Insulin totally depends on your weight. When I was heavier (and eating more carbs), I took a lot more insulin. How many grams of carbs do you eat at each meal?

If you are on shots:

Basal insulin is Lantus or Levemir (usually), normally taken once or twice a day.

Bolus insulin is Novolog or Humalog (usually) and is for meals, snacks, and corrections.

What kind of insulin do you take unknown_sister? Your insulin to carb ratio is high though mine is too, it is 1:4.

Erin

I hope you continue to try to cut down your carbs and be active, and I encourage you all the way. I want to share something with you ( and everyone else) that happened to me. I used to be alot like you(from the sounds of it) I LOVED and I'll even say i was addicted to Breads & Pasta. I had the neurotic thinking that I could eat whatever i wanted- I would just take more insulin, and everything would be fine. Afterall, my dr used to have me on a sliding scale- so no biggie. Wrong. In March of 2011 I got a diabetic ulcer on the bottom of my foot ( I had become quite resistant to my insulin and my blood sugars were way too high for too long) In July of that year, it finally close shut- too bad there was a staph infection in there. In tunneled a pocket of infection to the side of my foot and the docotrs had to cut it open so it could drain. There was now a hole in the side of my foot, approximately 7 cm deep. They did a debrisment to cut the infection away, and put me on a wound vac, and the oral antibiotics werent working so I did IV antibiotics every 8 hours for two months. It was looking alot better and was starting to fill in. By September 2011, Suddenly I couldn't keep anything down and spiked a fever of about 103-104ish. Went from being a staph infection to a bone infection- another surgery I underwent. Again started me on IVs until thanksgiving. this went on with surgies after surgeries.Probably about one every 6-8 weeks. I was seeing doctors three times a week. (foot specialist, reg dr and infectious disease) In Feb of this year- they sent me to try the hyperbariac oxygen treatments to try to promote some healing. Two weeks in- fever returned, another bad infection. With all the infections- kept my blood sugar pretty high and the infections weren't getting better because the BS were high. Now they sent me to a vascular surgeon and his team. Did another debrisment and gave it another month to heal.-about 3 weeks later it was either infected again or it never left, but anyway infection got worse while i was on the ivs. The decision was finally made to amputate below my knee on May 2nd 2012. Considering I'm not even thirty yet- I don't think I ever cried so much in my life as in that first week -- both of physical pain and emotional. I have a prosthetic now- and they make em great now, but I would not wish the last two years of my life on my worst enemy. I'm currently in the process of getting approved for an insulin pump, and following what my dietician has told me ( i was told to go 30-60 carbs a meal at most, and I've started being active again after a long healing process to try to take off some extra weight. What everyone needs to remember is it is never to late to start and continuing for improvement.

Great post! I am taking between 60-80 units per day but after reading this I am going to focus on lowering my carb intake. I'm sure this will help with my sugars and get me loosing weight again.

I was diagnosed about 12 years ago. I average between 10 and 16 a day, depending on how intense of a work out day it is! the odd weekend I slip diet wise and go a bit higher, but I find the less insulin I'm taking, the better I feel and the easier it is to maintain/lose weight.

Hi! Well, I'm new to this diagnosis.... one month ago, at 49, I was diagnosed as a type 1 - LADA - so I'm VERY new to all this. I don't even know yet what "Basal" and "Bolis" means. But I do know that I take 5 units x 3x/day for 15/day Novolog - pre-meal and 18 of Lantus at bedtime.

I'm not sure if that's high or low. I stopped working out ~6 months ago b/c I felt soooo sick and was in the ER more than I'd like to admit. I haven't started back to working out again ... yet. Mainly b/c I'm still working all this out and I'm terribly afraid of the lows.

Fortunately I've been a very clean eater (paleo tendencies) for a few decades; so my diet is fairly stable. I was told to increase my carbs ~2+ months ago. I went from consuming less than 50 a day to a target of 194/day. HUGE change for me!!!
Friend me if you'd like to walk through this journey with me ... and you can take my sense of humor

Hi! Well, I'm new to this diagnosis.... one month ago, at 49, I was diagnosed as a type 1 - LADA - so I'm VERY new to all this. I don't even know yet what "Basal" and "Bolis" means. But I do know that I take 5 units x 3x/day for 15/day Novolog - pre-meal and 18 of Lantus at bedtime.

I'm not sure if that's high or low. I stopped working out ~6 months ago b/c I felt soooo sick and was in the ER more than I'd like to admit. I haven't started back to working out again ... yet. Mainly b/c I'm still working all this out and I'm terribly afraid of the lows.

Fortunately I've been a very clean eater (paleo tendencies) for a few decades; so my diet is fairly stable. I was told to increase my carbs ~2+ months ago. I went from consuming less than 50 a day to a target of 194/day. HUGE change for me!!!
Friend me if you'd like to walk through this journey with me ... and you can take my sense of humor

Essentially, your "bolus' is your rapid/fast acting insulin(your novolog) and your basal is the slow acting ( Lantus). I'm going on my 11th year of Type 1, and when I was first diagnosed I was afraid of the low's like you are now. I even had some extreme low's. That's slowly gone away. I can recognize the symptoms rather easily and correct them before its too late. Just remember to Listen to your body--- and check your blood sugar as often as your dr recommends ( if not more). For example when my blood sugar starts to drop, my body will start feeling cool all of a sudden, and if i check it, its usually time to think of having a snack or meal. I would suggest paying close attention how you and your body feels when you check it and pretty soon you'll more then likely be able to have a better idea too. Good luck and welcome