Basal Rate Testing

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Lauren

Lauren

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I've just completed 24 hour basal rate testing for the first time ever and am pretty shocked at the results. My BG tends to swing from about 3 to about 12 throughout the day and it never occurred to me that my basal rate was to blame, and the lows are apparently due to over-bolusing at meals. It all makes sense now!

My new DSN (who is amazing!) says that my basal rate is one of the lowest she's ever seen. I didn't think it was that low - my lowest is 0.725 and my highest is 0.8 - but was wondering what is generally considered a 'normal' basal rate?

Needless to say, mine is going to go up a little! And much more basal rate testing in the future 🙂

In other news, I am getting an Animas Vibe pump next week after 5 years of my Medtronic Veo. Very excited!
 
I don't think there is such a thing as a "normal" basal rate, you need what you need - my daughter's non-school basal varies from 0.66 in the morning to 1.80 for the first half of the night; her school one goes from 0.24 mid-afternoon to 1.70 first half of the night. She's obviously growing and has puberty approaching fast which doesn't help, but it also seems to be that as soon as she goes to bed her BGs shoot through the roof so we need a massive basal increase at that time to try to prevent the rise. Maybe this will stabilise a bit by the time she's an adult, but who knows!
 
Lauren she'd have a fit if she saw mine then - my total daily dose is less than 9.0 units - my HIGHEST base rate is 0.50 ! rest are around 0.2/0.3. I think Robin said her TDD basal was about 8u too. OTOH someone recently - young woman wanting to plan for her first preg and on MDI - needs 55u of Levemir at night and some more in the morning as you do.

You need exactly what you need is the answer, and there is no firm amount anyone can say.

Also note that to my DSN's mystification - I don't follow what Roche say is the 'normal' pattern of basal requirements whatsoever. If you stick my TDD in their algorithm and look at my actual hourly requirements, where their lowest hourly rates appear are when I need more and vice versa.

We are just all different !
 
Thanks for your replies. It is strange that people have such varying requirements, but it's true, we are all different 🙂

More basal testing tonight to see if I can sort out the highs I have in the mornings!
 
Yeah - don't change stuff with only one basal test unless that BG reading at that time is already 'a pattern'.

Don't forget once you've established when the BG rise seems to start that it's the base rate starting from 2 hrs before that reading, that needs to be changed.
 
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