OK I have a basal testing ?

[beaniesmom]

I've been reading here for a long time and I've gotten such great information. I've learned so much from all of you. So here comes my ignorance.

Let me preface by saying I do have the book Pumping Insulin and I love it. I am having such a hard time with basal testing though.

We homeschool and in our house that means we sleep late and go to bed late. Like my kids are still up... :o Anyway, our dinner is often later like 7 or sometimes even 8. Now, to do over night basal testing am I correct in thinking that there should be no active IOB? Does this mean skipping dinner or feeding her something that doesn't require carbs?

Maybe I should explain my troubles...
8pm .55
midnight .5
3:30am .5
5am .45
10am .6

dd normally wakes around 9:30/10. Her waking bs was fairly high last week (like 200's) and my first thought was rebounding. Soooo, I lowered the midnight to .45, 3:30 to .45 and 5 to .4. Welll, now she's waking in the 2 to 300's! I feel like I can't win! I'm willing to test overnight every hour as needed, but how do I account for any dinner bolus?

Please give advise, ask more questions, grant me your wisdom, Oh wise D parents!

[Seans Mom]

My suggestion would be to start w/ the problem area... in this case the waking number 9:30-10 a.m. I would test start by testing her between 3 and 5 a.m. and see what her numbers are then. I would not have changed all the basals and assumed a rebound on a waking number alone. You do need to make sure all carbs and IOB is out of her system when checking. So check before Supper, 2 hrs after Supper (to make sure the I:C ratio is correct) and the again when you know the IOB and carbs are gone. Best way to know if carbs are gone is to have a low or no carb meal. THEN when you have an in range number ( you don't want to do basal testing if she requires treatment for a high or low, you'll need to treat and pick another night) I'm assuming by 3 a.m. all IOB and carbs would have been gone for at least a couple hours. Test at 3 a.m..... is she still in range? Is she within 40 pts of her last number? If so then the basal for Midnite is fine. Check at 5 a.m. (same night or another w/ an in range number like before) Is her number in range? Is she within 40 pts of her Midnite number? If so then her 3 a.m. basal is fine. And so on till you find the culprit My guess is that if any are off, and she's not rebounding then the 5 a.m. may be the culprit but you may also need to add a 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. basal to the mix. It's all going to depend on the testing numbers. Hope this helps

[beaniesmom]

Thanks so much for the reply! It does make sense to me. I might actually get this afterall. Of course I just tested her and she was 310! Thanks to the rice and corn for dinner. Hmmm...Maybe the dinner I:C needs some adjusting too.
I know it's a never ending battle, but I think I'm just going to start talking to all of you because dh (and I don't mean dear here) doesn't get it. "she's fine, it's not leukemia or anything":mad:

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

It's never a dumb, stupid, or ignorant question here- don't forget that ;)

First off, have you heard that if your having a problem at 4am, to fix that problem you always go 2 hours back to adjust the basal.

[Seans Mom]

Rice is a bugger here in our house. It's one of those foods that will take forever in Seans system. I most always have a delayed high w/ it. And if he doesn't eat faster carbs w/ it then I could have a low first before the delayed high. :rolleyes: I'd suggest not messing w/ the supper ratio based on rice. Something more low carb/low fat would be good. Correct the high and try basal testing another time unless you want to try the 5 a.m. first. Do you usually check at 3 a.m.? If so is the number usually in range?

[beaniesmom]

I haven't been regularly testing the 3am. I did last night and it was high (can't remember the exact number but I'm thinking 200's). Tonight I'm going to set the alarm though for both 3 and 5 and see if I can't figure out what is going on.

Again, thank you for helping me with this. I'm going to keep at it until I get it!

[Seans Mom]

As Lanae said in her post, you want to go back 2 hrs before the problem. So if the 3 a.m. number is high or low, it'll be the midnight basal that is off. If you checked at 3 and 5, and they were both high or low. Change only the midnight basal first, and see how that affects the 5 a.m. Does that make sense? One change at a time to see how one affects the other.