I have been on a low-carb diet for about three weeks now. I am maintaining no more than 30 carbs in a day and it seems to be working. My only issue is it seems that I am using a lot more insulin as of lately. When eating my lunch for example, the low carb bread I eat is 14g of carbs per serving. I normally would take 1.5 or 2.0 units of insulin but now I am needing more like 4 or 5 units. I am on the Omnipod, and thought maybe it was the pod. I have switched multiple pods and even used multiple different insulin vials.
Has anyone had these issues? I have read where it is the other way around, in which people's sensitivity to insulin increases, making the doses smaller.
Any input is appreciated!
Barney
Many people find that when they eat very low carb they need to bolus for protein as well. But that does seem like a big jump. Are you sure you are counting all your carbs? Eating only 30 a day and having 14 grams of bread sounds skewed - you do count for veggies, right? Also is it possible your basal needs increasing and thus your bolus is having to cover some of the basal needs?
My protein intake has definitely increased, and I do not at this time bolus for protein. I am not a big veggie person, mostly stick to red meats/poultry. I have carbs for lunch daily and try to keep the carbs to a minimum during night time. I eat low carb muffins for breakfast often, which only contain 2gr of carbs which I dont bolus for due to the heavy labor at work in the AM. Perhaps I will bump up my basal settings a tad and see where that takes me. Thanks
One common effect of a low carb diet is that you become carb intolerant. It doesn't mean that you use more insulin, only that carbs raise your blood sugar more sharply. In fact, you are advised to "carb up" prior to a standard glucose tolerance test.
I went to a "lower carb" diet (50-70 grams/day) a little over a year ago. I found that I need to bolus for my protein; I use an extended bolus (2-5 hours) to cover the protein.
In order for you to really understand what's going on and bolus appropriately, you should put some effort into basal rate testing before you experiment with boluses. I know it's tempting to SWAG this stuff but I haven't figured out a dependable short-cut to getting it right. I tried, many times.
I find low carb eating as one of the most potent BG control tools I use. Good luck, you're on a good road.
By the way, has your total daily dose of insulin gone down since you adopted low carb?
Sorry for the new green comment that's about to come out of my mouth, but I don't think I am familiar with basal rate testing. I have slowly over time made minor adjustments to my current basal rate, but nothing extreme. What is basal rate testing? And yes, no doubt has my total daily doese of insulin gone down since the new diet. I am averaging about eight units of bolus per day along with 25 units for basal. I was maintaining aboutn 30 units of bolus a day before the low carb change.
No need to apologize. I assumed you knew about basal testing since you use a pump. You can get a pretty good overview of the nuts and bolts of basal testing by visiting Gary Scheiner's website. Gary is a T1D, a certified diabetes educator, diabetes author, and proprietor of Integrated Diabetes Services. I have no relationship with Gary Scheiner other than that of a satisfied customer.
If your total daily dose of insulin has gone down and you're eating a similar number of calories with comparable BG control, then your body has become more insulin sensitive.
Do yourself a favor and don't tire with the effort to sort out your basal and bolus needs. It will pay you large dividends going forward. It's not a short project, but so worth it.
When I first went low carb my bolus went down a lot. Then it went up... I think it was from protein/fat intake but I'm not sure. I didn't have the carb effect Brian described, I did lo carb because I already had that effect from carbs period.. while in hospital I treated a low of 50 with 2 saltine crackers and went to 170 in 20 minutes. I had tons of other experiences where I would take around 8 units, the maximum recommended to me per meal and still end up in the 200's. And I had already started waiting to eat after bolus then too. This made me see that lo carb was a must if I was ever going to get better control. I wouldn't worry too much about the higher doses as long as your control is ok.
I'm not much of a math person so I don't calculate the protein etc. I tried that at first but bolusing for that was making me go hypo, so I stopped. Now I know pretty much how much I will need for pretty much the same meals. I find that walking after my 25 g meal is stopping spikes so far, one of the times I'm most likely to spike.
As far as basal, I have never done a basal test, ever, I was started at 30 units while in dka and then my needs just gradually reduced by x units per week as I remember... until I got to 9. Now I take 8 at night and 3 in the morning. I'm mdi though so this is different for you... not being on the pump I can't adjust it the way pumpers can.
One question I have is are you just eating the bread and it's 14g? if you have a lot of protein/fat with it that is probably why you need more now.
