bg number that I was before I ate breakfast, I am probably close on the ratio......then I'd try it again for a few days with the same amount of carbs but different meals.....ok and sometimes, ratio's will so be off if your basals aren't correct, So that might be something to consider too....cause mine were completely off then I learned gosh my basals were off majorly, so then trying to get my basals correct and now it seems I may have found the correct carb ratio's but activity levels and stress alter these also, try to stay at a normal activity level, for instance like what you do everyday, and try not to get too stressed because then it will be hard to figure out.........also most start on a 1:10 ratio, so try it with 40 carbs so that would be 4 units that is another way, but I always do stuff the harder way, that would be so much easier to figure, Can I ask what you use for a basal insulin, because I really honestly couldn't get them figured out till that was close.....

Cheryl

[KMP]

Please tell us what insulin you are using.
Everyone is different. Please do not follow what my doctor told me.

I can only speak from my experience with U-100 Humalog.
My Endo generalized when I started on it - but told me to try it and test-test-test to be sure.
Eating -15 grams carb for 1 unit of Humalog.
If blood sugar is higher than target she told me to use 1 unit of Humalog to lower blood sugar by 50 (if my blood sugar is 200 - I need to take 2 units to get to my target of 100)

This is for MY body I weigh 160 pounds

You should call your endocrinologist and run it by them

[Gary_W]

Taking a step back from carb ratio, are you sure you have your basal worked out right? If your basal is not doing what it should then you really will struggle to work out your ratio. If you're not sure how to do this, search on this forum as there are lots of threads on that.

Once your basal is sorted, you could try this from the Leeds hospital website:

Carbohydrate Test Meals (http://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/sites/diabetes/food/CarbohydrateTestMeals.php)

The Weetabix one is pretty good to do, and gives you a rough idea.

Another problem you may well have is that most peoples insulin ratio is totally different at different times of day. Speaking for myself, I need 1 unit for every 5 grams of carbs at breakfast. By the time I get to the evening meal, I am down to 1 unit for every 10.

It is apparantly very common for the morning ratio to be higher, so the best thing may be to do the Weetabix test at lunchtime / early afternoon.

HTH

Gary