Up/Down Controller User Info/Support Blood Glucose Records
17
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).
■ 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
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:
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).
12:00 am–8:00 am 0.60U/hr Between 12:00 am (midnight)
and 8:00 am, the pod delivers
0.60 units of insulin per hour.
8:00 am–3:00 pm 0.80U/hr Between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm,
the pod delivers 0.80 units of
insulin per hour.
3:00 pm–12:00 am 0.70U/hr Between 3:00 pm and 12:00 am
(midnight), the pod delivers
0.70 units of insulin per hour.
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