type 1 diabetic since early january of this year… 29 years old. I was taken off of my sliding scale yesterday and told to dose my insulin in a 1:15 ration of insulin to carbs. I feel like this may not be enough insulin. I know we all differ tremendously in what our bodies need and how our bodies react to insulin but if you wouldn’t mind sharing your ratios with me it would be super helpful. I am 5’3’’ and weight about 114 (a lot better then 98 lbs at dx) thought I do miss my slimmer figure! I guess I looked like a walking skeleton and nobody told me!
Thanks everyone,
Jess
(p.s. I am on apidra pens and 18 unites of lantus before bedtime, which I shoot into my upper thigh)
I actually set my own not long after I got out of the hospital. it’s trial and error, started with 1:10 (to many lows), now I do 1:15 for most meals. But if I am be over active I switch to a 1:30 and with some foods have to add or subtract a unit based on how they hit me. Also have 2 lantus doses one for lazy days and one for when I am working/exercising.
It is complicated but you will figure it out in a little
Nobody (including your doctor!) can tell you exactly what your I:C ratio should be! 1:15 is a good starting place that many of us use and then depending on how we do at 2 hours post prandial, tweak it either up or down. Also it is quite possible you will have different ratios for different meals. In my case, using that process I found that at 1:15 my blood sugar was way too high after both breakfast and lunch, but too low after dinner! I’ve changed it a bit since then (2 1/2 years on insulin), but my ratios are now 1:6, 1:7 and 1:18.
1:15 is a standard starting point. You will have to adjust that, probably. Keep careful track of your blood sugars before and 2 hours after meals and begin making small adjustments as you see fit. You may need to adjust the rates per meal/time of day if you find you are more/less sensitive at a certain time of day.
1:15 is a good starting point, as everyone here has said. My ratios (checking my pump) are 1:12, 1:9, and 1:13, depending on time of day. I think that (just between you and me) I tend to underestimate my carbs and my ratios have migrated this way in order to accommodate. So when I “think” I’m eating 9 carbs at lunchtime, it’s really closer to 12 or 13, making my ratios more steady.
When you’re not on the pump and don’t deal with fractions of a unit, it’s a bit easier to do the calculations, but when I was on injections, I found myself portioning my meals in 15-carb intervals to make the insulin units work out.
You’ll have MUCH better control with I:C ratios, it’s worth the time and record keeping to get it tweaked just right for YOU. I too started at 1:15, I’m now at 1:7, 1:11 and 1:6. Be careful to rotate your injection sites, try not to get within an inch of a site you’ve used in the last week.
J nudge my carb/ insulin ratio every so often. Sometimes my activity level will change but sometimes it seems to just change. Often a switch of a G/U will make a significant difference, one way or the other?
I am newly diagnosed and weigh 104 lbs 5’4 24 years old and I have an insulin to carb ratio of 1:10 which surprised me for my size and how active I am but I also seem to have some insulin resistance which my endo said most LADAs do.
I was diagnosed In March as type 1. My ratios are 1:5, 1:6, and 1:10. Of course that does change during menses and stress. It really is an individuals body. You will figure it out, and EVERYONE on this website is a HUGE help!
You’ve gotten some good advice Jess! I just want to say that it does change over time. Whether it’s min over an hr, hrs thru a day, etc. I have several different bolus rations set in my pump depending on the time of day. I too will change it for exercise, etc like others have said. You will learn what it should be and when. Please be sure to keep quick sugar with you, like you don’t already, and check that BG often!
I thank all of you for your responses, very helpful. I think that I am going to bring it down to 1:10 and see how that goes. I had a meal using the 1:15 ratio and for the FIRST time since diagnosis i got above 200, kinda scary… didn’t feel too good. So today i took a friend out to birthday breakfast where I had 2 OM eggs, whole wheat toast and a little sausage. I injected 6 units of insulin (BG before meal was 71) and two hours later I was 101… pretty awesome. Actually, that’s all i’ve eaten today so far and that was at 10:30 this am. I have a hard time eating 3 meals a day, my body isn’t used to it as I was always a constant grazer and not a true “meal eater”. Any advice for the non meal eaters, I just don’t want my insulin to overlap or whatever its called. it’s a conundrum
I pretty much snack too. I usually have a bowl of cereal for bfast and then some chesse and crackers about 6 or so hours later and then my husband and I don’t eat dinner until late maybe 8 or so and i have a lite dinner. I don’t overlap because i don’t truly graze all day. in your case, just be sure to only go on the carbs in that sitting and make sure you know appx how long your active insulin time is. your doc should have told you or can tell you. That way you’ll know how much insulin is hanging around when you take the next injection. as you know, eating more protein is easier since, in my case anyway, i don’t have to bolus for protein. I don’t know if that helped or not. let me know if i can be of more help.
