The Area-Under-The-Curve Theory

I have been told by Mike Taylor, diabetes education nurse, to use a insulin-to-carb ratio of 1:5. For every 5 grams of carbs, inject 1 unit of insulin. That worked nicely for today's breakfast, but I injected 10 units instead of 12 for a high-carb lunch and, though I still was too high in my blood sugar after 2 hrs., I was too low after 4 1/2 hrs.

That may be because my lunch was high-glycemic load. According to Mike's area-under-the-curve explanation, more sugar than the Humalog insulin I injected prior to eating could offset was in my bloodstream shortly after I ate. The sugar curve was higher than the insulin curve.

Then at some point the sugar was gone but the insulin was not. Now the insulin curve was higher than the sugar curve, and I went a little hypoglycemic.

That's why I need to balance high-glycemic load carbs with low-glycemic load carbs in a meal. The glycemic load of the meal as a whole has to match what the Humalog expects. The bread I ate for breakfast on Mike's advice was intended to avoid the area-under-the-curve problem.

Also, the Humalog apparently does not leave my system in just 3 or 4 hours as advertised. It lasts for at least 4 1/2 hrs.