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Basal Rates

Pepsi Max

Well-Known Member
Messages
162
Hi, I'm on a pump only 5 months or so, got my Basal rates sorted including temp rates, but lately feel like they need adjusting again as a pattern is showing. I seem to be rising in the evenings, between Lunch & dinner times regardless of snacks. Nothing has changed for me as in same routine, diet & exercise plan. Is this normal with the pump & do you often have to adjust them?


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
Hi. Yes this can happen. I have a few different rates going on my pump. I'm able to set different patterns for different situations. For example when I'm on days where I go the gym and exercise I put pattern A on which is a slightly less basal rates for the day to avoid hypo's. Pattern B contains higher ratio's for when I'm not well and the standard one is for non gym days.

You could try to increase your evening basals by 0.25-0.5 for a few days and see if it helps
 
Thanks so much. It's a little frustrating. Just when you think you have it sorted. Also my body tends to do the opposite of what it should & once it gets settled in a routine it changes!


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
Oh definitely, I get so frustrated at times, just when I get it right something is thrown in to the mix and I have to start again. Like this morning, I've spend the whole morning at 12 for no reason at all (nothing has changed lol) only just come down to 4.0 now so eating my lunch. Hope you get sorted
 
Hia - same with me. My rates hardly stay the same for 4 weeks at a time. I then have to change them and they're never changed at the same time slots as the last. I do have 12 basal rates through the 24 hours and keep the time slots the same on my normal rate and on my Pattern A and B. This way if I need additional (or less) insulin I use a temp basal for a few days and see if it's and extra -10/+10 % (or whatever I need) and then I can switch certain rates up by this amount on the time slots that are affected. It sounds complicated but its maybe just the way I've written it :crazy:
For some reason, which I'm pleased about, my basal rates after midnight and before 9am don't need changed all that often whereas the day ones do - maybe it is because I'm just sleeping. Using the patterns this way the nights keep the same rates on the 3 patterns.
 
I spoke to by DN & she advised to change all my rates and explained about patterns A&B. But after reading the posts it's nice to see I'm not the only one! So next time I won't get so frustrated, ill just think of it as a tune up, at least with the pump, different basal rates & patterns you can nip it in the bud before it becomes a complication!


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
I find it quite interesting in a way as to how my body changes etc under different circumstances. This afternoon I've just put a temporary basal on as I was steadily going up and now I've evened out to 8mmol/l for the last 2 hours. Can't complain. The test will be whether I drop loads later this evening - arrrrghhh!
 
Argggghhhh indeed ! :wave:
 

I too have loads of different basal rates set on the Combo to try and keep my bg level on a steady 6-7mmol every hour. I often find myself needing to change them when a pattern starts to form due to my body deciding that I need more or less insulin. Sometimes, I can get away with just changing the carb ratio as when I change the basal rates for a certain time period, I then find that my bg levels also start to change later on in the day and I then have to deal with those basals and then it slowly goes round the whole of the 24hr time period where I'm increasing some basals to deal with being high and then decreasing other basals later on because of going low.
Thankfully, I don't need to change the overnight basals too much although I do need to change them now and again.
Thank goodness for bg meters....
 
Hi - I must admit I'm a devil about changing my insulin to carb ratios. I will tweak my basals but II don't like changing my carb ratios to give myself more insulin with food. I think it stems from my fear of hypos and taking larger doses of insulin.
Because basal changes are much more subtle the hypos are easier to treat I find provided I'm given enough warning. However if I've given myself a bolus based on a carb ratio change I always find I'm panicing if my BS go below 4 an hour after food. I'm strange I know !!!
How many people out there have to change their carb ratios regularly as well as basal rates?
 
I tend to keep my carb ratio's the same unless I've not been to the gym for a few days and then I need to change them slightly to cover more insulin with food. I'll always usually start with the basal's though if I'm changing anything. I've just increased my basal by 0.25 and have had a constant reading of 7 for the past 24 hours - I'm gobsmacked haha
 
When working out basal rates what hours before do I go by on my blood readings? For example if my bloods is 21.5 at dinner time all of the time what time would I put up my basal rate?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
If my basal rate needs tweaking as I'm too high at 6pm during a fast test I would increase my basal rate at 4pm and 5 pm.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app
 
Try following this guide http://diatribe.us/issues/13/learning-curve - 'Beyond the Basals'.

It goes into a lot of detail and basically says that you should change the basal rate an hour before you want to see the change ala what Brett says. I think it depends how much your sugars are changing though. It also says you should try to have only one peak and one valley in your 24h basal rate which may or may not make sense to you.
 
It also depends on how long insulin starts to take effect in your body.. As to which hour of basal you would change. All of my various conultants have said 2-3 hours....
Just don't forget though if you increae any basal rate that the increase will keep on working for however long it stays in your body.
For example..
8am 9.0bg
10am 6.0 bg without correcting..

If you increased your basal to correct your 8am reading.. Then you must take into account that it will have a knock on affect, so in this example above you would need to lower your basal to stop that 10am 3bg drop....

Do be aware of the possibilty of bigger drops in examples like this from just worrying about the 9.0 reading...
 
Thanks, i need to do my homework! Also, I usually don't reduced my basal when exercising & seemed to have gotten away with it but last night, about 9pm I did a 5k jog & my BS this morning were 15!!! Is this a case of dropping in the night, not waking up so my liver kicked out some of its stores? Help! I hate having high readings!


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
PS: my BS readings 2 1/2 hrs after breakfast were 20.1!!! I'm totally confused now! I've taken a correction dose but I don't understand these highs! Isn't exercise supposed to be good for me! Help! Ps for breakfast I only had 2 slices of toast & a poached egg! Which I counted for to the T!!


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
Sounds like you need to do a night time basal testing asap...
 
And a morning one...
 
Often bg levels can start to change direction way back into the night so although your bg levels were probably higher than ideal before breafast, they probably started to change about a good 6hrs earlier. Also, the more insulin we give ourselves, the more insulin we also need in the correction factor. Have you taken this into account and looked at the 100 rule for a rough guide?
 
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