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Originally Posted by kel4han  hmmm. Thanks for that, but I couldn't quite get it from that info since I am on MDI not a pump yet. Still researching. Thanks! |
Well, there's a reason why MDI is sometimes called the poor man's pump. Both use the principles of basal and bolus insulin, where basal insulin is meant to be the amount of insuln needed to match the amount of glucose released by the liver and body, and bolus insulin is used to handle the consumption of carbohydrates.
The big difference between basal insulin rates for pumps versus MDI is that pumps are programmable to put out differing basal rates over 24 hour periods, which is useful since our bodies basal metabolisms go through 24 hour cycles. With Lantus and Levemir basal on MDI, you're going to have a very flat basal rate of insulin.
I think as an MDI'er the biggest thing is trying to find the basal dose that will let you almost certainly sleep safely and comfortably for 8 hours overnight. I think that's the one you're going to be testing for. It took me some time to get my basal dose titrated comfortably, the difficulty I had was my basal dose of insulin drops my blood sugar, but then after 3 or 4 in the morning, my liver begins pumping out more glucose, and my blood sugars tend to start rising. It took time and testing to find a dose which lets me feel comfortable that if I go to sleep with a BGL betwen 130 and 160, I won't hypo before 3 AM, but also won't find myself elevated above 180 if I should sleep in to 8 or 9 AM.
