Convert Extended Bolus to Temp Basal (and Circumvent Basal IQ)
Extended boluses are an important tool in the toolbox of a diabetic using an insulin pump. They allow you to spread insulin out over a period of time to match the absorption of food. I created a calculator in Google Sheets to convert an extended bolus to a temp basal for use in an insulin pump. (Read on to find out why I did this.) You can add this to the homescreen of your smartphone and use it like an app. ***Calculator LINK*** You will need a Google account and copy the spreadsheet to your Google drive.
You might be wondering — why would you ever want to do this? I’ll give you two. First, for T1Ds (like me!) using the Tandem tslim:x2 insulin pump, converting to a temp basal circumvents a very annoying feature of the pump. If the pump predicts you will go low based on the trajectory of your blood sugar, it will cancel any extended bolus. FOREVER… annoying! However, for temp basals, the temp basal will resume when your blood sugar starts trending up again.
The second reason relates to data. If your main reason for using the extended bolus is for protein, you might want to have your protein boluses count toward your basal split. My theory is that many T1Ds have higher basal rates than necessary to compensate for protein/fat rises in blood sugar. If you adjust down your basal (for fewer lows, more precision) and bolus for protein instead, you will increase the percent of your total daily dose that appears to be from carb. This might confuse your endo ;-) depending how up to date he/she is. Using temp basals will keep your bolus data purely carb.
Technical note on using the calculator for protein: Here’s how you might want to use this for protein. Change the percent up front to 0. (You’ll take all of the insulin extended.) Estimate your grams of protein and multiply by your discount/conversion of protein to carb grams. (30% is a common number to use here.) For example, 30g of protein x 30% -> 10 equivalent g of carb.
