# Carb counting



## MrsBoyle (Aug 14, 2010)

Hiya
How does carb counting work. We want to get to no how it works ready for Dylans insulin change.


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## Northerner (Aug 14, 2010)

MrsBoyle said:


> Hiya
> How does carb counting work. We want to get to no how it works ready for Dylans insulin change.



Very simply put, it means that, for every 10grams of carbs in the meal or snack you are about to eat, you inject one or more units of insulin. So, you 'count' up the carbs and inject an appropriate amount of insulin. For example, if you needed one unit for every 10g and your meal had 70g carbs, then you would inject 7 units of fast acting insulin.

The complicated bit is that for most people 10g does not equal 1 unit. It might be 10g=2units, or 10g=1.5units. This is known as the 'ratio' of insulin to carbs. This might be different at different times of day (many people need more insulin in the morning) so you might have different calculations to do for breakfast and lunch etc.

Once you work out what the ratios are, then it isn't so complicated and you should quickly get used to it - your DSN should help you working everything out to start with and it will probably take a while to get them just right, but it will be worth it!

There is an online course for carb counting here:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/


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## Gemma444 (Aug 15, 2010)

Hi becca

When people were telling me about carb counting I thought it was really hard but once you are doing it its's quite easy. I have the collins gem carb book and also the carbs and cals book which has pictures in it. I also use the salter nutri-weight 1400 scales, they are small but i put a cup and then a plate on them. i got the books from amazon and the scales from ebay. The scales have a menu stored in them and work out the carbs for you. I would really reacomend the get some of these things.

Gem x


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## Monica (Aug 15, 2010)

I have done that course Northerner recommended. It's really good.


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## MrsBoyle (Aug 19, 2010)

Does carb counting work on the mixed insulins


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## novorapidboi26 (Aug 19, 2010)

unfortunately not, but its is recommended as it wont hurt and i can confidently say he will be on MD Injection probably quite soon


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## Adrienne (Aug 20, 2010)

Sorry disagree.  Carb counting can help when on mixes so it is a great idea to start now.

I have described this on another thread somewhere today already I think.   If you can keep the carbs the same for all breakfasts, all lunches and all teas you stand a better chance of getting the insulin somewhere in the right region.

Also just read Northerners post about how to carb count.   Some hospitals still work like that but those hospitals that pump don't do it like that so you would need to change how you do it so it is better not to start like that in the first place (sorry Northe).    His way of doing it, you always use 10carbs and alter the insulin to fit 10 carbs.

The other way to do it is you always work with 1 unit of insulin and change the carbs.

So Jessica's ratios are for breakfast it is 1 :7 which means for ever 7 carbs she eats she needs 1 unit of insulin.   For example   if she had 30 carbs for breakfast you would do the following sum :

30 divided by 7  =  4.2

So she would need 4.2 units of insulin, on a pump she can have exactly that.  On injections you could round that down to 4 units and inject that.

For tea time she is on 1 : 12 which is 1 unit for every 12 carbs eaten.   If she ate 107 carbs (which is a lot for her in one go but I'm pretending I am out hehehehe)   the sum is  :

107 divided by 12  =  8.9

The pump could give her 8.9 units but on injections you round it up to 9 units.

See its easy  

It really is best to start that way so you don't have to change when you choose to start a pump.

On mixed insulins though as you are not matching insulin to carbs, don't worry too much until you start MDI, (you could pretend sometimes and try and work it out and a ball park number to start on is 1 : 15 ie 1 unit for ever 15 carbs).   You can just start counting the carbs though so you know where you are when you start MDI or if you skip that and go straight to a pump (which I think will be the best bet quite frankly, especially with needle problems ).

Hope that helps.


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