First the disclaimer. If there is already a post for this, can someone point me to it please?
Several times a month I am too low at mealtime to be able to bolus. I don't want to enter a higher BG level and corrupt my readings just so I can bolus. I'm looking for what you other group members do that works well for you. I've tried several different procedures, but they don't seem to work. The worst one I have done is not bolusing at all and then going hyper. Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas.
It won’t let you bolus if you’re below 50. If you put a # in lower than this (or if you test w/ the PDM and it registers less than 50) then you’ll be unable to bolus using the bolus calculator. If this happens, you can wait 10 minutes and then you can register a bolus w/ the bolus calculator. The key is to remember to check back after the 10 minutes so you can get the bolus pumping Or if you want to do the calculations yourself, you can enter the bolus manually…Hope that helps!
It won’t let you bolus for food if you’re below 50, however it will calculate what you’re supposed to bolus. At that point you can go back and tell it you’re not bolusing for food and then manually enter the bolus amount. This has worked for me a couple times, just be careful about it!
When I’m too low all I do is drink one juicy juice which brings my bg up 80 points then subtract the 15 carbs from whatever I’m going to eat. I wait about 15 minutes after the juice to make sure my glucose is coming up. This is what I’ve been doing since I started the pump but it may not be right for you.
This works for me as well…bypass by going back and entering the number of carbs you need to bolus for. You can also use the extend function allowing for 0% initially and extending 100% over whatever period of time is appropriate (based on how low you are and the fat, fiber and protein levels in what you are eating.)
I would manually enter the bolus that I will need (not including the carbs I am using to bring my sugar back up) , and then extend 100% of the bolus by 1/2 hour. I would also wait 10 minutes before starting to eat my regular food, for me, the icky low feeling goes away quicker if my stomach only has the sugar in it, not other fats or complex carbs getting digested.
I agree with that. Actually I just had a low (60) and I corrected with my juice, waited about 10 minutes, then ate some crackers as a snack and bolused accordingly. Lots to learn with this diabetes.
Like Janet i try to bring my BG up to where I can bolus before I eat my meal. I usually eat a few glucotabs and wait about 10 minutes and retest and then bolus for my meal.
Thanks everyone. I’ve come up with the following plan. (1) I changed my minimum BG for bolus to 50. Below 50 I don’t want to bolus anyway so 50 works for me. (2) I’ve started taking some glucose immediately and not including it in the number of carbs for calculations. After the glucose has had a chance to kick in, then I’ll test again. (3) I am extending my bolus when I am low.
Or if you want to do the calculations yourself, you can enter the bolus manually…Hope that helps!