This morning, I woke up to a relatively flat line and a number in range.
I shuffled into the kitchen, knowing full well what I should do. I stared longingly at the coffee machine, knowing full well what I should do.
Instead, I took a seat at the table and opened up my iPhone. After I had whiled away some time, I headed back into my room and gave that dreaded swipe of the FreeStyle Libre.
I was almost expecting to see an upward trend arrow, indicating that I would need to go back to the basal rate testing drawing board and start again tomorrow. I wasn’t even too sure if I would be that disappointed, because then I would be able to validate my need for coffee.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see a result that had barely moved since waking up, accompanied by a steady trend arrow.
I don’t really know what my morning basal rate is. Not since my morning routine changed a year ago. I just make small tweaks here and there, going by how my blood sugars react after my breakfast. I’ve been putting off doing a proper basal test for ages, because it’s so damn hard to wake up without coffee or breakfast. Not to mention that a basal test will only work when you wake up to levels that are steady and in range (less than 6mmol).
Since starting on the YpsoPump, I’ve been forced to make some tweaks to my morning basal rates to account for its limitation of only being able to set basal rates on the hour rather than half hour. I’ve noticed my blood sugars trending upward after breakfast recently. I’m also not as active as I once was at work, which could warrant an increase in insulin as well.
As I got ready for work, drove in and began my day, I was pleasantly surprised by the result of every single scan of the Libre.
I wasn’t expecting that diabetes would let me off this easy after just one day. Or that my basal rate intuition was this good.
With a mental ‘tick’ against my morning basal rates, my only homework for tomorrow is to drink coffee and revisit the insulin to carb ratio I’m employing to cover it.
You may have a future as a basal rate deviner. In my country a water deviner finds underground water sources. As a basal deviner you might be able to do it over the telephone. I see a big future.