[aus_syd_male]

hy guys,
I have finally made up my mind.I am adding humalog injection to my afternoon meals as well as some of you might know from my previous threads.I was on just on 70/30 2 injections perday.But now thing is i need some advice on dose adjustment and how this works as i have to get this sorted out in couple of days as i would be starting new job on monday.I am thinking of eat a regular mcchicken meal tomm afternoon how much humalog should i take.I know there is some Carb:insulin ratio thing but i aint got clue about it.Any advice would be appreciated.
Regards
Charneet

[Subby]

Hi Charneet, carb counting and the I:C ratio is a way to calculate how much insulin to take for the carbs you are eating. The most common way it is used, it tells you how many grams of carbs per 1 unit of insulin.

So an example of someone's I:C ratio might be 1:10, meaning that for every 10 grams of carbs, they take 1 unit of insulin. So, for a meal of 35 carbs, they would take 3.5 units. Does that makes sense?

Note though I am not saying use an I:C of 1:10. We can't help you out with your your I:C ratio might be. It's individual per person, for example mine is usually 1:6 and people can commonly be anywhere from 1:3 to 1:20, and either side. Massive differences in the amount of insulin these I:C ratios provide, and using someone elses can lead to terrible results! You really need your endo to look into your case and prescribe a good starting I:C to try.

[aus_syd_male]

Originally Posted by Subby

Hi Charneet, carb counting and the I:C ratio is a way to calculate how much insulin to take for the carbs you are eating. The most common way it is used, it tells you how many grams of carbs per 1 unit of insulin.

So an example of someone's I:C ratio might be 1:10, meaning that for every 10 grams of carbs, they take 1 unit of insulin. So, for a meal of 35 carbs, they would take 3.5 units. Does that makes sense?

Note though I am not saying use an I:C of 1:10. We can't help you out with your your I:C ratio might be. It's individual per person, for example mine is usually 1:6 and people can commonly be anywhere from 1:3 to 1:20, and either side. Massive differences in the amount of insulin these I:C ratios provide, and using someone elses can lead to terrible results! You really need your endo to look into your case and prescribe a good starting I:C to try.

ok great , what about insulin weight issue , everytime i talk to someone they say insulin causes weight , i know access insulin causes it but what about amount we have to take everyday and i think i might have added 2 kilo's since i got diagnosed as well.

[Subby]

While it's a growth hormone, it's not helpful to just look at insulin as "something that makes you put weight on" like some people do. First, as you say, a type 1 /1.5 will always (or near enough) need some insulin to cover basal requirements (which is part of just being human) and to cover a reasonable diet.

As a type 1 /1.5, if you find you're putting on weight and you feel it's related to your insulin usage, you should adjust your lifestyle and diet to mean that you don't take as much and see if this helps. This might mean being more active, eating less carbs and/or particular foods that require lots of insulin or "spike" you, and always taking adequate insulin/maintaining control, so that you don't go high (which leads to higher doses of insulin to "get back down" again).

So in other words, it's being forced to take more insulin to control your BG than perhaps you could, through lifestyle and dietary choices, rather than just insulin in itself, that can be the problem.

Learning how to carb count and dose accordingly, is a great start to fine tuning and possibly reducing your insulin and energy intake as required with minimal hassle, and reducing the likelihood of "feeding the insulin" which can happen on set dosages.

[aus_syd_male]

hy mate ,
Thanx for that.i am from sydney but i am moving to melbourne for my new job.Do you know any good endo's in melbourne around CBD.
Charneet

Originally Posted by Subby

While it's a growth hormone, it's not helpful to just look at insulin as "something that makes you put weight on" like some people do. First, as you say, a type 1 /1.5 will always (or near enough) need some insulin to cover basal requirements (which is part of just being human) and to cover a reasonable diet.

As a type 1 /1.5, if you find you're putting on weight and you feel it's related to your insulin usage, you should adjust your lifestyle and diet to mean that you don't take as much and see if this helps. This might mean being more active, eating less carbs and/or particular foods that require lots of insulin or "spike" you, and always taking adequate insulin/maintaining control, so that you don't go high (which leads to higher doses of insulin to "get back down" again).

So in other words, it's being forced to take more insulin to control your BG than perhaps you could, through lifestyle and dietary choices, rather than just insulin in itself, that can be the problem.

Learning how to carb count and dose accordingly, is a great start to fine tuning and possibly reducing your insulin and energy intake as required with minimal hassle, and reducing the likelihood of "feeding the insulin" which can happen on set dosages.

[TommyC1]

I've actually lost weight and improved my A1cs since I started carb counting and matching my insulin to my carbs.

YMMV

Tommy

[Subby]

Originally Posted by aus_syd_male

hy mate ,
Thanx for that.i am from sydney but i am moving to melbourne for my new job.Do you know any good endo's in melbourne around CBD.
Charneet

Unfortunately, not currently, but maybe someone else might have a recommendation. Remember you could always try calling Diabetes Australia - Victoria and ask to speak to an educator, explain your situation and ask them for suggestions, they are sure to have some names you could at least try.