Basal testing (BT)

[Fagor]

Suspect this has been asked before but...time for a refresh.

What food / drink are allowed during BT? I have seen one leaflet which says “no carbs” in one section (I would assume food like veg soup, grilled meat / fish, salad would be ok) but later it says “fasting” which implies no food.

Think in one forum thread it says only water, seems a bit drastic.

And if BGs go high (much over 13) should they be corrected or just wait till end of BT block?

Thanks.

 

[helli]

My understanding is no food.
This is not that drastic if you split your day into 8 hour chunks.
The reason is that protein without carbs will affect BG.

 

[mashedupmatt]

No food at all is what I have done - are you once daily or twice daily Basal? Because the testing is different...

 

[Inka]

You don’t eat anything @Fagor There are instructions here:

How To Successfully Test Your Basal Rate

Are you looking for basal rate information and testing instructions? Perfect! You're in the right place!

www.mysugr.com

.

 

[trophywench]

And drink - to be absolutely cruel I could say water only - but to be honest I've always had either tea or coffee cos they're water at heart, with the teeniest splash of milk - only 'corporation pop' ie tap water itself, if it's that hot and I'm thirsty. Er, not that often in the UK really!

 

[Lucyr]

What food / drink are allowed during BT?

None, just water, and if you’re sure caffeine doesn’t affect you then black coffee

 

[Sally71]

When we did basal testing when my daughter was young, we were given a list of things that she was allowed to eat. It included things like ONE scrambled egg, or ONE frankfurter, sugar free jelly. I.e. hardly anything at all, and we noticed that every time she ate one of these things her blood sugar would rise slightly, which spoilt the test. (In the absence of carbs, your body will convert protein and fat into glucose instead, so they can still have an effect on your blood sugar.) So if you want it to be an effective test and not a waste of time, best eat nothing at all and only drink water.

 

[Tdm]

Suspect this has been asked before but...time for a refresh.

What food / drink are allowed during BT? I have seen one leaflet which says “no carbs” in one section (I would assume food like veg soup, grilled meat / fish, salad would be ok) but later it says “fasting” which implies no food.

Think in one forum thread it says only water, seems a bit drastic.

And if BGs go high (much over 13) should they be corrected or just wait till end of BT block?

Thanks.

If you levels go high, you have the result from your basal test, which is, you need more basal.
Increase basal, and repeat test, until basal keeps you level

 

[rebrascora]

Which basal insulin do you use?

From what I understand with the longer acting basals and Tresiba in particular which is active over 30+hours, you set it up for optimum overnight BG stability when you are fasting anyway but perhaps have your evening meal earlier than usual and not have anything contentious like pizza or creamy pasta or lentil dishes where you can get a late or overnight increase. So basically, daytime basal testing is moot for such a basal because the most important part of it's cover is during the night, so a dose that keeps you steady overnight is the right dose and any fluctuations in cover during the day will have to be dealt with via fast acting insulin/exercise/carbs.

If I haven't got that quite right then hopefully @Proud to be erratic will explain it better.

Other shorter acting basal insulins like Levemir and Humulin and Glargine/Lantus/Abasaglar do benefit from daytime fasting tests and sometimes adjusting the time that you take them can be as valid as adjusting the dose(s) it/themselves.

 

[SB2015]

Basal testing is a hassle so I want to make sure that it is worth doing and getting the correct info out of it. Splitting the day into three and then during the testing eating nothing at all makes sense. Just water.
The different parts of the day don’t need to be done on consecutive days, just when it works for you.

I would miss breakfast and then try and have lunch as late as possible to clock off night and as much of the morning as I could in one hit. Then another day have early lunch and no evening meal, which gives me the evening and a check over night again. Finally an early breakfast and no lunch then evening meal a bit later than usual. That sounds straight forward but … it usually took me a full week to cover all the slots as hypos or hypers would interrupt the plans.

 

[helli]

Other shorter acting basal insulins like Levemir and Humulin and Glargine/Lantus/Abasaglar do benefit from daytime fasting tests and sometimes adjusting the time that you take them can be as valid as adjusting the dose(s) it/themselves.

Those of us with insulin pumps but not HCL also benefit from basal testing. With the ability to change basal every 30 minutes, basal testing with a pump is very beneficial.

 

[Fagor]

I've forgotten how to refer to a users' id - could someone remind me?
Basal is Levemir - 14 @ 07:30 and 14 @ 17:30
Going with no food, just water & sometimes Bovril.

Got through "afternoon" test (just) - last meal & bolus at 09:00, then low alarm at 16:45.
Next block will be "evening", no evening meal.

 

[mashedupmatt]

I've forgotten how to refer to a users' id - could someone remind me?
Basal is Levemir - 14 @ 07:30 and 14 @ 17:30
Going with no food, just water & sometimes Bovril.

Got through "afternoon" test (just) - last meal & bolus at 09:00, then low alarm at 16:45.
Next block will be "evening", no evening meal.

If you type the "@" symbol and then start typing the username (without a space) a dropdown list of users will appear - just click the one you are looking to refer to @Fagor - it won't initially show as underlined but once you post the reply it will do so - hope that helps

 

[Fagor]

Thanks @mashedupmatt. That's what I tried, but possibly didn't wait long enough or input enough characters for system to generate a short-ish list. Seems to be Ok now, so Ok.