Leo Reynolds

Eat dinner no later than five pm and fast until seven am. Perform five blood sugar checks throughout the night. Fast until twelve pm, six pm or ten pm. Check your blood sugar every two hours. Does this sound familiar?

You guessed it. Basal tests. My least favorite thing about the pump.

I hate having to eat at a required time (and worrying about what I eat to make sure there isn't a huge delay). I hate having to check my blood sugar every two hours. I find it a little frightening to fast for that many hours at a time. Plus, I just hate fasting (I like to eat when I'm hungry).

I realize in order to truly get the most out of my pump that I need to perform basal tests. I also realize that you test every two hours to watch for a drop in your blood sugar and stop a low.

But that doesn't change the fact that I don't want to do it. It's already five pm and I was planning on doing the night basal test tonight. Now I'm being forced to eat in order to make sure the basal test is done right. And I'll be up every two hours over the night, when all I want is a good night's sleep.

Then there is always the issue of the day tests interfering with school. I have to say, it's particularly hard testing in the middle of a class of three hundred while a professor is droning on and on about goodness knows what.

My post is short today. I just needed a place to let out my hatred of basal testing (a place where people actually understood the words basal and blood sugar). Now I'm off to make sure I eat before my time is up. Or maybe I'll just forget the test and worry later. My blood sugars are running decently anyway. That's good enough, right?