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Raising overnight but fine if testing

hails

Well-Known Member
Messages
98
Location
United Kingdom
Hi everyone,

I wonder if anyone else has the same problem as me? I have always had a problem with nighttime levels hence the need for a pump but struggling to come up with the best option to deal with it.

If I go to bed on 7mmol I will wake up high in the morning (I dont hypo). If I do the two hourly tests throughout the night they will stay around the 7 mark. It seems that the actual REM of sleep is the part sending my levels up but as the testing makes no difference, I cant actually figure out the times they rise.

I have recently tried just upping my basal before bed till when my alarm goes off in the morning and these bring them down but as I wake I am on the edge of a hypo. Unfortunately there isnt a setting for 105% which I think would be perfect and I would like to sleep all the way through the night without an alarm waking me up! :thumbup:

Anyone else come up with any ideas?
 
Hi

The problem you are talking about was discussed a while ago on the forum and someone in Canada mentioned a way of turning the TBR alarm off by using the 360 software supplied by Accu chek but in the UK dont think the software wont allow the end user to do this and so the only person that would, will be your hospital pump dsn using their professional 360 software and even then, they might not be able to do it without an Accu chek pump rep being present... http://www.accu-chekinsulinpumps-ca.com ... index.html

It is a bit of a nuisance I know as the alarm wakes me up too to tell me the TBR has finished but on the other hand its necessary for us to know so that another basal rate can be activated...
 
Thanks for that.

Yes I did do a tad bit more research and just found this info and contacted my nurse. When my TBR ends though it reverts back to the normal programmed one so I am not sure it makes much sense for me.

I more hoping that this is the answer to my prayers, I have been struggling so much with night levels its been exhausting!
 
When night testing.. How many times are you testing?

It may be that doing 1 test on one night say 3am and then have the next night off from a test.. Then test say 5am the 3rd night and so on...

I say these times 3 and 5am first as personally I find my own levels can be static to these times and change downward anytime between them.. If they change.

I have a cgm tho, so dont have to wake to do tests...

Do your hospital loan a cgm for 5 days to their patients at all.. It may be worth asking.. As then you could see your levels during the night when you get up in the morning.. When I go back thru my records overnight.. I can see my readings every ten minutes.

Cgms readings are delayed from pump readings, but it would definitely give you a pattern much easier than what you are experiencing at the moment...
 
I am told to do the 2 hourly testing (I have only been on my pump a couple month) by the specialist to see what is happening overnight but its only when I sleep the problem occurs so two hour testing is pointless. I also tried testing at 1am one night, 3am the next night but its when I wake up and become aware that then affects it. It's incredibly bizzare.

The nurse though the cgm would be the only way to figure what when they rise, what hours, but has said they havnt got the facility and if they did I would be on a huge waiting list (something to that effect).

The TBR works its just the alarm that is frustrating, but the nurse is looking at the software today. That should hopefully fix the problem for the time being until the cgm is available (fingers crossed) :crazy:
 
I am told to do the 2 hourly testing (I have only been on my pump a couple month) by the specialist to see what is happening overnight but its only when I sleep the problem occurs so two hour testing is pointless. I also tried testing at 1am one night, 3am the next night but its when I wake up and become aware that then affects it. It's incredibly bizzare.

The nurse though the cgm would be the only way to figure what when they rise, what hours, but has said they havnt got the facility and if they did I would be on a huge waiting list (something to that effect).

The TBR works its just the alarm that is frustrating, but the nurse is looking at the software today. That should hopefully fix the problem for the time being until the cgm is available (fingers crossed) :crazy:
 
Hi

Must admit that the TBR function on the Spirit Combo is no way as good as the TBR adjustment that Medtronic Veo pumps have as the TBR can be adjusted in 1%..... but one way around the problem for you would be to use the 110% on the Combo and eat some carb before you go to bed........ that way you wont find yourself edging towards hypo levels when you wake up in the morning.... OR go to bed on 7mmol without eating anything, put pump on 110% and get up in middle of night, do a bg test to make sure that the pump is working ok and then eat a small amount of carb to prevent the hypo feeling...... Another sinway of course is to set up another basal rate programme using the 100% setting but then using a caculator add on 2% to every basal rate. It is tedious I know but that might be another way for you. Personally, I always make a point of getting up in the night and doing a bg test just to make sure that my bg levels havent decided to change which they sometimes do and also for peace of mind that the pump is actually working and that an occlusion might be on the way....
 
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