Basal testing - is it all it's cracked up to be?

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MaryPlain said:
I'm still puzzled as to why you start by reducing your basal by 40%?
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The reason you set your basal back so far if you have an active job is so that you can see a pattern emerging without the hypo. It's better to reduce by to much than not enough. You still get the pattern so can then adjust and give the work profile a trial run the next day.
 
trophywench said:
Well how many dribbles of basal are you going to miss in the few minutes a shower take? - you can always reconnect while you and your hair are still wet.
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Interesting q, I have often wondered the same. I saw a Dr from King's College Hospital on Monday at a meeting who suggested that for every 30 mins off the pump (showering and getting dressed), you can assume that BG rises by 1mmol.

Now I don't take 30 min showers, and I usually only have my pump off for 10-15 mins max. But it's worth taking into consideration if you are the sort who leaves it off for a longer period of time and needs to basal test.
 
Pumper_Sue said:
The reason you set your basal back so far if you have an active job is so that you can see a pattern emerging without the hypo. It's better to reduce by to much than not enough. You still get the pattern so can then adjust and give the work profile a trial run the next day.
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Oh, ok thanks - I thought it was some new way of basal testing. I suppose if you're having a lot of hypos it makes sense.

On the other hand, if levels get too high, the basal test becomes unreliable anyway surely as insulin resistance increases with high bloods. I have found that if my BM goes over 8 I might as well abandon the test as it rarely recovers thereafter.
 
shiv said:
Interesting q, I have often wondered the same. I saw a Dr from King's College Hospital on Monday at a meeting who suggested that for every 30 mins off the pump (showering and getting dressed), you can assume that BG rises by 1mmol.

Now I don't take 30 min showers, and I usually only have my pump off for 10-15 mins max. But it's worth taking into consideration if you are the sort who leaves it off for a longer period of time and needs to basal test.
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But then again if this is an every day ocurance then that's what your basal will be wont it? So it's nothing new to factor in 🙂
 
If you plotted out your basal rates, you find that it gives a wave pattern, if you plot your working profile and your normal (day off profile) you often find that the actual wave pattern is very similar

The 40% is purely based on an Educated guess, and yes if I my levels had started to go high, I would abort the session, still use what info I had collected to make an educated guess on my next move though..

I was working in very busy kennels, most paying guests but also a small block of 6 kennels for Labrador Rescue. My boss bred working dogs 'Rotti's' and our supervisor also bred and trained Working German Shepherds for Schutzhund (Sport side of police dog training) latter great fun, as long as you weren't playing the stodge for bit training..

So we catered for the difficult, ill-mannered iffy dog😱 So having an hypo when handling one of these wasn't a good idea...

So risking a high blood glucose was far safer than risking a hypo..
 
MaryPlain said:
I agree Sue, but all of the instructions for basal testing contradict this.
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I really can't see a problem in doing basal testing, I think people are finding problems when there aren't any:confused:
 
Pumper_Sue said:
I really can't see a problem in doing basal testing, I think people are finding problems when there aren't any:confused:
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I'm glad to hear that you don't have any problems with it, Sue. I'm also grateful to others who have posted though for helping me see that I'm not the only one who does find it difficult!

I suppose my biggest problem is that I absolutely HATE doing it. I'm very much a creature of habit, and I like my food, so basal testing is a big disruption to routine and missing meals a major deprivation. All of that is worth it of course if it helps me get better control; it's just that I'm not convinced it actually does! I think if you could just do the tests once, it would all be fine, but it's the requirement to keep on tweaking and repeating the tests when things go out that make it such a chore. I've had the situation where I've made an adjustment due to going too low or too high, then the next day it's gone the other way, and I've ended up eventually going back to the original doses.

It appears to me, from my experience, that my body just doesn't behave the same when I fast as it does when I eat.
 
Mary,
with respect we all hate basal testing as in skipping meals, but then we all knew it was part and parcel of having a pump. Yes I do find it hard going but then I had been on insulin for 42 years before I went on a pump. I also have addison's disease, which makes my management very hard.
Bottom line is bite the bullet and get it done 🙂
 
Yup it's a PITA, just a necessary one if we want to get the best out of our treatment whether pumping or MDI, but have to say it was hammered home at my clinic that it can't be avoided AT ALL with a pump and if you weren't prepared to do it - well don't sign the form to say you'll have the pump.
 
