A little basal-testing advice needed please...

[Munjeeta]

Hi all...

I am desperately trying to figure out my basal rates for my 5-week-old pump. I feel quite confident with the process, but I'm not having much luck seeing patterns. I started with the overnights but am not getting anywhere fast so decided to give the breakfast stretch a go to give myself a full night's sleep!

So I skipped breakfast today and basal tested. Here were my results:
06:30, 151
07:30, 163
08:30 168
09:30 188
10:30, 158
11:30, 147
12:30, 173
13:30, 139
14:30, 125

My current basal rates for this time are:
02:00, 0.6
05:00, 0.5
09:00, 0.6
14:00, 0.4

Now... I don't really see a pattern... They stay pretty close for the first 3 hours, so I think my basal rate between 04:30 and 06:30 is pretty good, and there looks like what may be a fall beginning around 13:30 so I will try a lunch test too.

But, then there's a spike to 188 and a fall to 158/ 147. Could this be because I'm losing some sugar in my urine?? Or is it likely to be a basal issue? And then it rises again. Do I just put this down to an irregular test and try again?

I feel like I understand what COULD be making the changes occur, but I just don't know how to decide which of the factors it is!

Sorry for the specifics... I am floundering a little and would appreciate any advice you seasoned pumpers can offer!!

Thanks so much!

MJ

 

[novorapidboi26]

As a matter of good practice I would do the test for 2 consecutive days to see whats happening, then make a decision........

Have a look at a basal sticky at the top of the pumping board, explains it well there....

It looks though as if there will only be minor tweaking required....

 

[trophywench]

Well you can't make decisions without seeing if this is a one off, or whether all days are similar so as NRB says, you need to repeat the test - but just do 6 hour blocks and spread it over a few days because when you make a basal change, say early in the morning - the knock on effects might affect your BG until lunchtime.

Your BG is too high when you wake up - over 8 then goes up to over 9 (sorry, I work in mmol/L not mg/DL) - so if that's more than a one off, you need to nudge your basal up a bit from about 04.00 am. By which I mean if I was me, I'd make it eg 0.62 and see what happens with that OR maybe increase that 5am to 9am. You just have to do teeny adjustments and test test test.

But don't change anything at any other time of day, until you've sorted out one of your time blocks. Then move on.