My 5 Tips for Successful Basal Testing

Basal testing sucks... make it suck less!

I’m in the midst of doing some basal testing. If you have been following along on my Instagram, I have been having a lot of issues with my Omnipod 5. One of the reasons, we suspect, is that I went off Ozempic a few weeks ago (a drug commonly used in T2D but that can treat insulin resistance in anyone) and the algorithm is having some trouble adjusting to my changes in insulin sensitivity.

So I am on manual mode for the time being, doing some basal rates to get things squared away, and once things are back in range, I will restart the algorithm to have it start fresh with the new settings.

I help clients with basal testing all the time because it is one of the best ways to gather data. This data can then be used to highlight areas for insulin changes (not something I do, but my clients have what they need to bring to their doctor), or it highlights things in decision-making and lifestyle habits that need improvement.

Basal rate testing, however, is hard for a lot of people (even me!). Not only does it involve fasting, but it can also be tricky to know when to do a basal test, what to do if something happens during a basal test, and what to do with the info when you’re done.

Here are 5 tips for getting the most out of your basal rate testing experience: