Basal/Bolus Ratios

[Matt Cycle]

I know medical staff use a rule of thumb that the basal/bolus ratio is around 50:50. On MDI I didn't really think about it that much as I'm not one of those who type every single thing into a spreadsheet and just had what I had. On the pump now and the Medtronic in the history setting does it for you and gives your TDD and basal/bolus ratios and I'm surprised how close they all are to the 50:50. My standard daily basal is 18.5u although does change with the TBR's but the bolus I thought would be more wide ranging. Here's the last couple of weeks:

Basal/Bolus:
48:52
49:51
52:48
47:53
55:45
47:53
47:53
48:52
49:51
56:44
47:53
50:50
49:51
48:52
42:58 (kids party yesterday!)

Not sure what it has to do with the price of fish but I found it interesting.

 

[Pigeon]

Interesting! Mine have always been more like 35% basal 65% bolus, which the nurse assured me would change when I started the pump, but it's still about the same! I've always put this down to being quite skinny but eating a lot, I used to walk everywhere too which I thought must help, but even since I started driving to work the ratio's about the same. I've a sneaky suspicion I'm actually more of a LADA than Type 1 as I was going downhill for about 6 months before I got diagnosed, and my total basal is far lower than what the formula would predict for my weight.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

People vary. I am more like Pigeon, and always have been - around 40:60 basal:bolus for me.

Most people lie somewhere between 40:60 and 60:40 I think.

Over last summer I finally got around to attempting to apply the ‘rules’ my clinic had repeatedly mentioned and attempted to set my basal as 50%. But those rules only work for me if I am eating 250g of carbs a day (which I don’t). After a couple of days of hectic corrections I looked at the stats, and i was back at 40:60!

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I just worked mine out, and it's 18% basal and 72% bolus. Like @Pigeon I'm a big eater in the body of a small person - I think I have a very fast metabolism. And like Pigeon I was feeling ill for several months before I was diagnosed, though the last couple of weeks were classic type 1 descent into DKA. But I know from testing that whenever I lie down and rest my blood sugar drops - as does my blood pressure, I have supine hypotension - so I think I'm much more dependant on insulin for eating than I am on background insulin when I'm resting.

Hmm, that sounds like I just eat and rest - I do do other things too!