BG baseline

[Dan minchin]

hi all, just wondered what you all consider to be a good baseline. I have been managing to get my nighttime baseline to stay like this several times and wondered if is too low or considered dangerous. I know it’s red but that’s just because of the settings. I don’t feel unwell at all and the body tends to react when I drops to low. What do you think?

 

[xfieldok]

Always check a reading under 4 with a fingerprick. The libre is notoriously inaccurate under 4.

You need to take immediate action if you are heading into hypo territory.

 

[jackois]

Hi Dan,

I think most of us would see that as too low for through the night, especially if your monitoring system doesn't alarm to wake you should you go low whilst asleep. For a long time I aimed to have my HB1AC at around 5, but not until I got continuous monitoring that I realised how low I was going overnight to achieve this.

Whilst not having hospital support, my GP prefers that I run between 6 and 7 overnight and I'm happy with that. I notice that you are new to the site, and while not assuming that you are new to diabetes, if you are, you should also study the honeymoon effect, where your pancreas starts to kick in and out. Unfortunately, it doesn't recognise the amount of insulin you may have already taken and cause you to hypo.

Hope this helps, Peter

 

[Dan minchin]

Always check a reading under 4 with a fingerprick. The libre is notoriously inaccurate under 4.

You need to take immediate action if you are heading into hypo territory.

What I’ve been finding is that it’s only the novo rapid that gives me hypos. If I’m fasting and relying on abasaglar it tends to be quite reliable. Just wondered if between three and four was considered too low? If so I might reduce abasaglar a little.

 

[xfieldok]

Mine always reads hypo throughout the night. I just assume that's the way I am. I am on insulin to control steroids and currently weaning off them. I haven't needed novorapid for a while now and only use it if I want to be really naughty.

 

[Dan minchin]

Hi Dan,

I think most of us would see that as too low for through the night, especially if your monitoring system doesn't alarm to wake you should you go low whilst asleep. For a long time I aimed to have my HB1AC at around 5, but not until I got continuous monitoring that I realised how low I was going overnight to achieve this.

Whilst not having hospital support, my GP prefers that I run between 6 and 7 overnight and I'm happy with that. I notice that you are new to the site, and while not assuming that you are new to diabetes, if you are, you should also study the honeymoon effect, where your pancreas starts to kick in and out. Unfortunately, it doesn't recognise the amount of insulin you may have already taken and cause you to hypo.

Hope this helps, Peter

Thanks peter. I’ve been diabetic for two and a half years so still fairly new to it but honeymoon seems to have stopped. This has helped me get a fairly consistent BG. It’s the levels now that I have to work out. Think I will reduce me abasaglar a little and aim a little higher. Thanks for your time.

 

[UK T1]

Hi, my consultant always warns not to be below 4 for extended periods of time as you risk losing hypo awareness in the long run. My libre also logs lows where I sometimes test and find I'm not as low as it claims. As said above, they aren't as accurate below 4 or above 13, and there is the chance you're laying on the sensor while you sleep as pressure can cause false low readings. If this is happening regularly though it is likely you are going low overnight.

A hypo is technically anything under 4, however during the day it can log hypos on my libre where it says I'm 3.8 or 3.9 but I don't particularly feel low or ill (just aware my glucose is on the low side, I've always been very sensitive to hypos). I queried this with my consultant as I was worried I was having too many hypos, and he said that was ok occasionally during the day if it wasn't having an impact on my day, but that sustained periods under 4 can lead to hypo unawareness which you obviously don't want. So while I'd happily be between 4-5 during the day, I wouldn't want to risk not waking if I did go low in the night, so I personally wouldn't be happy to be as low as you during the night. I'm also not sure a non diabetic would necessarily be that low to be honest! I thought a non diabetic usually has a baseline between 4-5 (obv not after exercise etc etc etc)?

 

[Dan minchin]

Hi, my consultant always warns not to be below 4 for extended periods of time as you risk losing hypo awareness in the long run. My libre also logs lows where I sometimes test and find I'm not as low as it claims. As said above, they aren't as accurate below 4 or above 13, and there is the chance you're laying on the sensor while you sleep as pressure can cause false low readings. If this is happening regularly though it is likely you are going low overnight.

A hypo is technically anything under 4, however during the day it can log hypos on my libre where it says I'm 3.8 or 3.9 but I don't particularly feel low or ill (just aware my glucose is on the low side, I've always been very sensitive to hypos). I queried this with my consultant as I was worried I was having too many hypos, and he said that was ok occasionally during the day if it wasn't having an impact on my day, but that sustained periods under 4 can lead to hypo unawareness which you obviously don't want. So while I'd happily be between 4-5 during the day, I wouldn't want to risk not waking if I did go low in the night, so I personally wouldn't be happy to be as low as you during the night. I'm also not sure a non diabetic would necessarily be that low to be honest! I thought a non diabetic usually has a baseline between 4-5 (obv not after exercise etc etc etc)?

Thanks for this. It confirms my thoughts. My hypo symptoms tend to kick in when I go below three. I do check with a finger prick occasionally and it’s only been falsely extremely low once so far but I think I had been sleeping on the sensor. I will reduce my abasaglar a little and aim to bring it up a bit at night. Thanks for your time.

 

[UK T1]

Thanks for this. It confirms my thoughts. My hypo symptoms tend to kick in when I go below three. I do check with a finger prick occasionally and it’s only been falsely extremely low once so far but I think I had been sleeping on the sensor. I will reduce my abasaglar a little and aim to bring it up a bit at night. Thanks for your time.

No worries! Is this libre? The screenshot looks a little different from mine but if it is then your diabetes team can remotely see all your data too via libre view so I recommend asking for their input as they will be able to help better as they'll have the full picture. Should be able to help over the phone