June 18, 2004
Insulin Pumps, Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from Nappanee, Indiana, USA:
I am 16 and have had diabetes for about four years now and have been on the pump for about two months. At first, my blood glucose readings were great. I started to gain weight, so I started a low carbohydrate diet. With that change, my blood glucose readings increased to the mid 200’s (mg/dl) [around 13.8 mmol/L]. Could this be caused by my low carbohydrate diet?
Answer:
If you’re following a low carbohydrate diet well, then you should need less insulin. If there are still big hormone changes occurring, which is common in most kids, then you probably just need more insulin. You might need to increase your basal rates or you might need more bolus insulin. You should discuss such changes with your diabetes team so that either the correction factors (sensitivity factors) or insulin bolus doses can change, or the basal rates can change. If you are doing lots of blood glucose readings, then look for patterns and respond to these patterns.
SB
