Just curious to see what time of action everyone uses on their pumps. I am on Novolog and have it set to 4 hours per my trainer when I was set up. Although I think it is all out of my system by 3 at this point.
Are you talking about the delivery modes? I will use normal or the square wave set at typically 30 minutes. If I eat pizza, I use the dual wave, take a portion immediately then the rest comes out over about a 2 hr period.
No - how long does everyone have programmed as their Active Insulin Time on the pump (as part of your Bolus Wizard Settings).
Mine’s 3 hours, per my trainer, and I find it to be really accurate FOR ME.
I’ve tested and tested to prove it because I didn’t believe it actually took 3 hours. I use Animas 2020 with NovoRapid (Novolog in USA?). Of course, the duration of action is a curve so that at the end of 3 hours, there’s just a tiny bit left to work, so the difference in BGL will be small, but the pump takes that into account in making calculations while there’s Insulin on Board.
Hope that helps.
I use Apidra and have mine set for 2 1/2 hours. The trainer set it at 3 and I changed that as soon as I got home. I did all the testing on MDI before starting the pump so I pretty much knew my insulin was out of my system by 3 hours.
With Novolog i had it set to 3 hours. With Apidra I set it to 2.5 even though it was usually “done” by 2 (large boluses sometimes hung around a little longer).
I’m currently pumping regular and my DIA is set to 5 hours. It’s clearly not fully done working at that point, but the effect is somewhat insignificant after that (again though,with a larger bolus some hangs around longer).
It’s really a YMMV thing… I never had trouble with “stacking” corrections or lows with the shorter DIA… if you do, then you’d need to move it back to longer.
I have mine set for 4 hrs which works for me…actually after 3 hrs there’s only about 25% left in my system.
Im on Humalog and its set for 3 hours.
Ive got 2 questions on this. Why are some people changing insulin seemingly often? and how are you testing as to when your insulin expires?
I’m not sure I understand your question, in the context of this thread. No one has mentioned changing insulin or insulin expiring. They’re talking about how long fast-acting insulin works in their bodies after a bolus via their insulin pumps.
Err, sorry. Sarah has mentioned two insulins which lead me to the thought on chaninging insulins. But, with only a mention of 2 insulin types I would Imagine it was a one time thing.
By insulin expiration, I mean the amount of time its active in the system prior to expiring. I.e., 3 hours of active insulin (possibly I should have said “duration” as opposed to “expire”).
Jenn I am pumping humalog and my pump is set for 4 hrs it seems to work well for me. It was set at 3 hrs by the CDE but we bumped it to 4 after going low so many times and now it works like a charm.
I’m set for 3 hours as well. I use Humalog,.That was what my trainer instructed me to do. It seems to work pretty well. It allows a correction bolus if you miscalculated the carb. Talk to your endo but you know what’s going on with you. The initial settings on the pump are a very educated guess but sometimes the practice turns out to be a little different than the theory. Personalizing your settings is better therapy for you. My trainer was a person I had never met before and haven’t seen since. Your team will know if the change is right for you.
I did the 4 hour action time with NovoRapid ( = Novolog ) for a number of years, changed to 3 hours after a visit and discussion with the Team( Nurse and Dietitian ) at the Clinic for at least 3 years.( MM user )
Now I am " trying out " Apidra and results seem better still .
My trainer is adamant that I have it set to 4, so I do. She told me that the research says that humalog stays in the system for 4 hours, so I looked up several research articles and learned that is indeed what the research indicates. However, when I was pregnant I had it set to 3 and thought it worked better. Right now things seem pretty stable for me though. I have been thinking or switching to apidra and am not sure how long I should have it set for.
Do you have a animas pump? I have a medtronic and think I can only do increments of entire hours. 3.5 would be perfect for me.
OK, seems like I’m the only one with it set at 6 hrs. I always wondered about this setting because when I test I always noticed that I have insulin on board. Does that mean I should set it for less hrs??? IF, I do set it for less hrs will I need to change my rates?
When I started pumping with Novolog, my trainer had me set it for 4 hours duration. Since then (almost four years later), I have gone through the calibration exercises in the Walsh book Pumping Insulin, and have reset duration to 3 hours. Three hours is working MUCH BETTER for me. Everyone is different, of course …
No , you should not have to initially re-set rates …are you referring to carb ratio’s, /sensitivity ??..what may mean is more of a correction bolus is required …if this keeps showing up 3-4 times in a row , than you can try working with a different carb ratio .On the other hand …if your BG numbers seem to be on target tor you , why change ? …just my opinion , others thinking same ??..and hope I made it clear.
@ Sportster - not only does it depend on your body, it also depends on what insulin you are using. For example, Sarah mentioned she’s now on regular insulin and that takes way longer than the fast acting most of us use in our pumps. There are even variables in the different fast acting insulins.
The point is to make sure your pump is calculating the correct bolus for you for meals or corrections, taking into account any insulin on board. I think different pumps work that out slightly differently too (correct me if I’m wrong here).
I find that 3 hours is just about perfect for me, so that’s where I have it set. I use Humalog, by the way.
Ruth