Hi,
I was just wondering how many carbs i need, i weigh 108 pounds iam 5'3" and iam 14 years old. How many carbs do u guys eat? and how many do u think i would need.
Thanks:)
for what?
Enough to prevent ketones.
My answer wasn't very clear so let me try again. I think one needs a certain amount of carbohydrates each day so one doesn't produce ketones. Even if someone eats no carbohydrates they still require insulin and an excessively low carb diet can make one prone to ketones.
I believe that C would be a good one to answer this, or at least give you a ballpark answer - she's a dietician. :)
This would depend on your insulin regimen and dosing schedule. You should have carbs at each meal and they should be of the complex type (think dairy, fruits, whole grains) to prevent rapid highs and lows.
My physiology teacher said a person needs at least 50g per day, to prevent protein loss and have enough for optimum brain function.
The number is actually 130g of carb every day. For some that seems like a lot, so we say no less than 100g. If you aim for 45-60g of carb at each meal, you'll easily meet that. If you include snacks, you're well past the minimum, which keeps you safe from ketones.
Do whatever works. It's definitely better to have a slight high than a low.
I was diagnosed at age 4 and believe it or not for the first few years I took just one shot in the morning of the old version of Humulin N insulin. After I got a little older I used an N type insulin with short acting for about 20 years and undertand why a lot of endos don't like it... it can create kind of a roller coaster effect with blood sugars. But I survived and have no complications after 35 years with diabetes (a lot of that is because I've used a pump the last decade). If your current insulin regimen is working for your daughter, that's all that matters.
Have you tried splitting the Lantus dose, taking part in morning and part in evening? That's pretty common. Also ask your doctor about some of the recent clinical studies that show Lantus and short acting insulins are still effective when mixed and given in one injection.
My son was on this regimen from 2.5-3 years old when he started pumping (but with Novolog and Levemir). I hated the rigidity of it, and we had food struggles galore. He gained a lot of weight because we didn't want to underestimate what he wanted to eat and leave him hungry, so he often wound up eating less-than-healthy food to make up the missing carbs. I felt so much better about diabetes in general when we got him off the NPH.
Having said that, we achieved great control and had consistently excellent BGs and a1cs on it, so I don't think it did him any harm, diabetes wise. If you cannot get anyone to handle lunch-time insulin, then this is likely your best option. Good luck!
Thanks cacuckinct. We don't seem to struggle with food so much, but we have troubles with after lunch highs. Her pre supper numbers are more often higher than target, but if I increase the NPH then we run into more lunch lows as it peaks too early some days. Do you recall if you found this as well? And how did you work around this issue?
Jen--Because it is so hard to play with the insulin, we wound up playing with the carbs! Does she get a morning snack? If she does can you change the timing of it or give her more carbs, then raise that morning NPH dosage? If she doesn't, can you add a snack then raise the NPH? Trying to time that peak can be frustrating!
I am definately finding the same thing! I keep dropping the lunch carbs and less carbs for afternoon snack in order to get better numbers. I will keep playing around with things until I get it figured out.