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Blood Glucose Level Corrections

Published:
6-June-2005

If you have ever wondered about correcting your child's blood glucose levels but weren't sure how to go about it or what would happen, here's a couple of handy "rules of thumb" to help make the process more understandable.

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To calculate approximately how many points your child's blood glucose will drop for each unit of fast acting insulin (Humalog, Novalog, etc.) that you inject, use the Rule of 1800.

It works like this:

  • Add up all of the fast acting insulin your child takes in one day. This is called the Total Daily Dose (TDD)
  • Divide 1800 by the TDD
  • This is the approximately the number of points one unit of fast acting insulin will lower your child's blood glucose level

For example: If your child's TDD of insulin is 30 units, divide 1800 by 30. The resulting number is 60. This means that 1 unit of fast acting insulin will lower you child's blood glucose level approximately 60 points.

To calculate the number of carbohydrates that are covered by 1 unit of fast acting insulin (Humalog, Novalog, etc.) use the Rule of 500.

It works like this:

  • Add up all of the fast acting insulin your child takes in one day. This is called the Total Daily Dose (TDD)
  • Divide 500 by the TDD
  • This is the approximate number of grams of carbohydrates that are covered by 1 unit of fast acting insulin

For example: If your child's TDD of insulin is 30 units, divide 500 by 30. The resulting number is 16.666 That means that 1 unit of fast acting insulin will cover approximately 16-17 grams of carbohydrates.

Always check with your doctor or diabetes care team to be sure any changes you make are safe and appropriate for your child.

By Russell Turner