Pasta on a pump

As you have only just gone back on a pump then surely it would be a bit more than sensible to sort your basal out before trying pasta meals? Pasta meals need a split/extended bolus.

@steveo4 I don't really manage with high carb high fat meals in the evening, so I tend not to have stuff like that often for the sake of my control - I was no stranger to waking up 20!

On the rare occasions that I do, though, I bolus a good 20 mins before eating, test before bed and generally set a temp basal of 120% to run until the early hours.

Not foolproof, and there may well be better ways, but this often works for me.

Buon appetito!

I use an extended bolus for pasta. I have some insulin as a normal bolus before eating, then the rest spread over a couple of hours. My blood sugar stays in range.

You said it was a large pasta meal - how many grams of carbs did it have? Did you use a jar of sauce? Did you weigh your pasta serving?

With you going so high overnight, I'm wondering if your basal is a bit off?

steveo4 said:

How do people manage when having a large pasta dinner.

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I try not to have a large portion Steve, but like others I use a dual-wave bolus and extend the dose over many hours to allow for the delayed bg rise, if the pasta is eaten in meal with a high-fat content then it could impact on your bg levels throughout the night, it's trial & error I'm afraid.

I do the same as azure and noblehead. I also tack on an extra unit 'to be sure' or for the fat content. I do a dual wave bolus. I make the extended bolus 3 hours long because I found without an extended bolus my bs was high 4 hours after the meal, so I wanted the insulin in place to peak at that 4-hour mark.

Some people are saying its your basal. It could be, but it could also be that phenomenon where you first get a high blood sugar in the absence of insulin (which has all been used up already), then that triggers a liver dump because none of the glucose in your blood is passing into your cells. But you will know what it is because of other nights. Does your blood sugar rise overnight when you don't eat pasta, for example?


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RuthW said:

Some people are saying its your basal. It could be, but it could also be that phenomenon where you first get a high blood sugar in the absence of insulin (which has all been used up already), then that triggers a liver dump because none of the glucose in your blood is passing into your cells. But you will know what it is because of other nights. Does your blood sugar rise overnight when you don't eat pasta, for example?

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Steve has only been on a pump a couple of days after a long pump break. So he has a double whammy basals not set correctly and also wrong bolus type used.

Ok, yes, basal first then.


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I used a pump for 10 years and now do shots (Type 1 for 37 years), so a dual wave bolus makes sense, although I would not go to bed for at least a few hours after the bolus to make sure you don't go either severely hyper or worse, severely hypo. A dual wave might smooth out a high - if you do go high, you'll become more insulin resistant and therefore need additional insulin. For me shots work a lot more predictably - a steel tube vs plastic cannula just works faster and more reliably. So you could try injecting the bolus even if using a pump, then use the pump for additional slow release bolus.

And as an alternative you could spiralize zucchini into noodles and add a tasty low carb sauce (most sauces here in the US add sugar). I've found this to be a good low-carb pasta fake, and you'd need a lot less insulin.

And I agree with prebolusing 20 min before eating if you're using something like Novolog.

If I eat pasta, rice, or pizza I use the multiwave option for 1 hour as it gives you a immediate dose then the rest over the hour but everyone is different ie: may need it over a longer or shorter time