Ask Our Team
My daughters basal #'s seem to not be doing the job even though we have changed the insulin and the sight 2 times over the last four days. This is her eight month with DM1. We increased her basal by 50% and still not great. She is 17 and had an A1C of 6.2. Is this normal?? Any suggestions?
Responses
Gary Scheiner says
Basal insulin's one and only job is to hold blood sugar steady when there is no bolus insulin working, food digesting, or exercise taking place. If the readings are elevated within a few hours after a meal, it is more likely the bolus amounts that need to be adjusted.Because there is no long-acting insulin used with pump therapy, it is important to check for ketones whenever unexplained high readings occur. The presence of ketones almost always means that the pump is not delivering insulin properly. An injection (via pen or syringe), lots of water, and a site & cartridge change would be in order.
If you would like some guidance on gettting your daughter's basal and bolus doses set up properly, let me know. This is what I do for a living! (gary@integrateddiabetes.com)
Alicia H. McAuliffe-Fogarty says
You may want to talk with your doctor about this...this is often seen whenpeople are ending their "honeymoon" period after diagnosis. Insulin
requirements increase as the body is no longer producing insulin. Another thing to think about is insulin resistance around the time when you daughter is getting her period - another very common reason to increase insulin doses. The best advise is to work with your diabetes educator when making drastic adjustments.
