Hi- I was wondering if anyone ever suspends their basal if their sugar level is running low? And if so, is there a way to do this without the suspend alarm going off every few minutes. Thanks-
I don't suspend but rather just set my temporary basal to zero for a specified amount of time. This way you get the same effect and don't have to deal with the suspend alarm.
Ditto. But I find that if I do a -90 or -80 temp basal for an hour or two I have less of a rebound effect. The temp basal also helps you to not have to remember to restart the pump too…
I don’t… basal insulin is in your system for 3-4 hours so its not really helping to stop a low immediately. If I find I’m going low at the same time of day for a few days then I try out a temp basal 10% lower 3-4 hours before the lows seem to be
I do like some of the others, I use a temp rate that is teensy tiny for a couple hours. I can then test and see how I'm doing. It does slow the descent down so that's helpful. And...you don't have the alrams (like I hate the alarms when I am downloading my pump dtata -I scream yes1 I know it's suspended!) and I don't have to0 worry about forgetting to resume delivery.
Thanks for all of the feedback. I have been waking up a little on the low side so sometimes when this happens I wonder if I should suspend or lower my basal for a bit, but it’s true, since insulin is in the system for 4 hours I probably need to adjust my overnight basal rates.
Ditto. Basal to OFF. I do not use if if my CGM reports less than 60. I treat and set basal to OFF.
When I have to disconnect my pump to do any contact sport, I just set a -100% basal for a couple of hours.
I used to suspend my basal when going low, until my endo & CDE told me to stop. The reason why makes sense to me now. Regular insulin has a duration of 4-6 hours and peaks at 1-2 hours. This means that even if it starts working at 15 minutes, it will continue to lower your blood sugar for 4-6 hours. It has the most effect on your BG at 2 hours. For example, if I go low every day before my dinner around 6pm, I should look at what my basals were two hours ago. If I suspend my pump right now when I'm low, my BG will definitely rise, but it will also be affecting my BG in two hours. This puts me at risk for bad highs, possibly even ketones. It also does not treat the problem. If you suspend your pump every day when you're low around 6pm, then you're setting yourself up to be high the rest of the evening. Instead, I treat the low at the moment with 15g of carbs (more than once if I need to) and look for the root of them problem so you don't have to experience any more lows: are my basals wrong? is my I:C ratio off? Did I mis-count my carbs? Did I exercise and not take a snack/temp basal?
I realized this by looking at a printout of my BGs. I would always have re-bound highs after suspending my pump.
It depends on the situation, and why the low is occurring, but yes, sometimes I set a reduced temp basal instead of a suspend. Key things to consider is activity level (before and planned), and insulin on board, and how low and how fast it is dropping.
I also agree if one is doing this frequently, then better to look for patterns, and determine if basal rate adjustments are required.
Interesint thread. Wish I'd read it yesterday! I have been pumping exactly one week today. Yesterday I was had lows in the afternoon, at supper timeand at 10 pm. I was afraid to go to bed at 61, so I set a temp basal of -20% for 4 hours. Oops...woke up at 207. So I set myself up for a high later. Next time I will try to think through the process before getting drastic....as suggested Natalia.
Yeah! I’m so glad they told me. My old CDE didn’t know (or didn’t care) and I learned the hard way lol
Does anyone typically set up temp basal rates for exercise? I did a moderately light 30 min stint on the treadmill and my sugar plummeted from 102 to 46. Wondering if I should set a temp basal or just disconnect pump while exercising?
I do use a temp basal for exercise because exercise lowers your BG anyway. My endo recommends starting it one hour before exercise so you don’t go low during. I am actually going to a class offered by my endo on exercise and pumping tomorrow. If you want I can come back here and report my findings.
I do a temp basal of -50% for running (I run about 3-4 miles). I also do a temp basal of -50% for strength training, but I have to make sure to turn it down 30-45 mins ahead of time.
That would be great! I did a temp basal at -50% for 4 hours and didnt take any bolus with lunch bc I eat a very low carb lunch. My sugar is 157 at the moment so we will see what happens. I’m going to work out shortly.
I only use temp basal for stubborn or prolonged lows. I will use it to head off an impending low seen on cgms,or for exercise. If I’m already low it’s too late for that given the duration of insulin plus I’ll only end up high later. If I do use temp basalt it’s in addition to fast carbs not instead of the carbs.
Once in a while I’ll use it if for some reason I have way too much insulin on board where I messed up a carb count earlier or something like that and figured it out soon enough before I actually bottomed out.
Hi Melissa (and anyone else curious about exercise and the pump),
Here is the handout I received today at my endo's exercise and the pump class. I hope it is helpful.
Natalia