Calculating Carb Ratio

[kid_fears99]

How do you calculate your personal carb to insulin ratio? Is there some sort of mathematical formula? My doc told me that mine was 1unit for every 15 grams of carbs, but that's not working out. Before dinner I was 128, I ate 60 grams of carbs, took 4 units of humalog, and now (2.5 hours later) I'm at 245. Any ideas?

[seacomp]

How do you calculate your personal carb to insulin ratio? Is there some sort of mathematical formula? My doc told me that mine was 1unit for every 15 grams of carbs, but that's not working out. Before dinner I was 128, I ate 60 grams of carbs, took 4 units of humalog, and now (2.5 hours later) I'm at 245. Any ideas?
No one knows your carb ratio in advance; all the doctor knows is a good starting point to work from. Many if we knew enough it could be figured in advance, by for today you've got to work it out by trial and error.
The ratio you have is clearly off, so you adjust it by a small amount, see how that works, and repeat until you have it down. This is not something you do in a day, and once done, you have to keep an eye on it because it will change for various reasons.
Do you have your basal rate down? You really need to calculate that first, before your carb ration.
I'm sure that someone will post some web references on this for you. Good luck.

[marielea]

i was just diagnosed october. i was told to use 2 units of humalog per 15g of carbs. this is working quite well for me.... i would say you aren't taking enough per carbs.

[rzrbks]

kid_fears99

How do you calculate your personal carb to insulin ratio? Is there some sort of mathematical formula? My doc told me that mine was 1unit for every 15 grams of carbs, but that's not working out. Before dinner I was 128, I ate 60 grams of carbs, took 4 units of humalog, and now (2.5 hours later) I'm at 245. Any ideas?

The normal beginning ratio is 1:15, however, as pointed out by seacomp, YOUR ratio might be very different and you have to figure that one for yourself.............but go slow because---------

1. your reactions to different foods might very well alter the ratio you use.
(if I drink regular coffee, i have to use a 1:6 ratio) and ther are certain foods(generally fastfoods) that I have to use a 1:10 or even 1:8 ratio with but it took a long time to figure out what the ratio was was with each.

2. the simplest thing to do is to eat at home, as much as possible, for a while so you can actually measure the amount of food, and thus the Exact carb count, and when you've got that down pretty well, you can begin to branch out into other foods.

I am a suspenders and belt kind of guy when it comes to my Diabetes though, and every few months, I go back to measuring foods exactly at home to sort of review/renew my awareness of what actual portion sizes/carb counts are.

For me, the cautious approach has worked in that my worst A1c since being Dx's has been 5.7 and I do allow myself most every food I want, in moderation------------(don't tell anyone, but I do pig out on desserts and chocolates once in a while)