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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on June 11, 2012 at 10:40am

Hi Karen, I know what you mean when you don't want to eat because you don't want to mess up a good bg day! That made me smile because I do that too! :)

How did the gardening go at your low time of day?

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Permalink Reply by Karen on June 11, 2012 at 7:11pm

For some reason no low, so I am sure now my boluses linger and are probably the reason for my afternoon lows.

I started to get a little shaky, but still was at 130, I think it was part anxiety and part, I was really, really hungry :)

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Permalink Reply by Spock on June 11, 2012 at 11:43am

You really need to not eat at all to test basals. What did you eat for breakfast and what was the time lag to 86? Very important considerations.

When I basal test in the morning, I wake up at a glucose level I desire, eat a "no carb" breakfast-- boiled egg usually. Then I feel carb free from dinner at 6 pm last night. I test hourly, sometimes every half hour, until noon. I look for a very flat line.

Exercise does not affect me immediately, unless it is very intense and I adjust for that, but the results of low key exercise, such as gardening, can affect me for the next 36 hours, so be careful. Mixing unusual exercise does not mix well with basal testing.

Read up on basal testing again. It will help.

By the way, when my glucose is up, I get very hungry. Of course, I will eat no carbs until it comes down, so I look for a no carb filler veg, such as celery, or a few leaves of lettuce. It is not satisfying, but the hunger goes away. If you really feel decadently hungry, a slim jim has 1 carb and will satisfy cravings with its richness. Interesting, but the one really bad thing about them is sodium....

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Permalink Reply by Karen on June 11, 2012 at 7:15pm

Thanks Spock for the low carb solutions, I also do beef jerky. My accidental basal test was because I had eaten breakfast and was in kind of normal range at lunch time and just decided at that moment to do a through lunch and afternoon basal test.

I don't think I could fast a whole day.

I can barely walk around without having a low. Movement does me in, but I believe after yesterday it is my lingering boluses doing me in.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on June 11, 2012 at 8:07pm

I haven't ever done "basal testing". If my "pre-meal" numbers are off, I fiddle with my basal and if my "post-meal" numbers are off, I fiddle with my carb/ insulin ratio. I've also found that if my ratio is off, even a little bit, 60-80 point "swings" are not unusual so if you think your ratio is off, maybe trying a new one for a few days would work? Those sort of things are tough to sort out as there's "overlap" between basal and bolus insulin and, really, it doesn't matter but if one or the other or BOTH are off, it can make a big difference in your BG and your feelings about it. Or at least mine.

Beef jerky has carbs in it. I'm not sure what they are but I like the El Matador brand and think it's like 9G of carbs/ serving or something like that? Not insignificant!

There are still a few boxes of 700 series reservoirs with your name on them in my garage! This weekend is wide open after 8:00 AM on Saturday!

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