Dealing with large carb meals

Hi all.
I seem to be generally well controlled with my blood glucose levels. Except when it comes to eating very large carb meals. I have a huge appetite. Generally my meals are never huge in carbs probably no more than 10cp's worth. But when i seem to approach the 15cp size meal or over i do seem to have trouble. This is especially an issue if i want to have a dessert. (Which is not that often). I know that high fat and carb meals can take longer to process, and have been advised to split my QA dose e.g take half the dose at normal time and half 1 hour later. Having attempt this on a few occasions and had hypos, i have tried taking the first half of the dose and then kept an eye on my blood glucose levels. What i have noticed is that it isn't until the first QA dose has worn off e.g 4 hours that my blood glucose seems to then rise and therefore need the rest of the dose. So obviously this is an issue if it is an evening meal. Also if i give the full second dose just as my levels start to rise that also seems to send me into hypo. If i don't give the second dose i wake up with the very high levels that obviously needed the second dose of QA.
Has anyone had any issues with large carb and fat meals, and have any advice on how to manage. This is also a major issue when eating out with friends.

Hi
This is the issue I've tried to understand and control like yourself over the years I've tackled it in different ways until I settled on an option similar to what Dafne teaches us.
The method which I use is based on my experience over the 40 years i,'be been type 1,
I guessed that it wasn't the amount of CP's I was taking it was the amount of insulin QA, I had no knowledge of Dafne or their principal's, but I took an educated guess that my body couldn't use the amounts of insulin I was taking in response to large meals of CP's.
In response to this I set a limit of 10 units of QA maximum I would inject at a time.
Hence a very large meal of 240 carbohydrates this was the way I controlled by condition before Dafne. My QA would be split into 3, 10 before meal 10 after the meal usually 2 hours then after 4 hours I would do a BG and do a correction, I use the word correction because of Dafne, I responded to the BG test, if it was OK I didn't inject if it was high I did.
I found this method of drip feeding small amounts of QA worked or in other words my body could cope with the amounts of QA and was able to use it, I may have been just lucky that the amount I settled on 10 was right for me, where all different,
Now with Dafne I use a lower number since I know now that 1 unit of QA will bring down my BG by 2 to 3
So for example if I had 18 CP's
Soon as I have ordered I would take 6 QA if my ratio was 1:1
Two hours later I would take or when the meal had finished after a test 6 more QA
Finally 4 hours after again re a BG reading I would correct
Most occursions I would have to take the full 6, but I find the drip method gives me least chance of overkill and going into a hypo spiral.
This method only differs from ture Dafne to the point where you inject before you eat but we all carry something for low BG and if the group or party your with know your a type1 it shouldn't be an issue,since I've sometimes taken a CP while waiting for the meal to come.
I don't think there's an ideal way in tackling really high CP meals since I believe your body can only use so much QA at a time.
Saturation occurs and like a flood you may experience a hypo later on. I'm not an expert and may be totally incorrect, but it worked for me
Like you I'm very interested in other members views and methods to control large CP meals
I look at it like this, we all eat about 20+ CP's a day you control this by taking your QA to match your CP intake at a meal usually 3 meals
By doing this when taking similar amounts of CP's at once, by splitting your QA by 3 over a period you give your body a chance to use it correctly.

When is your normal time?

I know some take it before the meal, while others like myself prefer after so they have a better idea of how much carbs they have consumed. If your in the former group then taking the shot after would mean that your BG levels would already be slightly elevated which may help counter the fact that the sugars are being released more slowly.

Can you give some examples of the kinds of meals you experience this with? Also what insulins are you on? If your BI is levemir is it split?

As the release of sugars 4 hours after meal sounds to be very slow and this most often occurs with your evening meal have you considered putting one or two extra units of your BI in to deal with it as the slow release pattern seems to better match the sugar release profile you mention and I'm wondering if the large meal is actually having an impact on your metabolism and what your experiencing is actually fat being burned to BG rather than carbs. Ì know when I have a hot curry that I have to put in a few extra units than the carbs there would typically suggest. If it is metabolism in your case then a great way to slow it down is alcohol...

I can't take more than 8 units of QA at a time without hypoing, so I also split my doses for very high carb meals. I usually test 2 hours after the first injection and correct any high value at that time to take my BGLs down to 8.0. That gives me a bit of leeway with the QA already on board.

I find I also need to do this with slow-release foods like beans, chick peas and lentils. It feels a bit odd injecting QA when my BGLS are in the 5s before bed after a Nachos dinner, but I forgot to do this correction a couple of nights ago and had BGLs of 12.5 before breakfast after going to bed with BGLs of 5.8. The times that I have remembered, I've been fine overnight and woken with normal range BGLs.

Hi travler
My normal time is just before I start eating my meal. The kind of meals include all takeaways and any meal with some carbs e.g bout 8 to 10 cp's plus dessert of maybe 5 to 7 cp's. I take novo rapid and a single dose of lantus.

Thanks you one I like your way of thinking. I think I will try this today at lunch I will report back and let you know how it goes. Fingers crossed for me.

Youone thankyou thankyou thankyou. Thanks so much for your advice. I tried today. Had 23cps worth gave 8iu and then 7iu 2 hours after and now 7pm and my levels have been stable around 5mmols for the last hour. Once again thankyou so much.

That's great news Gari, just test every 2 hours until after a 8 hour period has passed, since this is a new method for you, where all different keep passing the info on

be careful to bear in mind that some q/a insulin you take i.e. novo-rapid can have a effect on your bg levels for up to 5 hours after intially taken. i think! so therfore if you take a reading after say 2 hours this may be giving you a false picture.but everyone is different i guess

cheers

youone said:

paulj said:
be careful to bear in mind that some q/a insulin you take i.e. novo-rapid can have a effect on your bg levels for up to 5 hours after intially taken. i think! so therfore if you take a reading after say 2 hours this may be giving you a false picture.but everyone is different i guess

cheers

paulj is correct for reminding all us that if taking a BG the 4 to 5 hour after a meal is the important one to base a correction on
Gari and I where trying a method of coping with high CP meals,
Gari had a meal of 23 CP's Gari split the matching QA into 2 small amounts.
It seems its worked, I added test every 2 hours after because this was a new method for Gari leaving it to 4 to 5 hours might have missed a early sign that Gari had took to much QA and enter the hypo spiral.
Bye the way gari what was your ratio?
When I try something new I'm always on the side of precaution the 40 years I've had type 1 have made me like this