Any advice for basal testing? I have been on the Omnipod for 6 months and have been using a constant basal rate of 0.75 per hour. I have had steady blood sugars, but feel like I should still do some testing to see if my basal should be higher or lower at different parts of the day.
I’ve never done a basal testing before- what do I do?? Thanks team!
Here’s a great reference:
If you’re BGs are steady, you may not need to bother with basal testing. BUT, if you really feel like doing some testing, the book Pumping Insulin gives really good basal testing guidance. Basically, you pick a 6-hour window and fast. During that time, your BG should not rise or fall by more than 30 mg/dl (I think I’m remembering this right).
I will say that I don’t basal test formally. I know I should, but fasting for that length of time just leaves me grumpy. I’ve been fairly successful at just looking at my numbers and adjusting my basal rates accordingly if I notice repeated highs at one time of day.
The tricky thing for women is that some of us need different patterns in the week before our periods. I have to increase my daily basal rate by about 5 units to address elevated BGs that I experience the week before my period.
As MyBustedPancreas recommended, get the book Pumping Insulin by John Walsh. I can’t imagine having a pump and not reading this book. It has lots of educational material and detailed procedures for determining all of the many pump settings.
Gerry