I just got the Tandem tslim pump and want to begin testing a workout profile. I am a little confused about one thing though.
I can set various basal profiles for certain times of day. Let's say my workout is at 6pm. If I set the gym basal profile for 6pm, is it going to change to that basal exactly at 6pm OR is it going to change the basal rate at 4pm so that my basal will be as I need it for 6pm? Just want to know so I can time this thing properly with my workout.
A pump uses rapid insulin to create the basal by releasing small amounts over time. Rapid insulin reaches peak effectiveness in 30 to 90 minutes. This means that the "onset" of the pump basal will likely be something like 30 to 90 minutes and it will reach "peak pump basal" in something like 2 to 3 hours (the insulin stacks). Depending on the type of insulin and your individual rates of absorption you should probably switch to the gym profile 1 to 2 hours before workout. Only experimentation will tell you for sure.
I've never played w/ a Tslim but the Medtronic pumps I've used have a %age feature that allows you to set a basal for a period of time at a %age of normal, like 50% for an hour or 200% for 6 hours (e.g. if I'm sick or something...). That's pretty much what I use for working out, as my schedule is a bit too varied to guarantee I can work out at the same time every day.
Hey there,
Generally you want to be making the basal changes roughly 2 hours before the work out, some dial it down 50%.
I never could get it right, I tried so many different ratios, rates and timings.
If my work out is under an hour and intense, I just test just before and ensure I'm not low, disconnect, work out, finish work out, test reconnect and correct if necessary.
If it's a long sunday run, I'll cut basal by 70% an hour before then just consume 15 jelly beans an hour until I'm done.
I apply a temp basal rate a half hour before I begin. It took me a long time to test and sometimes it's still not quite right, but it's generally 40% of my usual rate, sometimes going down as low as 20% depending on intensity of the exercise. I let that temp rate run for an hour after I'm done too. When I first started with this I had a lot of problems with lows after a gym session, my doctor advised me on the temp rate and told me to reduce my mealtime bolus by 20% too, if it was in the two hours following my work out. I do this and it works for me 90% of the time (still have a few hypos). It's very much trial and error though. Good luck :)
Are you setting up a basal profile that you plan to use for gym days? Or are you talking about temporary basal rates? You’re talking about two different things here.
Different basal profiles are just like the your standard or basic profile except with Tandem you can call it whatever you want. As far as I know none of the pumps automatically switch between profiles it switches when you manually switch profiles. So if you always go to the gym at the same time 3 days a week you can set up your basal rates to accommodate that exercise and you would just switch back and forth each day. The pump is not smart enough to decrease your basal rate 2 hours before exercise you would have to program that in yourself. In my opinion this would only work if you always worked out the same time, duration, and intensity each workout day.
Or you can use your temporary basal rate and program it on the fly. That’s what I do because my workout times and activities vary. Also I would have a tendency to forget to switch back to my normal profile afterwards so temp basals work better for me.