I’m really happy you posted this. I am 28 years old and weight around 130 (I was at 120 before diagnosis). I was diagnosed with T1 a little over a year ago and up until last week, my endo had me on a sliding scale throughout the day. She FINALLY had me see a CDE who set me on an I:C. I’m still working on my levels, but reading what everyone has had to say helps me out a lot too. So thank you!
I want to clarify what i said because when i read it again it sounds a little confusing. I use a 1:C but during the day it will got from 1:13 varying to 1:19 at most.
Going from 1:15 to 1:10 is a pretty steep change… you’re increasing your bolus by 33%. May I suggest going with 1:12 or 1:13 for awhile and see how that works?
Doctors always err on the side of caution when starting off on ratios. While I, personally prefer to have my BG be low than high, as it’s faster (and more delicious) to correct, it’s also more potentially dangerous, and the docs don’t want to put you in that position.
Welcome aboard the journey. Are you plotting your BG? Both my son and I are T1’s and I use this technique to assist both of us. By downloading your meter or graphing you results a trend will quickly be evident so you will be able to “tweak” your ratio’s. First of all make sure you have basal tested so you don’t roll you basal requirements into you carb ratio’s. Good luck
I’m 5’3" & 108. I keep a 4x6 food notebook with test results at left, amounts of foods in the middle & the grams for that food just to the right, and finally at far right the insulin I gave. It has provided me a great record of exact foods, amounts, and units, and I go back to prior pages rather often.
I’ve had T1 over 10 years. My I:C at breakfast is 1:3 for a piece of low carb toast with cream cheese on it; at lunch, afternoon, and supper 1:5-6. I also have a ratio for pizza, 1:3 with more 2.5 hours later. For lasagna at supper, it’s 1:4.
When you look at the diet they first gave you, you can figure out what your ratio was then. Then start doing your research with one favorite food at a time. See what you test at one hour and what you test at two hours after those foods.
Fruit is different from cereals different from pasta different from rice, milk products - test for each singly. Be your own research subject.
Time your insulin and test to find when it starts your BG going down. That is when you know it is actively working. That’s when you want your food going in, and your one hour test will show hardly a rise if you eat then.
Another trick is to eat a couple slices of Muenster cheese to slow down/temper the BG rise. This helps with fruit.
So my message is that it depends on time of day, which carbs you’re eating, and the timing of the insulin action’s beginning.
Don’t burn yourself out. It’s all a big guessing game anyway. The labels on food packages are educated guesses, then we make educated guesses based on those guesses. Trying to get it 100% right will drive you insane! Just do your best and enjoy those correction boluses!
Once I started to customize every single one of the general recommendations for I:C and correction factors for different times of the day, my control greatly improved. Too bad it took me only about 25 years to realize this! The math got tougher and I don’t always hit the numbers, but taking the time to figure out custom formulas and then testing periodically (darn, aging changes things), is worth all the effort. When I can convince myself to make the effort
I use 1 unit : 8 g carb. for breakfast (unless the night before featured a run; then I use 1:10). I used to use 1:12 for lunch, but am seeing some big peaks (and since I don’t want to go on Symlin, I’m doing some experimenting with a bit more insulin–but, the 3-4 hour after tail of my Apidra has been sinking me, so perhaps some basal work needs to happen around 3-4 p.m.?). I use 1:15 at dinner (unless I’m going for a run, then I use 1:20 ish).
And in the mornings, even if I wake with, oh, a 52, I never treat with more than 8 grams glucose–otherwise, those wake-up hormones send me to the moon!
Best wishes as you experiment with your bolus ratios and correction factors.
