When I get sick I have had to boost basal by 20% to 50% to keep glucose down enough.
jhe6, I go through periods of normal basals and go high for periods even though I am not sick. Have to increase basal 120% - 130%. Been happening for years. More dangerous when you put in a basal of 130% for 24 hours and then body comes back and wants a normal basal. Could be in a week or two. Like someone said everyone is different. The thread was hacked but that’s ok.
Different basal insulins cause different reactions. Meaning one might cause blood sugar to go lower than others. When you’re sleeping is what I’m referring to. Fast acting carbs are good, but once the carbs are used what are left with? Nothing, and you’ll need to eat real food typically after. No you shouldn’t suspend your basal because you will probably be all messed up the next day. But you can split your dose. Take half at night and half in the morning. Why not
Yes, you are right. I never find it helpful to suspend to try to treat the low, even though it’s so tempting at the gym, when you dont want to munch while working out. But oh well. It’s the best and fastest way to treat the low…
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I do the cycling also even when feeling fine. Basals can vary by 3 to 1 but now it is more like 2 to 1. And they always seem to change suddenly and in the middle of the night.
I think suspending only works well when you are on a pump. I can see it would be a problem with MDI and you would then be more dependent on eating glucose.
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I can’t get one because my Endo will not support it. She is bought and paid for by Medtronic or just doesn’t want to go thru the hassle of learning other pumps. The company spends a lot of effort to garner favor with Endos. I can’t see the only other Endo in town because when he screwed up a drug order and I was sent the brand item instead of generic, I called his office and said I want a reimbursement due to his mistake. one week later I received a good-bye letter saying I was non-compliant with his orders even though I had lowered my A1c half a point to 7.0.
I find in these smaller communities–100,000 pop. that doctors can be primadonnas.
can’t do it with MDI. Can reduce a short term insulin injection if you know you will be exercising. Otherwise, nothing you can do.
I have always treated my hypos by consuming carbs. Before going on the 630 and 670, I would suspend basil manually to prevent going even lower. The 630 suspended itself when it went below 80 and the 670 suspends itself went it predicts I will be going under 80. By not suspending Basil, you are adding wood to the fire
And if you forget to resume BASAL, you risk getting quite high after treating the hypo. DAMHIKT.
I don’t suspend my pump but use a temporary Basal rate of 0 for 30-45 minutes. That way my Basal will resume and I don’t run the risk of going too long without insulin.
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Thanks Laddie. That’s what I meant to say. The 670 automatically resumes Basil when it predicts you will return to normal range.
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What Laddie said
I have been using a decreased temp basal to head off low blood sugar
but when I get low that I am afraid to wait I will go to carbs
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For me, every couple of weeks the body changes and I am either increasing my basals or decreasing my basals. Often I change my basal 20% all day long. My main point when I created this topic was for people to know that decreasing the basal will not materially help to bring a low up as a basal, like a bolus, takes 4 hours to be fully absorbed so if you want to increase BG, I prefer to eat a quick acting carb. For members that have Basal IQ, then the pump is good for eliminating predictive lows but not if you are already experiencing a low. I know some people have a weight issue and would prefer to reduce a basal rather than eat something but except for a predictive low, my opinion is unchanged and it is best to eat a fast acting carb and to know before hand how much that fast acting carb will raise BG.
Would you please describe what you mean by splitting a basal dose of insulin? …“take half at night and take half in the morning”?
I do not understand if you are talking about taking a basal dose or a splitting a bolus is what you mean with regards to splitting dose. Are you talking about manual injections or insulin pump? Thanks.
@zoubs473 I will leave it to J1112 to give an answer by what he meant. But some people do split basal insulin. Some people prefer it to give a more level coverage. So if you are taking shots of 20 units of a long acting you would split the dose for evening and then the other half 12 hours later. I never did that and I am on a pump now so I don’t know if they evenly split it or what, maybe if you want to know more about how they do it you can ask if people if they do and how much they do.
I’m not sure how familiar you are with a pump but we “split” our basals on a pump of course. But we use a fast acting insulin in small doses all day long. You can also split your bolus by extending a portion of it to be delivered later. Useful in higher fat meals.
I remember reading an article about how it was better to temp decrease your dose of insulin versus stopping it altogether as you are most likely to not go too high later if it is just decreased. It does seem to work better for me. I also found in exercising that I decrease it about a half hour before I start exercise and I usually do a half or a third of my dose for 2 hours. (Depending what I am starting at) This has worked well for me as when I snorkel the effects go for about an hour after I am done.
It also seems to me by at least having a smaller amount of insulin being given I am keeping a “fuel” source available constantly, since suspending it at some point I might not have any insulin that is being able to be used.