User guide

Example 2:
Basal patterns
Cynthia has had diabetes for about 12 years and has been on her Paradigm pump for several weeks. Every
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Cynthia goes on a 3 kilometer walk in the morning. To prevent
hypoglycemia on these days, she uses the patterns feature. For those days, she simply switches over to
Pattern A, which she has programmed with a lower set of basal rates. Before she learned to use the patterns
feature, she would have to eat more food throughout the day to keep her blood glucose at a safe level.
Cynthia has also noticed that a few days prior to menstruation, her blood glucose levels seem to rise,
requiring more insulin. She has programmed Pattern B on her Paradigm pump with higher basal rates for
this time. For her usual schedule, she uses the standard basal pattern.
Your turn:
Can you think of situations where you might require different basal rate settings on different days?
Temp basal rates
Temp basal should be used based on the guidance of your healthcare professional. This feature is useful to
manage blood glucose levels during unusual short-term activities or conditions. These conditions could be
an illness or physical activity.
A temporary basal rate allows an immediate short-term change to your basal insulin for a specified period
of time (30 minutes to 24 hours). This rate can be up to your Maximum basal rate setting. It offers an easy
way to immediately meet short-term insulin needs for temporary activities or situations. When your blood
glucose is temporarily high or low, a temp basal rate allows you to set a temporarily higher or lower basal
to accommodate your blood glucose. For ongoing periods of increased or decreased activity, the patterns
feature may be more suitable.
How does temp basal work?
During a temp basal delivery, all other basal programming is temporarily overridden. After the temp basal
delivery is completed, your pump will return to the programmed basal. A temp basal is delivered only once
and does not repeat. If you want another temp basal, you must program the temp basal again. This feature
may be useful to temporarily increase or decrease basal insulin during illness, exercise or similar unusual
situations.
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