Carb to Insulin Ratio Numbers

StarLeopard

Are any Type 2s out there tracking carbs and Total Daily Doses of Insulin? I would be interested in knowing your typical current numbers. I found a similar thread on the Type 1 forum but I'm Type 2 and am more interested in that side of the issue. If you take both fast-acting and slow-acting insulin, please break the numbers down by both types. Thanks.

My current daily numbers:
Basal (slow) - 20
Bolus (fast) - 15
Net Carbs - 70
Carb to TDD ratio - 2.0 to 1

I have also recently started taking 2000 mg of Metformin daily to see if I can reduce the total insulin intake. So far it doesn't seem to be doing much after 45 days of being on it. The Type 1 Median numbers, btw, for a sample size of 15 reporting were: 24 basal and 15 bolus. Not much different than me, which makes me wonder if I've gone over to the other side--a question I'll soon be asking my doctor. Any suggestions, observations or advice in the meantime are welcome.

(The Type 1s didn't share their daily carb intakes but three of them said their carb to insulin ratios were 15, 5 and 14 to 1. So the ratio is probably more indicative of how insulin resistant one is rather than the type one is. What do you think?)

CRody44

I’m sorry, I don’t know what Basal and Bolus mean, and I count total carbs.

Novolin (slow acting) 20 units twice a day.
Novolog (fast acting) Sliding scale, average of 2.9 units per day over the last week
Carbs - average of 64 grams/day over the last week

Don’t know if this is the type of info you are looking for or not.

StarLeopard

No apology needed. That's perfect. Your Total Daily Dose of insulin is approximately 43 units if I understood you correctly. That would indicate a Carb to Insulin ratio of 1.49 carbs for every one unit of insulin. (Basal is the slow acting and the Bolus is the fast acting.) Your Basal to Bolus ratio is about 13 to 1. But if you don't subtract fiber from your total carbs then your actual Carb to Insulin ratio is probably lower than that. Thanks very much for the data.

amy_kee

Hi,
My name is Amy and I'm Type 2 and take Insulin.

I take 75 units of Levemir, twice a day. Once in the early am, and once before bed time for my basal.

For bolus, (fast acting), I am on my own sliding scale. The amount of Novolog that I take depends on my blood sugar reading, whether or not it is before or after a meal, etc. For example, if it were 125 & before a meal, I would take 25-- 35 units of NovoLog. Other times, I do need to take less NovoLog and I would take, say,...20 units of NovoLog when I'm eating hardly any carbs.

A while back, I used to take 1 unit of NovoLog for every unit that my blood sugar was over 100, then, also take extra for when I had to eat. But, I was on certain meds that really drove my blood sugar up high and I was super Insulin resistant.
Amy

StarLeopard

Thanks, Amy. Without knowing your average daily carbs and insulin totals I can't really compute a ratio for your numbers but it does sound like rather a low ratio of carbs to insulin. I don't understand why a doctor would have a diabetic patient on meds that contributed to high blood glucose but I hope the 71 lbs. lost have changed all that by now. Way to go. Twenty units of Novolog without consuming hardly any carbs sounds like a lot on top of the basal amount. Make sure the carbs have some fiber, fat and protein to go with them and see if that makes any noticeable difference. Let us know.

etfan

I'm T2 and use a pump. My basal is about 26 units/day and right now, after losing 57 lbs, my total daily insulin requirement is 50-60u, down from 100-125u/day six months ago when I joined MFP. I also take 2000 mg metformin daily. I bolus 1u for 10g carbs, and am eating about 300g of carbs/day, which is about 50% of my total cals. My diet used to be a lot higher in carbs, and lowering it to 50% has been helpful to control hunger and cravings; I want to lower it even further but will wait awhile-- with the weight loss and diet/exercise changes, everything is a moving target right now, so I won't tackle any more change for awhile!

StarLeopard

Thanks very much for the data, and congratulations on the weight loss and moving all those numbers in the right direction. I know it must seem difficult and scary to reduce those carbs further but it's really not that bad. The less of them you consume the less you will crave them and that is a very liberating feeling. But if things have been working well for you, you're right, just change one thing at a time and go slow. Well done.