Basal profiles changes

Hi !

I have been using pump for a long time now (5+ years)… I started taking Metformin few weeks ago, which requires me to change basal profiles, but I have a little trouble with that… By my doctor’s teaching I need to change basal profile entry one hour before if I want it to change my BG (if I want to change BG at 3 AM, I need to change Basal profile entry for 2 AM), but according to Pumping bible (Walsh: Pumping Insulin) I need to change Basal profile 2-3 hours before (this would require me to change basal profile at 1 AM or even 12 PM).

How do you change profiles? 1 hour before or 2-3 hours before?

Andy

Hi Andy
I am sorry i cannot give you a real recommendation, as insulin affects each of us differently.
my idea: try the thing your dr. told you, see how it works out and if it doesnt help, go back by 1 hr, etc. it is trial and error for all of us…
me, i usually change basal 1-2 hrs in advance, but sometimes i have to find out that this didnt work this time. :unamused:
i wish you good luck with that :wink:

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I agree with Walsh’s recommendations re lead time for basal changes. That doesn’t mean such advice will work perfectly for every individual. Make changes in small increments and be safe.

I find that a two-hour lead time in basal rate changes works well for me. A CGM would make testing this easier but using well-timed fingersticks and a pencil and paper will work, too. Successfully changing basal rates is a great skill to learn as I find that my basal requirements change fairly often. I’m now able to change them as need be instead of waiting for weeks to go by before I do something about it.

Have you considered doing a full-blown basal rate test? I Iike Gary Scheiner’s protocol.

Yes I use something similar… although not the same. No Caffeine rule is No-Go for me… :sunglasses:

I don’t like to do this test… even now with CGMS it’s pain in the a**… I hope to get it set soon, after that CGMS goes to sleep time for the summer, or at least for the part of summer (problem with swiming…)

Andy

i have been tweaking my basal changes around my meal times. if i eat at around 7:30 am, then i change the 7 am basal, and so forth. it seemed to work well for me, but after reading all of your tips, i am not certain whether i am doing this right. my BGs have been good, for the most part (its only when i go to restaurants that i run into trouble, miscalculating my carbs, etc.) but i will see my endo in september (2015) and we will see if he wants to make any major changes. as far as going though a higher or lower “spell” i tweak my entire basal rates up or down of about .25 each. this seems to work for me. i do everything s l o w l y.
i don’t want to make too many changes at once, b/c then i can never get to to basic problem. i don’t make any basal changes if i just have one “bad” week. it could be stress or sickness, for example. then i don’t want to mess with anything; but i will most likely do a temp basal rate for the time that i need it.

i have changed my basal rates (w/out dr.s advice or suggestions) around my meal times. if i am going to to eat at 7:30am, i change the 7am basal rate, etc. i recently stopped snacking just to find out how my 4-41/2 hour IOB is over so that i can see any trends. everything seems to be going quite well. what i have noticed is a strange and unexplainable occurrence:
in the morning, w/ my b’fast, i will have eggs and a cup of coffee. somedays the coffee spikes me, and somedays it responds to my insulin (i have to account for 20gms of carbs for the coffee and 10gms for the eggs. ( i always need to bolus for protein of any sort) no of it makes any sense to me. quite the conundrum.