Does anyone else ever have an occasion where you feel you need a bit more of a bolus than the calculator says, so you take the extra and then later the bolus calculator is off because it doesn’t understand why the extra insulin is there? Rarely happens, just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I am using the combo pump.
When you get to the screen after entering your carbs, etc. you can use the up/down keys and alter the entries and then commit the bolus. Does this help?
Dave,
Not entirely sure I understand your question.
I frequently add or subtract from the bolus calculator's recommendation (depending on my current/future activity level, BG reading, how my CGM is trending, etc).
Later, the bolus calculator looks at the "Active Insulin" as part of the formula to determine a subsequent bolus.
I guess I view myself as the SUPER bolus calculator.
Thanks for the reply. I also make my own calculations according to what the CGM says I am trending. And most times I realize why the bolus calculator and I don’t agree. I wish there was a perfect system.
A more perfect system may come with an artificial pancreas. The trials have been very encouraging and gives me hope for a day in the future when I can turn my own calculator off (or at least give it a vacation!).
Until then, I have to keep remembering that my active insulin doesn't get used up in a linear fashion. Cutting the active period down to 3 hours helps a little but still doesn't fix the inherent problem.
The bolus calculator can't know what activity you are 1) currently engaged in 2) will engage in at some future time, 3) what you might choose to snack on after taking the insulin. So ... yes, you can adjust your insulin up/down based on what you know.
I usually just accept the recommendation. I can always adjust the basal up/down as food intake and activity change between test. If I go on a photo-walk scheduled for 10AM but I had breakfast at 7AM, there is no way I can work out the proper bolus/basal values. I would need a pancreas for that.