Hey Everyone---
Does anyone else have very low basal rates on their pump?
My day basal = .150 and my night is .225....so this means that 75% of my Total Daily Dose is for boluses..
In "pumping insulin" they say either a 50/50 rate should be used or 50/60...
does anyone else find lower basals to be working for them? I have fasted and my basals hold steady, so I know they're correct.
This isn’t in reply to your question, but isn’t it unusual to have a higher nighttime basal than daytime? I’m certainly not saying it’s “wrong”; it just seems unusual.
I wondered about the suggested 50/50 split in “Pumping Insulin,” too. There’s no way it’ll always be 50/50–sometimes a person eats a lot more or a lot less in a day, so your bolus total will vary from day to day.
I am interested to hear what other people think.
I don’t know if it’s weird…but my nighttime for some reason needs to be higher. For some reason, after 9 am (when I change to the lower rate) it works… sometimes the daytime basal is still too high. I just want to see what everyone else thinks about the basal/bolus ratios.
It’s a rule (of thumb) and rules are meant to be broken. Yours is rather extreme, though. Those basals are tiny. Have you done the fasting tests to verify them? Fast from Midnight to noon one day, a few days later fast from noon to Midnight - make sure your BG stay normal even without any boluses.
Mine is about 60/40.
Two patters would never work for me.
My night is higher than my late day
mid-4 am; 0.7
4 am - 9 am; 1.15
9 am - 11 am; 0.7
11- midnight; 0.4
I like the idea to fast twice…Everywhere I have read, they say do Bfast, lunch, and dinner separate all on different days… I feel like the longer stretches might be more accurate.
Thanks!
But 12 hours without food? Ugh . . .
I know…I have trouble going 4 hours without food!!! but i’d rather get it over with!!!
I have pretty low basals, 0.35 and 0.25. I also have pretty high I:C ratios so I am usually at 55bolus:45basal. If I don’t eat many carbs in a day for some reason, I can be at 45% bolus and 55% basal.
If its working for you, stick with it.
Just for comparison these are my numbers.
Midnight - 3:00 – .25
3:00 - 11:30 – .50
11:30 - 5:00pm – .20
5:00 - 7:00 pm – .15
7:00 - 12:00am – .20
My bolus are about 2/3 of my daily total.
I have wondered about this too.
Mine is in the neighborhood of 50/50, although when I was preganant and had insulin resistance it became like 20 (basal) 80 (bolus).
On the 12 hour fasting thing…when I do that I still allow myself to eat non-carby foods plain eggs, sliced chicken or cheese. It seems to work, does anyone know if this would be a probelm.
Like you, my nighttime basal is higher, although it does not jump up until 2AM.
Lauren-
I just looked at your profile and saw that you are relatively newly diagnosed. I wonder if you are still honeymooning and that is why your basals are so low and thus your ratio of basal:bolus atypical. I was also diagnosed with Type 1 as an adult and my honeymoon lasted for quite a while. For a long time I took between 7-10 units/day, much of it with meals, and I needed little “background” insulin (I was using MDI, but equivalent to basal on the pump). Now I take around 30 unit/day and produce no detectable insulin. My guess would be that your basal rates will increase in the future.
I’ve been pumping for five years and my basals are relatively low:
2am - 9pm - .40
9pm - 2am - .30
Raising the basal at night (early morning actually) helps to counter the dawn phenomenon.
the 50/50 ratio is an ideal, but can vary. A physically active person will get more insulin from bolusing because she needs less basal due to her active lifestyle.
I say that if you BG is in good control, we shouldn’t mindlessly follow recommended ratios.
Terry
Thanks Cat 
I am having a very hard time right now…I just got over being sick (for the first time since diagnosis) and my I:C at this point is like 1:10 and my basals are still the same. I wish my doctor would help!! I’m looking for a new one as we speak!
I think I may be coming out of the honeymoon because a week ago my I:C was 1:20. After getting sick though it changed, and now I am totally thrown off with all of my rates (and I don’t know if I still have a “bug” lingering–I feel better so I don’t know why my numbers are still so high!)
Now I’m just rambling, but i need help!!!
Thanks, good to know. My BG is not in control right now after just getting over being sick…those basals were working fine before, but I;m starting from scratch again! I fasted yesterday for breakfast and my number didn’t budge much so I thought that the basals were still correct, but who knows. I need some help.
When mine started to shift I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, but really but my pancreas was just peetering out and I needed more insulin. Hope you find a new endo or CDE who can help review your numbers and adjust your settings, it sometimes feels like too much to do alone!
Even now, I will sometimes start having high numbers for what feels like no reason (change of seasons sometimes?)…v. frustrating, but now I try to just focus on increasing my insulin if I need it, and not worrying too much about why happened. Usually I can’t tell anyway! Adjusting your settings yourself gets easier with time, and I successfully adjust mine all the time. But I have had the pump for 5 years and still often need professional help with adjustments (4-5x /year).
Keep us posted!
Thanks so much for helping Cat
I’m at .2u per hour…
Well, in contrast to you low basal people…my son has 1.65 for part of the night and it varies throughout the day. I am shocked that his are so high because he has a friend who has very low basal rates as well, but my son is 15, growing (is about 6’2’’) and I am thinking his basals will decrease when his growth slows down or stops. Good luck with figuring it all out. I was going crazy with my son’s night time basal rates and the nurse educator told me to just keep track over a couple of days/nights and see if there was any sort of pattern that was noticeable. There was - and she also told me to change a basal rate and then wait for a day or two before changing anything else. It is a fine balancing act that is for sure ! ! !
Thanks everyone!! It really helps to hear everyone’s opinion!!
Thanks for replying to my posts Tim. I especially like to hear what you have to say since we are kind of in the same timeline of diagnosis!