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Struggling with nighttime basal

Levy

Well-Known Member
Messages
312
Location
Leeds
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin


I really want to tweak my overnight basal but I'm struggling to see a pattern in my results.

I'm on 2x daily Levemir (14u in the morning and 16u in the evening around 7.30pm). These results are all from that same 16u dose, I haven't changed the amount at all.

As you can see, some nights I go low making me think I have to reduce it. Then the next night I'll be flat or going up!

I generally have my evening meals around 7pm and don't eat anything particularly high fat or protein. Injection sites are always well rotated and my DSN hasn't found any problems with my injection sites. I do exercise a few times a week, but haven't seen a link to whether it's going up or down afterwards.

Does anyone else's nights vary this wildly? I'm at a complete loss at the moment.
 
it is very hard to see much pattern there ......... but i can see that perhaps adjusting the timing of you levemir to an earlier time slot might help

also -- , are you sure your I:C ratios are correct for daytime -- they look ok to me -- just checking ??
 
himtoo said:
it is very hard to see much pattern there ......... but i can see that perhaps adjusting the timing of you levemir to an earlier time slot might help

also -- , are you sure your I:C ratios are correct ??
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That's my point, there doesn't seem to be a pattern
my Levemir injections are 12 hours apart at the moment, how would taking it earlier make a difference? Half 7 means it's been in my system nearly 5 hours already by the time it gets to midnight and starts being weird.
 
hard to say for sure -- but the interaction ( or not ) with a bolus insulin could be playing a part in this --

have you done basal testing recently ??
 
But if my last bolus was at 7pm that's more than 5 hours later. Short acting insulin should be long gone by then, shouldn't it?
 
Levy said:
But if my last bolus was at 7pm that's more than 5 hours later. Short acting insulin should be long gone by then, shouldn't it?
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in theory yes ------ but in practice , along with any exercise you may be doing ( and I notice from your avatar you are pretty keen on exercise !! )

this could be playing a pretty big role in your BG patterns
 
How would I figure out what's causing it and how to fix it? I've been trying to keep diaries of food and exercise and even showed the consultant but neither of us have been able to come up with anything conclusive.
 
I will turn the question back at you -- how often do you see the patterns you have shown in the pic compared to the days you do a lot of exercise ??
is there a correlation ??
 
None at all, that's the first thing I looked at. They don't happen after training sessions, neither one or two days after
 
hey @Levy
believe it or not -- I am so totally on your side and wavelength you cannot imagine
i am sitting here at my screen totally frustrated on your behalf --

if this is a common problem for you -- and you are feeling like it is getting on top of you at all -- then I would DEFINITELY suggest you have a word with your DSN and ask about a pump -- clearly you are totally tuned into what works for you as a T1

if you think it could be something of use to you I will be happy to help .

oops -- saw you have pumped --


himtoo
xx
 
what are you eating and drinking i note your hypos are usually following a spike the worse the spike the worse the hypo. so whats causing those spikes. have you tried a diffrent insulin.
 
My immediate thoughts with this are to take your graphs to your nurse or consultant and ask to try tresiba which is much more stable than levemir, generally your background should be steady over night and with no patterns forming it would be worthwhile going down this route as levemir may not be right for you.
 
paulus1 said:
what are you eating and drinking i note your hypos are usually following a spike the worse the spike the worse the hypo. so whats causing those spikes. have you tried a diffrent insulin.
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They're just 4 random days, not consecutive, so what's happening during the day is not linked to the nights
 
Yeah, I was on one a few years ago but decided to stop because it was making exercise a massive hassle. I had to work with temp basals 2 hours beforehand (not very flexible if you just feel like heading down to the gym at lunch time or want to walk your dogs before it gets dark) or drink Lucozade by the bottle to get through it. On MDI I don't have to do anything different as long as I go before a meal and have no Novorapid active, I always stay perfectly stable.

If I can avoid going back on it and still achieve good levels, then that's my goal. I know it'll never be as good as a pump but I'd take close enough
 
@Juicyj @pinewood I was trialling Tresiba a few months ago but strangely it was making me spike hugely just before bed (between 10 and 12pm) you might remember my previous post, I think you commented on it.

I tried to stick with it but it wasn't getting better, so changed back. It's stopped the spikes but now my overnights are messed up again
 
Levy said:
They're just 4 random days, not consecutive, so what's happening during the day is not linked to the nights
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morning @Levy
how random is random ?


( i am wondering if perhaps female hormonal issues could be involved )
 
himtoo said:
morning @Levy
how random is random ?


( i am wondering if perhaps female hormonal issues could be involved )
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Not that I could find. These are 4 days from the last two weeks but I find that generally within every week I'll have some low nights, some flat and some high. Although the low ones I'd probably say happen around 60% of the time.

As I said, I haven't found any pattern as to when (I tried keeping a calendar). They're never on the same days and I haven't been able to link them to exercise.
 
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