Evening Basal Test

belyro · #1 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 05:02 PM

I'm interested in other people's experiences from doing a basal test in the evening. When you're done the test, do you eat a meal? Do you have a snack? Do you go to bed hungry? Is there anything I should watch out for overnight? I mean, I take my basal at 11:00, so I should just be fine, right?

Oh man......I'm sooooooo hungry......and it's only 7pm.

JediSkipdogg · #2 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 05:08 PM

When you say evening are you talking evenight or during sleep? If you mean during sleep then eat dinner at say 6, and start the testing at 10. Since during sleep can be harder you should only need to test every hour. Basically you just need to wake up every hour. You can't rely on your morking waking alone because you actually could be dropping low and your body correcting.

belyro · #3 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

When you say evening are you talking evenight or during sleep? If you mean during sleep then eat dinner at say 6, and start the testing at 10. Since during sleep can be harder you should only need to test every hour. Basically you just need to wake up every hour. You can't rely on your morking waking alone because you actually could be dropping low and your body correcting.

No...not overnight. Just between suppertime (including fasting the 4 hours before) and when I take my basal at 11:00pm. I just want to know if my basal is running out before 11pm b/c I expect it is.

JediSkipdogg · #4 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 05:40 PM

Then to tell that you would need to skip dinner. So go from lunch (or at the latest 4 pm) till you want to end the test without eating or giving any insulin. If you start running high around 11 pm then your levemir is running out.

belyro · #5 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Then to tell that you would need to skip dinner. So go from lunch (or at the latest 4 pm) till you want to end the test without eating or giving any insulin. If you start running high around 11 pm then your levemir is running out.

That's what I did. I skipped dinner (and stopped eating around 2pm - before that actually). I just want to know if when I'm done this evening's basal test it makes sense to eat before I go to bed or just take my basal and go to bed. I'm just looking for other people who do evening basal tests to tell me what they usually do. I normally eat supper between 5pm and 7pm so I'm thinking that having a "meal" when my basal test is over (likely before long the way it's looking) might just be complicated b/c then I'll have to bolus and I'll have bolus acting overnight too instead of just basal.....and that's much more complicated.

JediSkipdogg · #6 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 06:14 PM

That's not really complicated if you give the dosing right. That choice is up to you but you may wake up starving in the middle of the night if you go from 2 pm till say 9 am without eating. If you do that I wish you luck, as for me, my stomach would eat me. LOL

LancetChick · #7 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 06:16 PM

There isn't enough time between supper and 11 PM to really see what your basal is doing without interference from your bolus and the food you ate, so I agree that you need to skip dinner (I hate basal testing). When I test, I allow myself to eat as soon as I learn anything from the test. For example, if I see that my blood sugar keeps creeping up, I know that I need to inch my basal dose up, and then I run to the kitchen.

Gangrel · #8 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 08:09 PM

I'd say you could eat a small meal or something before bed, even if it's just a sandwhich, and bolus for it. The food and insulin should be gone by the morning, and you're ready for a zippee-do-da-zippee-de-new-day!!!!!

(sorry, i mayyyy be inhaling fumes, lol)

belyro · #9 (**permalink**) 03-14-2007, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gangrel

I'd say you could eat a small meal or something before bed, even if it's just a sandwhich, and bolus for it. The food and insulin should be gone by the morning, and you're ready for a zippee-do-da-zippee-de-new-day!!!!!

(sorry, i mayyyy be inhaling fumes, lol)

Well my bloodsugar went up *slightly* around 7:30pm, and then stayed stable there until 9:30, when it went up to about 9.2/165. So it appears that my Levemir lasts me about 22-22.5 hours. That's longer than I thought. I did eat a piece of bread and bolused for it, but ended up being 3.2/57 this morning when I woke up. It seems that my I:C ratio is quite a bit different at 9:30 at night than it is during the day.

Anyway, it was a useful exercise, that's for sure!