Combination/Extended Boluses

[gettingby]

Can someone please explain to me when is the best time and under what circumstances you would use a combination bolus or an extended bolus? Stupid question but my trainer never explained this to me.

[Keezheekoni]

This is just me but...

I use extended when I get something like a mocha frap that I'm going to be sipping on for the entire 2 hours (I don't drink my drinks all that fast, can you tell?).

When I'm eating a high fat meal and/or I'm low before eating, I'll do a combo with 30% up front 70% over at least an hour (for a low) up to 3 hours (for say, Chinese food).

Lately, because of Weight Watchers, I've been eating differently, so I'm doing combos on everything and using 27% up front and the rest over 2 hours. Seems to be working for me, so I'm not going to change it if it's working! :D

[Cyborg]

I do combo boluses for the protein content that I eat. Once I figured out how it affects me, I see much better numbers using an immediate bolus for the carbs, followed by an combo bolus for the protein. Fat doesn't have a huge affect on me, but whenever I take symlin I also combo bolus.

[RLK]

I'll do combo boluses for pizza, chinese, etc. I'm still experimenting, but 60% up front and 40% over 3 hours seems to be working. I don't use extended boluses by themselves much, but I've always heard that they're good for events where you're "grazing" a lot.

[Alice]

I do combo bolus for pasta...or any large meal. It just stretches out the insulin without giving me a big drop from a large dose...a dose that is still waiting for the food to digest. (And no, I don't have gastroparesis, but that is a big problem for diabetics...slow emptying of the stomach).

My combos are usually an dose prior to meal...about 15 minutes...then one about 1/2 hour to one hour after meal. In case of pasta, I might be correcting a few times into the evening! I really try to keep my pasta servings at 1/2 cup now which helps.

[Cyborg]

If I'm taking a carb bolus of more than 3 units, I usually do a 35/65 combo bolus over 6 minutes (this lowest duration setting for the Animas). This allows me to break the larger boluses into 3 small ones and helps to reduce any chance of insulin pooling or tunneling.

[Dewey]

Can someone please explain to me when is the best time and under what circumstances you would use a combination bolus or an extended bolus? Stupid question but my trainer never explained this to me.
Combo boluses are usually very helpful when foods like rice, mashed potatoes, pizza (etc.) is eaten. It helps to cover the BG instantly (if needed) and covers any spikes that may occur down the line post meal.

Extended boluses could be used when you plan on grazing on higher carb foods (i.e. at a party or something) or for other reasons. Personally, I've found the Combo bolus to be best in all situations, but each person is different.

[cheryl]

I do dual waves for big fat home cooked holiday; meals...LOL....always 60% up front and 40% or more LOL...for 2 or three hours....if I injested more protien, then i might even after those hours do a temp basal for just another hour or so....or two...depends....I have to dual wave high fat meals cause is slows me down, not so much it hits me later.....it slows me down to a low....but thats about how I do mine...pizza is another one....

Cheryl