To kick things off here's a look at yesterday's adventure. To prove that I mean no judgement, you'll see that I'm sharing a day where I totally was NOT low-carb. This is a safe place to share.
basal = levemir
bolus = novolog
target = 100. Since I'm just starting this makes my math easier (always the same even target all day), and is higher than my long term goal because I have no clue what I'm doing and this is a safer number to shoot until I learn more.
8am
- BG 138
- 25U basal
- 8U bolus
I'm ~40 pts higher than my current target of 100. This number is totally unscientific and I don't have a formula. I have arrived at it through upping my morning correction by 1U every couple days until I found a dose that lowered my BG close to 100 after 4 hours.
9am
- 8 effective carbs (I'm using a new formula from the ADA,
http://www.diabetesforum.com/diabetes/83170-alternative-carb-count-strategy.html)
- I have decided to not bolus for this food because I've tested it before and doesn't seem to impact my BG much despite the carb count.
1pm
- BG: 110
- Lunch will be 40 effective carbs
- Bolus: 6U
I am using the starting i:c ratio (insulin:carbs) based on my weight, so 1:7. 1U per 7g carbs. 40/7 = 5.71, I rounded up to 6.
2:30pm
- ~1hr PP
- BG: 203
- IOB (insulin on board): 4.5U
No insulin correction at this time. I am still learning how long my bolus lasts in my system and wanted to see where things would go. Right now I'm going with the initial assumption of a 4 hour action time.
3:30pm
- BG: 183
- IOB: 3U
- Bolus: 6U
Since it looked like my BG was flattening out, I decided to correct with 6U. During the day (not morning) I am going by 1U lowers my BG 10pts (correction factor of 10), I have 3U in my system still, so in theory this should bring me down 90pts, to 90.
4:30pm
- BG: 131
- IOB: I think 6U? I suck at math...
Seems like things are going in the right direction so I go back to work.
8:00pm
- BG: 95 (HOT DAMN! Things are looking up for Daytona)
- 19 effective carbs
- Bolus: 3U
At the moment I'm using the same i:c for lunch and dinner (1:7). So 19/7 = ~3.
9:45pm
- BG: 135
- IOB: 1.5U
- Bolus: 3U
- Basal: 25U (Yes, I'm purposefully stacking my basal dose for more oompf in the late morning)
Doh! Looks like 3U wasn't enough... I probably should have bolused just 2U, which would have meant an effective amount of 3.5U getting me to around 100. But I went with my gut, and picked 3U.
Totals:
Basal: 50U
Bolus: 26U
TDD: 76U
Carbs: 78g
So there's a day in the life of Daytona learning how to take insulin. What I struggle with most is my i:c and correction factor. I'm using the starting values suggested for my weight, some finger in the air feeling for how my insulin sensitivity during the day but am really lost on how to adjust from those initial values. None of is scientific (which if you know me drives me nuts). I'm doing my best with what I think is happening based on as many fingerpricks as I'm willing to do. One more reason why I want a CGM!