Tag Archives: basal rate

30 Days With Diabetes: Basal Rate

Posted in Diabetes, Travel, Type 1 by

Managing Type 1 diabetes involves more than just giving myself an insulin injection before I eat. It’s a basal-bolus routine.

A basal-bolus routine involves taking a longer acting form of insulin to keep blood glucose levels stable through periods of fasting and separate injections of shorter acting insulin to prevent rises in blood glucose levels resulting from meals.

It gets more complicated. My basal rate – the amount of insulin I take in between meals – changes from week to week, day to day and hour to hour. This can depend on my schedule (weekend vs. weekday vs. traveling), hormones, exercise and even stress.

Here’s a breakdown of the basal rates I have preset within my personal diabetes manager (what I use to administer insulin via the pod attached to my skin). Continue reading →

Advertisement

Basal and Bolus

Posted in Diabetes, Exercise, Personal, Type 1, Women's Health by

Basal and Bolus are my lifeline, but they’ve recently hit puberty, and their hormones and emotions are all over the place. This does not make life easier for me, and no matter what I do, they don’t listen. I guess I should respect their independence, but sometimes I miss the obedient rates that never questioned me.

I try to be the healthiest person I can be, but there are days when the diabetes takes over. It’s not necessarily a result of anything wrong I’ve done in managing it, but whether it’s stress or hormones, sometimes my blood sugar levels have a mind of their own.

In a State of Flux

Blacktip Reef with wavy blue lineYesterday was one of those days. Since I went off birth control six months ago, I’ve struggled to balance my basal and bolus rates (basal is the long-lasting insulin I take continuously throughout the day; bolus is the fast-acting insulin I take before meals). My insulin sensitivity is constantly fluctuating. Continue reading →