a few months ago [my endo and I] jacked my nighttime basals way up – my logic had me thinking that there must be a different issue as there was no way my nighttime basals should need to be higher than my daytime basals, yet they absolutely do.
[Mod EDIT: split thread from How do you use your endocrinologist visit?]
Sure. You are more active during the day. And at night there are specific hormones that can cause your liver to release glycogen while you are sleeping and when you are waking up.
It’s very common. A lot of people have higher basal needs at night.
Would be an interesting FUD poll to see how common it is among those here. Mine are over twice as high at night, on average.
Intellectually, it does seem that night basals should be higher, and I am sure are for most people.
But, for us, while we have a flat basal right now over 24 hours, we immediately increase it by 35% upon wake-up 5 days out of 7.
I subscribe to the one peak, one valley theory of basal profiles in a 24 hour period. It works for my body.
I peak for dawn phenomenon, I am lowest in late afternoon, and I am stable in between the two values overnight.
My best numbers are overnight right now. My basals seem to be my best friend currently, knock on wood.
For me mine are lower over night go up in afternoon then up higher in evening. This works pretty good for me. Of course i dont normally eat until noon.
let’s make it an official vote!:
0 voters
I think it is better to have people comment on what they see, rather than just vote. I don’t think we gain by knowing how many more go higher at night vs day. But it is really interesting to figure out what phenomenon people see.
[EDIT] Well, I changed my mind: the poll is also really useful! I am staggered that conventional wisdom, ie higher basal needed at night, is not overwhelmingly true (even though it is not true for us). Amazing!
I run a sliding scale with 1000 hrs to 1700 hours being my lowest Basal rate. 2000 hrs to 0400 hrs are my highest rate
My son’s basal is always lower deep in the night and higher at the moment his head hits the pillow. He doesn’t consistently have a dawn phenomenon but he has nighttime sleep hormones most nights.
I drop at around 10pm by about .2 and then again at midnight by another .3– lowest part of my day. I still see a million suspends over night.
People can still comment, but I think seeing the percentage on the vote is very interesting. I’d like to see it.
I use one basal but I often tinker with it per BG. I often have a BG rise at around 3-4 hours after dinner. I’m thinking that is related to slow digestion and not really a basal issue. To prevent this I sometimes use a temp basal or an extended bolus to increase insulin just for the 3 hours at dinner time.
My basal needs are lower overnight. I lower my rate to 0.3 at 10:30pm and then I increase it again to 0.45 at 6:30am. Lately I have had to run temp basal overnight of -15% to avoid lows, so I think I need to decrease it even more.
Currently my basal from midnight to 11am is 0.95, and the rest of the day is at 0.3 so my night basal is triple my day basal.
My nighttime is an average rate - my morning is high and my afternoon is low.
I am usually about a 1 U/hr average basal rate.
Just before waking up - slightly above average
Wake Up - peak for 2 hours (1.6 x average)
Mid-day - about average (slightly lower than overnight)
Afternoon - minimum for about 3-4 hours (0.7 x average)
Overnight - average
My needs are similar. My basal needs are lowest in the morning and around 4-5 pm. They’re highest from around 8 pm- 12 am.