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Temporary Basal Rates

Poppy2

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello everyone, I am trying to experiment with using Temporary Basal Rates for exercise and periods of unexpected activity!! I would love some feedback of how/what other pumpers do just as a guide? Exercise wise I intend to start gently with some swimming/cross trainer. Also do people generally leave their pump insitu if it's only a short session of say 20-30 mins? (Not swimming of course!!) many thanks
 
Personally for me some examples are for 1 hour swim, disconnected from pump I need to have a 20 carb snack before and a small snack after. Just because I would have a bolus active and also full basal up until swimming. This is because if I was to use a temp basal prior I would be too high before swimming. If I was eating immediately before swimming I would only bolus 50% and not have a snack beforehand.
For a gym session I would put basal too 50% and if blood range was normal before hand would again have a 20 carb snack. If eating a meal within 2 hours after would need a reduced bolus. All individual and just a case of seeing what works best for you. I could maybe do further reductions but do not want to lose weight as it was a very big struggle to regain what I lost prior to being diagnosed type 1, 3 years ago, but, want to keep fit and active.
 
Thank you for sharing an example of what works for you. I appreciate that everyone has different routines that work for the individual, I was interested to learn about what forum members do as often they share realistic options that books may not even consider/mention.
 
Hi Poppy.

When I'm unwell I usually increase by 20% to sometimes 150% depending on the need.

For activities it depends on the type and duration, I try to not eat carbs first so if its a planned activity I'd reduce basal an hour before by between 20-80% then keep it reduced during the activity, raising it again back to normal about 30 mins after I've finished. Setting depending upon my levels before and during the activity (wearing a Dex does help a lot with this). I try to avoid needing to have a snack if I can.
 
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