Hello All, I'm familiar with the 500 rule to estimate your carb factor and I'm familiar with the 1800 rule to determine your correction factor, but when my son (8 yrs old) has a low I'm always struggling to figure out how many carbs he needs to raise his BG back to his target of 110mg/dl.
Actually, if you know your correction factor and carb factor perfectly, it is easy.
Recall that
Carb Factor = Number of grams of carbs covered per one unit of insulin = C/I
Correction Factor = Amount your blood sugar drops per on unit of insulin = BS/I
Carb Sensitivity = Amount your blood sugar rises per gram of carb = =(BS/I) / (C/I) = BS/C
Hence you can simply divide your correction factor by your carb factor and estimate the amount your blood sugar is raised by a gram of carbs.
To use this, let's say your son is 60 mg/dl and has a carb factor of 20 and a correction factor of 100. In order to raise your son to 110, he would need (110-60) / (100/20) = 10 grams of carbs.
ps. It turns out carb sensitivity is generally related to weight. A petite adult typically rises 5-10 mg/dl/g. I am a "big" adult (205 lbs), I rise about 2-3 mg/dl/g. A child may rise even more, perhaps 10-20 mg/dl/g.
Thank you bsc! That is exactly the information I was looking for.
Yifat
I've found the formulas, in general, to be just that...general. For me the best way to figure out what works is trial and error...using x number of glucose tabs and seeing if it gives you the results desired. For me, two glucose tabs work if I'm in the 50s and 3 if I'm lower. This is assuming no Insulin on Board, of course.
That is a great point. Life is not really a forumla. The best answer is to probably test and find out how much your blood sugar rises.
I believe bsc and zoe have said everything - BUT I have something to add. That is, that in a small person, such as an 8 year old, the average does not hold quite as true as for those in the middle of the scale. Therefore, trial and error is going to be your lot for awhile. If at 105 lbs a gram supposedly raises 6.5 gm, figure from there. It's going to raisse more for an 8 year old who weighs 85 or whatever. Some years ago I tried to apply all the known scales to this, and I unhappily found it didn't bear out when I checked with parents. We are all individuals. It would be marvelous to get real data on this for kids 45 lbs to 105.
yes, it depends how much insulin on board, when the last bolus was, exercise level(s)..also, if one uses the above method, Carb Factor = Number of grams of carbs covered per one unit of insulin = C/I, that too is variable, different for every meal sometimes.
Leo2, thanks for adding your experience and knowledge. I will be sure to use the calculation as simply a start point.