Insulin to carb ratio

General
1

Just wondering what others insulin to carb ratio is. Mine is 1 unit for every 5 carbs and I feel like that is really bad

2

Hi @ShortCake,

Thanks for sharing your insulin to carb ratio. Do you use the same ratio for all times of day, for all meals and for all snacks? My ratio differs for different times of day - I don’t know exactly why, but that has worked for me since I began MDI in the 1970’s.

Each of us is different, no two bodies are exactly alike so please don’t judge yourself on, or base your treatment on what someone else does - but YES, listen to what other people have used, both successes and failures. I HATE those last two terms I just used.

Your body apparently needs lots of insulin to effectively put to work, for energy, brain power, muscle tone, etc. to keep you going. There is no saying why and the amount of insulin needed will probably change over time; I used over 100 units per day in the 1960’s and didn’t eat that much, starved myself but things have changed for me - now I average about 225 carbs per day and use only 22 units of insulin basal and bolus combined. Yes, I’ve become very insulin sensitive so any changes I make are measured in 0.125 unit increments.

Please don’t chastise yourself for NEEDUNG insulin - you are doing what is right, feeding the needs of your very special body. It sounds to me that you are trying hard and being successful.

3

Don’t put a value judgement on it…ultimately you need what you need, ya know? There are so, so, so many factors that impact what we need at different times of day and under different circumstances. It’s really quite crazy. In the morning I am 1:8, at lunch/dinner I am 1:9, and if I eat something late at night it’s 1:11.

4

As was said earlier, you need what you need, and you will need more initially in the morning vs lunch vs dinner.
This is because the cortisol that your body makes when you wake up, interferes with insulin, so you need comparatively more insulin to compensate.
I have 3 different ratios throughout the day, and my daughter has 5. She is more sensitive to insulin than I am, which necessitates more time splits in the ratios. This is generally true of kids due to their smaller weight/body size.