I see what you guys are saying. I have had good control for three days now, but last night I didn't want to take a bolus,so I just ate chicken with 1/2 c. veggies amounting to under 6 carbs. no other carbs were present and 3 hours later I'm at 250! I guess we can just do the best we can, and whatever happens happens.
I think it's 53% of the protein converts to carbs so I bolus when I have chicken/ veggie meals.
Congrats!! Always wonderful to have someone that car4es and supports us...with this very trying disease. Stay strong....baby steps. :) xo
thanks Robyn. I went out to eat tonight, counted my carbs, injected proper amt of insulin, and tested 258 3 hours later. my number went high after dinner last night as well. i wonder why?
Wasn't the proper dose of insulin, or your carb count was off. Hard to do in restaurants.
how do you know how much to bolus?
acidrock and alan, i didn't know i would need to be a mathematician when i was diagnosed with diabetes.
You would need to know how high you usually go at 1 hour mark for most meals. You would take a correction dose that will achieve that target. So, if most meals spike you to 160 by 1hr mark, then you would correct just to 160 and no more, otherwise you might cause a low.
I'm assuming you're asking how you know how much to bolus for a correction, dusk, not your original carb bolus.
To correct you start with a goal, say 120. Then most important you need to know your ISF - insulin sensitivity factor. This is how many points one unit of insulin will drop your blood sugar. For me, mine is 1:40 during the day and 1:60 at night. So during the day if I was say 200. That would mean I would need to take two units to drop me to 120. But you also need to be sure to keep track of your insulin on board. For that you need to know the duration of your insulin, it varies individually a little and by which fast acting insulin you use. I use the fastest, Apidra and I count my duration as just 3 hours. So if I get that 200 two hours after eating, and let's say I had bolused 3 units for my food. That means 1/3 or one unit is remaining. So given I need two to correct but still have one I bolus one unit for my correction.
Your ISF may vary considerably and the only way to find it out is by trial and error. Start conservative and then increase it (lower the number) until you find the amount of points you most frequently drop. It's not an exact science because it depends on what you ate, etc. I know it sounds complicated but once you get your own formula down it's not too hard.
Congratulations to you both!
DH=dear husband, or darling husband.
thanks alan and zoe. looks like i'll be working some math problems :)
This is why I am now writing everything down, and I'll be testing an hour after meals for a while
haha! well in my case it means "dear husband"