My first post! I'm wondering if my carb to insulin ratios seem insanely low to anyone else. I am 5'7", 155 lbs, and moderately active, and my ratios vary from 1:6 to 1:7.5. Low, no? I know that everyone is different, but I feel like these are the ratios common for someone quite a bit larger and more sedentary than myself. I go low every day, pretty much, and I am 99% sure my boluses, and not my basal, are to blame. I've been doing basal rate testing, but I keep having to call off my fasts because my BG drops a few hours after I eat, and it is driving me crazy! I suppose I'm just looking for confirmation that I will be doing the right thing by adding a gram or two.
It sounds like you are doing the right thing to determine if you need to adjust it by a gram or two. If you are running low all the time, I would turn it down one unit and see what it does. Maybe one meal at a time but, if all 3 (4, 5?) meals are making you crash, I'd maybe do them all? There's always risk involved but not as much if you are taking less insulin as when you are taking more.
I'd add too that I don't worry about the ratios vs. my size, activity or whatever, just how the numbers turn out.
exactly I agree with AR, its not so much the numbers but how those numbers work for you. I take a bit higher basal than I do bolus...I know a lot of health care providers seem to think it needs to be about 50-50...but mine usually are more like 60-40 BUT it works for me...so that's the important thing.
I:C ratios are not based primarily on size but on insulin sensitivity vs insulin resistance. What counts with I:C ratios is that they work for you to keep your blood sugar in range more often than not.
Where did you get these ratios? Did you get than from a doctor or did you figure them out for yourself by trial and error? If the latter than I'm confused why you are using these ratios if they always make you low. When you say your blood glucose drops a "few hours" after you eat what do you mean? If you are always low at your 2 hour pp check, then you are taking too much insulin and should change your ratios. If you are low 3, 4, or 5 hours after you eat, then, yes, it would be the basal. Personally I don't bother with basal testing. If I'm consistently low say 3 hours after lunch which for me is about 5PM, I will then reduce the basal a small amount for the period around 3PM and see how that works for a couple days.
Btw I see you are in Oakland. I started a wonderful Type 1 Women's Group that meets once a month in Berkeley or Oakland. The next meeting is this Saturday. let me know if you're interested and I'll forward the announcement to you.
I agree that one's ratios (and everything else) are highly individual, and should be based on specific needs, but when I notice that many women of my size and activity level (and it is my understanding that these do tend to correlate with I:C ratios, at least loosely) take almost half as much insulin as I do with meals, it gives me pause. I wouldn't care if I weren't going low, but since I am...
Zoe, I go low at different times depending on food, and also on whether I use a dual wave bolus-- that, of course, could send me low 3 or 4 hours after a meal. And I think that it has. And yes! I am interested in coming to the group. I am out of town this weekend, but please let me know about the next meeting. Thank you so much for the invitation.
You might want to not use dual wave bolus for awhile and just keep track of how often you are low 2 hours after a meal and start to decrease your insulin by a bit (reduce your I:C ratios and see how you do).
I see you were diagnosed over 20 years ago and unfortunately insulin resistance can start to set in over time. But what's important is that you have the I:C ratios that work for you!
I sent you a friend invite and if you send me back your e-mail I'll give it to the person who maintains the Group list (I've moved north to the mountains so I no longer run the group). It's a wonderful group of women!
Can't say for you, but I am 5'9', semi sedentary, weigh 234 lbs. My Carb to insulin ratio is 7/1. I assume you are wanting to raise your carb to insulin ratio to use less insulin for more carbs. With going low after meals then I would very gradually increase the level and test often to see how it goes. What is your correction factor?
What hapens two hours after you eat can depend a lot on what you ate. Foods with a lot of fat take longer to digest, so you might go low 2 hours after and then high a bit later. (I use a square wave bolus for Chinese food, pizza and other high fat meals, and it works well)
I agree with AR, however, that you are on the right track.
i am 5'4" 108 lbs. my insulin to carb ratio is 1:8/ then 1:10 from 11am until 3pm, then bk to 1:8. dont really understand why, but i need more insulin on board for lunch. whats always been a constant for me, though, and i think this is peculiara, is that no matter what, i need to add an Xtra unit of insulin at bkfst time, no matter what my BSs are and no matter what i am eating.( and this is even at a low basal rate.hummmm)
1:8 is not all that low. If you eat 40, you take 5 units. I bolus about 8 units per day and total with basal lesss than 18. It ia all based, as Zoe says, on insulin sensitivity.
Alex, I am 5'7" tall and 153 pounds, my ratios are 1:5 for breakfast, 1:9 for lunch and 1:10 for dinner. I take 14 units of lantus at breakfast and 14 after dinner. I am fairly active, play tennis, walk a lot, play golf etc this works for me, but as in anything else with D, your D may vary. I am really happy right now with my basal and it keeps me pretty level.
