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A spot of basal adjustment

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,936
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
As I've mentioned previously, I changed to a low carb lifestyle a number of months back, and got a libre in October.

One of the things I learned fairly quickly was that my basal level was somewhat out of whack with where it should be as I was experiencing a noticeable downward slope overnight.

I've spent the last month or so adjusting levels to try and get the balance right. This was trickier than I expected due to splitting my basal into two shots and took a bit of hit and miss.

But the end result is worth it. My overnight plot is now almost perfectly flat. Now I'm not saying it's made me feel vastly different, but it has stopped the waking up lows that I had been noticing.

For me it's another reason why these devices should be readily available to all T1s, and I'm pleased that I got my basal back in line!

A lovely graph!
 
Nice one Tim.

You can't overstate the value of the basal testing. I'm doing it myself at the moment with the new pump. Yesterday morning 2 hourly tests from 4am, pretty much perfect at 5.0, 4.9, 5.0, 5.8, 6.5, 4.8. Pretty much flat within the bounds of accuracy of the meter. The slight spike was at work.

Just that overnight segment to deal with now.
 
@ElyDave. .......if my targets were the same as yours, I would be having 2 mild to moderate hypos everyday.
 
I think what is beneficial about getting the basal lined up correctly is that the boluses shod now make step changes to the flat lines.... In theory at least!
 
Sometimes the theory ends up being questionable at times......oh the joys of bolus/basal
 
iHs said:
@ElyDave. .......if my targets were the same as yours, I would be having 2 mild to moderate hypos everyday.
Click to expand...
If that's the case then do you need to take another look at your basal rates as well? We could have a basal party, all stay up overnight repeatedly stabbing ourselves

TBH yesterday's line around 5 +/- 0.5 is pretty much where I want to be, trying to get a balance between the hypo risk and not needing to snack to drive.
 
From the many years that I have been driving a car, eating a snack is the very least I can do to keep myself ok. A pump is not an srtficial pancreas as yet but if you want yo use it to keep bg tightly controlled, then that's up to you as long as you bg test every 1-2hrs. Basal need for insulin never remains static on a pump, so dont be surprised to find yr bg levels changing in 7-10 days time and needing to do 'basal tweaking'
 
It can never be said enough how important it is to get the basal dose right, if you don't then everything else fails and you end up chasing your tail all the time. The Libre looks to be invaluable and I'm pleased you got it sorted Tim
 
I know exactly what I need to do for driving. My point is that I do not want to be consuming additional carbs to need to drive, and nor do I want to be operating with high BG, hence the need to get a good handle on the basal.

And yes, it can vary even day to day, particularly if I've run etc
 
Congrats on the basal graph! Just a couple days i dropped my basal dose as i noticed i either needed to eat before bed just to avoid lows, or was waking up at 3am for a snack lol I might have to break out my half unit Lantus pen when this pen wears off to drop down another half unit but who knows!

I wish i was able to get a libre, they seem like a great alternative to the Dexcom i can't afford lol
 
I hope all your hard work isn't for nothing @ElyDave, as the standard practice is to do the night basals first.
 
CarbsRok said:
I hope all your hard work isn't for nothing @ElyDave, as the standard practice is to do the night basals first.
Click to expand...
I'm not actually expecting to need to change much to be honest as I'm taking the settings from the previous pump and just making sure they're still OK. I've made a bit of a reduction to the daytime but only a fraction.

Night times will get done Saturday into Sunday.
 
CarbsRok said:
I hope all your hard work isn't for nothing @ElyDave, as the standard practice is to do the night basals first.
Click to expand...

Standard practice yes.. But when physically active and by yourself during the day.. The sometimes (like me) it was important to get the early morn and follow through day levels tested first. I had someone with me at nights so less troublesome than ensuring that my levels were good when I needed them good.

Again, as with all diabetics. We are all individual and 8 may well do night time basal testing first but 2 of us may well need to do day time first....
 
I live alone and was very active, 15 horses to look after, plus sheep and a 164 head dairy herd to milk, I was told to basal test the nights first as this is the easiest to do and the day will drop into place a lot easier. No matchsticks were provided either
 
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