Square Bolus

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
#1

Hello everyone;

I have been on the pump since end of July. So far so good and my blood sugars have never been in such good control (or maybe I have never cared so much about good control)
I finally realized how much I have to be thankful for and how badly I want to stay healthy for my husband and daughter. As well, Im going for tubal reversal surgery on March 9 and God willing will be bringing a new little one into the world that I want to live a long and healthy life for...

My question is this; I have never used a bolus feature other than the "normal" "ez carb" or "ez bg"...Im very curious as to how to incorporate the "combo bolus" into my daily life to make it easier to get tighter control when I eat specific foods..

Can someone please explain to me how to use things like square bolus so that when I have something more fatty like pizza or chocolate, I can adjust the pump to stretch out the bolus for a longer time frame?

I looked at it a couple times but it asked me what percent I wanted to use and I had no idea...help!!

Thanks very much.

#2

Hi trinsmum. Glad your control is so good! I love my pump.

I assume you have a Ping. The percentages in the combo bolus are to input how much insulin you want immediately, and how much you want spread out over the time period you specify. Have another look at the manual, it has a pretty good explanation.

How you set the percentages is individual, you'll have to experiment. I've arrived at 60/40 over 4 hours for pizza, but that might not work for you. I'm sure you'll get more input. Experiment!

#3

I use the combo bolus for when I eat pizza but I actually learned how to get it right by the video on this page by Gary Scheiner. They have classes which I would be interested in as this sample actually helped me control my sugar when I'm eating pizza.

https://type1university.com/

#4

Combo boluses (Bolusi?) can help with certain foods, but I've found them to be very much trial and error. You have to figure out what works for you. It helps a lot to have a CGM like dexcom. it also takes some trust.

I've noticed that I'll get a large spike from pizza about 4 hours after i eat for about 2-4hrs. So I delay a portion of my bolus. But this takes some trust as generally i'm asleep when this spike, and therefore when my delayed bolus hits. So i started small and worked up to it.

For instance, my ISF is 20, and i noticed that my BG will spike to 300. That looks like I need an extra 10u to be delayed to get me to 100. So the first time I set the percentage to delay 7u to give me some buffer. And then worked my way up to what seemed to work.

You can also be more proactive by calculating the protein and fat grams to get a good guess ahead of time. I'm sure the link provided goes into that.

#5

thanks very much Yadie. I will be sure to check out that video...
I also find that I cannot eat plain chips in the evening without being really high in the morning after.. should I be combo bolusing for those as well do you think?