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03-15-2007, 08:39 AM
|  | Member
I am a: Type 2 | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: NJ
Posts: 387
| | | Noob questions
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm thrown with references in here to 'bolus' and 'basals'. Can anyone give a primer to what these terms mean?
__________________
-Mike  "I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong." -Richard Feynman ACTOS 30mg
PRANDIN 2mg x 3
BYETTA 10 mcg x 2
SYNTHROID 300 mcg
COZAAR 100 mg
TRICOR 145 mg
QUINAPRIL 10 mg
METFORMIN 500 mg |
03-15-2007, 08:54 AM
|  | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North-Central Indiana
Posts: 3,732
| | Basal is used as a background insulin. This should keeps one's blood sugar stable throughout the day. Lantus and Levemir are basal insulins. These are long acting insulins.
Bolus is used with meals to cover the rises in blood sugar. Humalog and Novolog are examples of bolus insulin. These are fast acting insulins.
Stand by for more informative posts 
__________________
~Sandi~
Pumping for almost 6 years
MM Purple 722 with Humalog
Symlin
Just because I've been on df for a whole day doesn't mean I'm ADDICTED... my chair is just COMFY... |
03-15-2007, 10:17 AM
| | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,810
| | | Everything Camjen said was right on.
The terms are usually used by pumpers. Pumpers use only short acting insulin, so the basal is the small amount delivered every few minutes to prevent the liver from raising the blood sugar. People on shots use Levemir or Lantus.
Bolus doses are again what Camjen said, but can also be used to lower a high glucose. It's just a fancy way of saying a lot of insulin you want to work at once. The bolus dose is typically based on what carbs you are eating and what your blood sugar is. Humalog, Novolog, and a newer one- Apidra are examples of this. R would be as well. |
03-15-2007, 10:55 AM
| | Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Western Massachusetts
Posts: 145
| | | Certainly no reason to be ashamed..........if You don't use an insulin pump they are most likely unused terms.
Basal refers to the insulin being pumped all day, just to keep Your BS in a normal range.
Bolus is the insulin You take to cover Carbs You eat.
Next, You learn about insulin to carb ratio............How much insulin You need to cover how many grams of carbs............ |
03-15-2007, 11:06 AM
| | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: UK, Hampshire
Posts: 631
| | | the principle of modern diabetes management is to mimic a normal working pancreas as much as possible...
in a normal person when they are not eating, their pancreas puts out a small amount of background insulin - this is required to allow cells (particularly muscle cells) to absorb glucose from the blood stream - in diabetes this is replaced by the basal insulin
when they eat the beta cells in the pancreas sense the rise in blood glucose and start to produce insulin in large amounts, which causes the liver and muscles to absorb glucose and convert it to glycogen - the bolus dose is used to mimic this rise in insulin. bolus is Latin for ball, and in medicine it usually refers to a large dose of IV medication, which is why I guess it's been adopted for diabetes management jargon.
I was introduced to it many moons ago as the basal-bolus regime, complete with little graphs showing how it works.
I believe it has now morphed into MDI - multiple daily injections. It's also been named intensive or flexible therapy. They're still a basal-bolus system, just with some added twists.  |
03-15-2007, 11:23 AM
|  | Super Moderator
I am a: Type 2 | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 7,244
| | | Thanks for the easily understood answers guys! I've wondered about all this myself. Just curious, how long did it take you to figure out what amounts to take and when? Were you able to handle doing your shots and everything at a young age, or after you were in your teens? My neighbor is T1 and age 12, and he give his shots like a pro!
__________________ T2, diagnosed 8/31/06.
Byetta 5 mcg
HCTZ 12.5 mg every other day for BP
Enalapril 20 mg 1 daily (ace-inhibitor)
Lower carb dieter (approx. 75 total carbs/day, more on weekends), taking chromium, multivitamin and fish oil tablets Initial A1C 8/06: 9.6
11/06: 6.2.
03/07: 5.3
06/07: 5.4
10/07: 5.3
05/08: 6.2 (right after dealing with shingles and bronchitis)  |
03-15-2007, 11:33 AM
| | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,810
| | | It takes a long time to figure doses out, and it continuous. I pretty much started with low doses and worked my way up. It took maybe 3 months on shots, and 6 on the pump. |
03-15-2007, 11:42 AM
|  | Junior Member | | Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 58
| | | I was never really taught how to figure the rates out by myself (or test to see if I needed to change them) when I was on MDI so I pretty much just stuck to what the dr (not an endo) told me, but when I switched to a pump my rep taught me how to test my rates and I was in contact with her while I was tweaking it all so I'd say it probably only took me 4-6 weeks. |
03-15-2007, 01:49 PM
| | Member
I am a: Type 2 | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: NJ
Posts: 387
| | | Thanks, that cleared it up. I was afraid I might have slept through that part of my diabetic teaching!
__________________
-Mike "I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong." -Richard Feynman ACTOS 30mg
PRANDIN 2mg x 3
BYETTA 10 mcg x 2
SYNTHROID 300 mcg
COZAAR 100 mg
TRICOR 145 mg
QUINAPRIL 10 mg
METFORMIN 500 mg |
03-16-2007, 06:29 AM
|  | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Portsmouth UK
Posts: 1,610
| | | Basal and Bolus are also referenced alot with MDI (multiple Daily Injections)
__________________ Stu 
Type 1 Since - 24/7/2006 HbA1c
13/10/2006 - 7.2%  | 15/12/2006 - 6.0% | 29/06/2007 - 7.1% | 02/11/2007 - 7.8% | 29/02/2008 - 6.5%  | 07/08/2008 - 6.8
Insulin - Levemir and NovoRapid | Meter - LifeScan OneTouch Ultra smart  Pasta is a gift that just keeps giving... |
03-16-2007, 06:49 AM
|  | Senior Member
I am a: Type 1 | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Hastings Melbourne Australia
Posts: 3,108
| | | There're is power in knowledge
Quote:
Originally Posted by blacklightmike  Thanks, that cleared it up. I was afraid I might have slept through that part of my diabetic teaching! | Who said that you stop learning when you leave school. |
03-16-2007, 07:02 AM
| | Member
I am a: Type 2 | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: NJ
Posts: 387
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by ant hill Who said that you stop learning when you leave school. | Hear, hear! Students for life!
__________________
-Mike "I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong." -Richard Feynman ACTOS 30mg
PRANDIN 2mg x 3
BYETTA 10 mcg x 2
SYNTHROID 300 mcg
COZAAR 100 mg
TRICOR 145 mg
QUINAPRIL 10 mg
METFORMIN 500 mg |
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