Understanding And Adjusting Basal Rates; What Is A Basal Rate; Personalized Basal Programs - Insulet OmniPod User Manual

CHAPTER 3

Understanding and Adjusting Basal Rates

■

What Is a Basal Rate?

A basal rate is a small base or background amount of insulin that
is delivered, at a preset rate, continuously for a specified period
of time.
Even without eating, our bodies need a small, constant supply of
insulin for normal daily living. In people without diabetes, the
pancreas continuously delivers this basal insulin. For people
using the OmniPod Insulin Management System, the OmniPod
mimics a healthy pancreas by delivering insulin at the rate that
you've programmed into the Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM).
Approximately 50% of a person' s total daily insulin dose
typically comes from basal insulin delivery; the remain-
ing 50% typically comes from bolus doses (see Chapter 4,
Understanding and Delivering Bolus Doses).
■

Personalized Basal Programs

Insulin needs vary throughout the day. Therefore, most people
set their basal rates to deliver slightly more or less insulin at cer-
tain times. For example, one person may need to deliver a higher
Up/Down Controller
rate of insulin during the early morning and a lower rate during
the late evening. A basal program describes the amount of insu-
lin to be delivered during an entire 24-hour period.
A basal program contains at least one basal rate for the 24-hour
period, but for most people it will be broken into several time
segments, or basal segments, each delivering a different rate of
insulin. A sample basal program with three basal segments
might be:
12:00 am–8:00 am
8:00 am–3:00 pm
3:00 pm–12:00 am
User Info/Support
0.60U/hr Between 12:00 am (midnight)
and 8:00 am, the pod delivers
0.60 units of insulin per hour.
0.80U/hr Between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm,
the pod delivers 0.80 units of
insulin per hour.
0.70U/hr Between 3:00 pm and 12:00 am
(midnight), the pod delivers
0.70 units of insulin per hour.
Blood Glucose Records
17