Basal rates

[bennyg70]

Do yours tend to reduce as the weather drops colder?

Ive been going low between 5am and 6am for the last three mornings after months and months without a night time hypo. Ive tried having a snack before bed but still end up low.... It looks like my numbers have slowly reduced over the last week or so .. 2nd - 9th FBG - 5mmol/l - 10 mmol.
10 - 12th - FBG 4.x mmol / l The the last three mornings all waking between 5am and 7am @ 2 or 3 mmol.

Would you reduce your basal based on this? Currently taking 12u what would you try?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yes. And no. In either direction. I've stopped trying to spot a pattern with weather. Once too often I've expected one thing but got another. I just pretty much continually wonder whether my basal is out and when I spot a sequence of lows or highs that I can't easily explain by activity/dose error etc I basal test. 🙂

Given those results I'd be tempted to take a unit or two off and see what happened.

 

[bennyg70]

Yes. And no. In either direction. I've stopped trying to spot a pattern with weather. Once too often I've expected one thing but got another. I just pretty much continually wonder whether my basal is out and when I spot a sequence of lows or highs that I can't easily explain by activity/dose error etc I basal test. 🙂

Given those results I'd be tempted to take a unit or two off and see what happened.

Cheers Mike - Will give it a go. May try 11u for a few days.

 

[Northerner]

I started lowering my basal when I started waking in the 4s. This sort of thing could happen to me regardless of the weather, although I do tend to get more active when the days get longer and warmer 🙂

 

[bennyg70]

By dropping a unit or two of my basal, would you expect much change in my Carb:insulin ratios?

 

[Phil65]

By dropping a unit or two of my basal, would you expect much change in my Carb:insulin ratios?

I wouldn't have thought your ins/carb ratios will change if you change your basal. The only way to check is test 2 hours post prandial I suppose?

 

[bennyg70]

I wouldn't have thought your ins/carb ratios will change if you change your basal. The only way to check is test 2 hours post prandial I suppose?

I think so... Ill stick to where im at if anything seems not quite right ill have to relook at it! Im a bit of a religious post prandrial tester now after many yars of sin, so should show up pretty quickly!

 

[Northerner]

I would say that if your basal needs are declining it's quite likely your meal requirements will also decline, although not necessarily to the same degree. That is, if you are becoming more sensitive to your insulin overall, and the decline in basal needs is not purely due to a slowdown in your liver's glucose production. If you see what I mean! 🙂

 

[Phil65]

I think so... Ill stick to where im at if anything seems not quite right ill have to relook at it! Im a bit of a religious post prandrial tester now after many yars of sin, so should show up pretty quickly!

......me too Benny, for years I didn't test post prandial.....how ridiculous!😱

 

[bennyg70]

......me too Benny, for years I didn't test post prandial.....how ridiculous!😱

Phil for many many years I didnt used to test full stop. 😱

I ate what I likes guessed at carbs and injected. Didnt even have a bg meter. Drank as good as any uni student ive ever met this went on for years between 15 and 25. Id have the odd fad of testing. I used to make up numbers just to get through the check ups. Pathetic really, I was only doing myself harm.

I feel so much better now for just having my little mate by my side guiding me along the way.

I used to think I was good at telling whether I were high , low normal or indifferent. But I realise now how very wrong I was, sometimes the symtoms can overlap for me or the feeling such as stress or genuine dehydration etc can throw a spanner in the works and I was probably eating when I was high as I felt low, and injecting when low as I felt high. How silly.

 

[Phil65]

Phil for many many years I didnt used to test full stop. 😱

I ate what I likes guessed at carbs and injected. Didnt even have a bg meter. Drank as good as any uni student ive ever met this went on for years between 15 and 25. Id have the odd fad of testing. I used to make up numbers just to get through the check ups. Pathetic really, I was only doing myself harm.

I feel so much better now for just having my little mate by my side guiding me along the way.

I used to think I was good at telling whether I were high , low normal or indifferent. But I realise now how very wrong I was, sometimes the symtoms can overlap for me or the feeling such as stress or genuine dehydration etc can throw a spanner in the works and I was probably eating when I was high as I felt low, and injecting when low as I felt high. How silly.

......Yep...been there....and not going back! 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

By dropping a unit or two of my basal, would you expect much change in my Carb:insulin ratios?

I don't. As Alan says, it would make some sense if they did, but that's not what I see happening. If I'm generally a 'bit higher' or a 'bit lower' than I'd expect 9 times out of 10 it's fixed by correcting basal alone.

I have had to tweak meal ratios perhaps once in the last 3-4 years, and that was only during a nasty bug where basal requirement went massively high too.

 

[bennyg70]

I have certainyl noticed since XMAS that I have become a lot more sensitive.

When I was previously on Nova I was working around 1:10 which seemed to be OK.

I then went on apidra which I need around 1:8 but I was neveer really working out (And this was contradictory to general advice of needing slightly less apidra than rapid).

Then when I switched back to Novarapid im finidng i need somewhere between 12:1 and 15:1 depending on time of day and Last week threw ina bit of confusion too (Possibly had a bug).

So I think yes my insulin sensitivity is increasing on the whole!

However Im going to stick to the bolus ratios and just tweak the basal at the moment.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

However Im going to stick to the bolus ratios and just tweak the basal at the moment.

Absolutely agree with that. Fix basal first, then see how your ratio(s) are behaving. Can't do it any other was cos you'll end up chasing your tail!

 

[Phil65]

Absolutely agree with that. Fix basal first, then see how your ratio(s) are behaving. Can't do it any other was cos you'll end up chasing your tail!

......agreed

 

[trophywench]

Mine hasn't changed even though I've halved my basal.

It might of couse be different if you were younger or had D for not so long, or something.