Super Boluses... what are they? Do you use them? Is there any drawback?

There a lot of things that could be discussed on this topic, and many points that are brought into the whole thing.

But to start with - very simply - a super-bolus can have some benefit. But there can be some drawbacks, as you have noticed when your basal gets screwed with a bit.

So here is where it takes a bit of tangential discussion to get the whole picture. And I will go outside of your topic a bit, but there is a point to it.

Below is very basic stuff, which most everyone already knows. But I want to show it visually to lay the groundwork.




This is normal, old-school basal insulin here:

image

This is bolus insulin:
image

And this is your pump, using many little bits of bolus insulin to pretend it is basal:

image

And here is what happens when a pump using bolus insulin stops it for a while:

image

The illustrations are exaggerated of course, but just trying to make a point.


Okay, so you asked about super-boluses - “Do you use them?”. Not the same way. I do it a bit differently. And it has to do with the pharmacokinetics of insulin and how food is absorbed. And I can explain my ideas on all that if you want.

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