I was just wondering how my Insulin to Carb ratio compares to others. Pretty sure it doesn’t matter but i was just curious to see what ratios some of the others on here might be using. I am currently using 1:8.
Thanks!
My I:C is 1:9 most of the time, and 1:8 in the morning. It approaches 1:7 for grain-based foods. So, we’re more or less the same.
1:10 
I use 1:6 for breakfast, 1:12 for lunch & 1:15 for dinner
1:7 for breakfast, 1:11 for lunch and 1:6 for dinner.
Generally 1:8 but I have adjusted to 1:7 at times too - usually mornings.
I was 1:9 last month but since hot flashes and drenching night sweats have become part of my life these last few weeks I’ve moved down to 1:5 I’ll be glad when this is done! I also run a higher ratio in the spring and summer and lower in the winter.
Will,
Mine varies by time of day, what I’m going to eat, activity planned, what the season is, what the gremlins are doing, if taking an antibiotic or prednisone, and if my kidneys are acting up. Anywhere from 1:14 to 1:30.
Trisha
Wow never realized that you could set it to change throughout the day like a basal rate. Very interesting! How did you guys figure that out? What made you determine that the I:C was what needed changing and not the fact that you just “needed” more insulin for what you ate? Learning more everyday from this site!!
Trial and error after trial and error after trial and error. There really is no EASY way. For the longest time I was 1:7 all day and it worked well. I ended up having some really bad low blood sugars in the evenings and needed to cut back on basal and bolus. I am currently 1:8 until 3pm when it switches over to 1:10.
You could do the official testing of it at the different times of day, but even that boils down to trial and error. I tend to eat the exact same things every day so it was easy for me to figure out what worked & what didn’t.
It does get easier if you can eat the same thing for at least 3 days in a row. We are a big leftover eating family here so it works for me to cook one day and eat the same thing for the next two days. Once I get a level changed them I am a bit more free with the foods
I am 1:8-10
Wow…never knew 1-3 more carbs can make such a difference but I guess it does if you are taking more than 2 units or so.
Mine differ quite a bit during the day: 1:7 for breakfast, 1:8 for lunch and 1:18 for dinner. It has been stable for quite awhile now but originally I figured it out by starting at 1:15 and then changing it up or down depending on results. Then for awhile I would look at a page of numbers when it was full (3-4 weeks) and see how many times in each meal I was too high or too low and tweak that I:C accordingly. Once you are close on figuring your I:C ratios you may find some foods that don’t hold to the numbers and then you can decide to take a little more for that meal, eat less of that food or eliminate that food from your diet, or experiment with combo boluses. I only tweaked the I:C ratio when I saw a pattern of being high or low 60% or more of the time.
Actually the less insulin you take the harder it is to accurately cover carbs. When I tried to cover my 1:18 dinner rate on MDI I was often too high or too low because I had to round up or down. The difference between 2 and 3 units was a lot! On the pump I can fine tune it by much smaller amounts.
I’m 1:15 and sometimes 1:20 but that depends on my activity level. Plus I am new to DM and am prob honeymooning
Insulin resistant type 2 here – I was trying 1:5, but it needed to come down.
I’m currently at 1:4.5 and it’s still not enough. I’ll start testing 1:4 tomorrow.
My last doctor had me at 1:15. This is why people need to get involved in their own ratio testing and adjusting. 1:15 was ridiculously useless.
However, I’m suspecting that I may need to do as others do and have a lower ratio in the mornings (e.g. 1:3 or 1:4) and a higher one for afternoon snacks and dinner time (e.g. 1:5 or 1:6) because if I exercise regularly, I’m still too high in the early hours but I go too low in the late afternoon and evening.
I’m slowly, slowly tweaking the basal, too.
That is a good point Jean, exercise can double your insulin sensitivity.
1:8 all day