The first graph in the panel below shows a 24-hour blood glucose profile for a typical patient (in red). His carbohydrate intake is shown in grams on the second graph (in blue).

Blood Glucose Level (mmol/l)

The next panel below shows the patient's simulated plasma insulin level on the upper graph (in red), and his insulin regimen of regular insulin (in red) and long-acting insulin (in blue) on the lower graph.

Plasma Insulin Level (mU/l)

This man tends to run high blood sugars throughout the day. He is concerned about this. How might he adjust his insulin regimen to compensate for this? He currently finger pricks himself at least eight times a day which, besides being painful, may not be totally necessary. When should he measure his blood sugars to maximise the information he gets back while keeping the number of finger pricks down? Hint: before meals.

This man's regimen approximates to an insulin pump regimen. As it is not possible to simulate a proper basal / bolus pump regimen with the current AIDA v4 model - we have given this man two injections of 6 units of long-acting insulin in the morning and evening to provide some basal-like background insulin, and have supplemented this with boluses (injections) of short-acting (regular) insulin before each of his meals. See if you can tighten this man's blood glucose control while keeping him on his pump-like regimen...

Below is a data entry form showing this example patient's carbohydrate intake, insulin regimen, as well as other clinical variables such as weight and renal function. Try changing any of these fields to modify the regimen and click on the 'Run Simulation' button at the bottom of the page. This will result in the effects of the changes being displayed in your Web browser window.