I started my new job 2 days ago, which for me means only one thing: basal testing. Lots of it. I'm giving myself this week to see if I can spot any general patterns, and then next week I'll commence the dreaded testing.
Basal testing is a way to ensure I have my basal (background) insulin set to the right amount. I do this by fasting (not eating) for 4 hours, and making sure I have no 'active' insulin on board (insulin is generally active for about 4 hours). This means I should, in theory, have nothing going around my system except the background insulin. And by monitoring my blood glucose levels closely (I will do hourly - some choose to do more/less frequently) I should see if that insulin is running my levels too high, low - or in a perfect world they would keep me stable.
I will only test for a few hours at a time - probably 4, at max. It means I will be starving as by the end I will have been without food for 8 hours, whilst doing my normal daily routine! If some of those hours fall during the night - for example, if I wanted to test my basal from 8am - 12pm, I would just skip breakfast.
But this Siobhan gets grumpy without food!! I have heard that sugar free jelly (which I have been making lots of recently) is fine to use during basal testing - can anyone confirm/deny this? I love jelly and would be happy to eat some to put off the hunger!!
I've just googled 'wobbly jelly' to try and find a picture to attach to this post - who knew people make jelly in the shape of landmarks?!
Daily Mail article
Basal testing is a way to ensure I have my basal (background) insulin set to the right amount. I do this by fasting (not eating) for 4 hours, and making sure I have no 'active' insulin on board (insulin is generally active for about 4 hours). This means I should, in theory, have nothing going around my system except the background insulin. And by monitoring my blood glucose levels closely (I will do hourly - some choose to do more/less frequently) I should see if that insulin is running my levels too high, low - or in a perfect world they would keep me stable.
I will only test for a few hours at a time - probably 4, at max. It means I will be starving as by the end I will have been without food for 8 hours, whilst doing my normal daily routine! If some of those hours fall during the night - for example, if I wanted to test my basal from 8am - 12pm, I would just skip breakfast.
But this Siobhan gets grumpy without food!! I have heard that sugar free jelly (which I have been making lots of recently) is fine to use during basal testing - can anyone confirm/deny this? I love jelly and would be happy to eat some to put off the hunger!!
Daily Mail article