I am very grateful for the pump. I don't remember being warned about basal testing by the healthcare team before signing up for the pump though, not that it would have made any difference! I'm not sold on its effectiveness, given my personal experience, that's all. As I said before, if I knew that it would give me better control I wouldn't question it.
 
I know at least one other person who struggles to do a fasting basal test over breakfast. They simply have to use the other time slots as information to inform educated guesses for that period.

Do you always see wildly different responses Mary? Have you missed lunches for a whole week for example just as an experiment?

In your shoes I might find that helpful. I ran a test myself this morning oddly enough, which gave a very useful indication of the general state of things for me this week (my basals have been wandering almost weekly/fortnightly for about 6 weeks now!)
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I know at least one other person who struggles to do a fasting basal test over breakfast. They simply have to use the other time slots as information to inform educated guesses for that period.

Do you always see wildly different responses Mary? Have you missed lunches for a whole week for example just as an experiment?

In your shoes I might find that helpful. I ran a test myself this morning oddly enough, which gave a very useful indication of the general state of things for me this week (my basals have been wandering almost weekly/fortnightly for about 6 weeks now!)
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Hi Everyday.... thanks for your post. I haven't tried that - mainly because when working most days I can't do a test every 2 hours. I have to choose my days carefully - one or two times a week it is possible, which stretches the whole thing out tediously! On occasions I've started a basal test and then got side tracked with work and only remembered after managing to snatch a cup of tea that I should have had it without milk!

While I'm off work I wouldn't have a problem missing lunch every day - I often do, but I still tend to find that at some point my liver misbehaves itself and spoils everything. People talk about only having to fast for 6 hours at a time, but when you add in the 4 hours after the last meal and bolus, it's actually 10 hours, and my liver doesn't think I should starve myself for that length of time!
 
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I know what you mean! I tend to avoid gym days (certainly don't do breakfast-lunch tests then) which usually leaves me just 2 days to choose from. Any unexpected dips below 4 on those days and I can mess up most of a week easily. Very frustrating when you know you *want* the information, but struggle to find the right days to test for it!
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I know what you mean! I tend to avoid gym days (certainly don't do breakfast-lunch tests then) which usually leaves me just 2 days to choose from. Any unexpected dips below 4 on those days and I can mess up most of a week easily. Very frustrating when you know you *want* the information, but struggle to find the right days to test for it!
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I'm so glad I'm not the only one! 🙂
 
Sorry for the late response, I've been gone for a bit...

Just wanted to say again Mary that I totally feel your pain. I find basal testing so hard to fit into my routine, and the fact that I'm STARVING is all I can think about while I'm doing it.

I often wonder if my reluctance to basal test indicates that I am less committed to the cause than my fellow pumping D's... My A1c's would also suggest the same. But my priorities are right for me at this point in time. How often you basal test is a personal choice, I guess. Nobody knows you and your life better than you do.
 
bigpurpleduck said:
Sorry for the late response, I've been gone for a bit...

Just wanted to say again Mary that I totally feel your pain. I find basal testing so hard to fit into my routine, and the fact that I'm STARVING is all I can think about while I'm doing it.

I often wonder if my reluctance to basal test indicates that I am less committed to the cause than my fellow pumping D's... My A1c's would also suggest the same. But my priorities are right for me at this point in time. How often you basal test is a personal choice, I guess. Nobody knows you and your life better than you do.
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Hi BPD, thanks for your response, which I find reassuring. I've gone through different phases, for example when I was doing Dafne I was a bit OCD about my levels and testing, getting through hundreds of testing strips and worrying about it all the time. Gradually work commitments and stresses took over and I went perhaps too far the other way. I'm trying to achieve a balance now of not worrying about it all the time, but the warning signs are there, for example I've logged in every day this week to this forum, which isn't a healthy sign for me!
 
Hmmm. I've been on a pump for 12 years and have never done a fasting basal test. i have never been threatened.
 
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