User's Manual

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
certain 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 insulin 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.